SKS RideAir Tubeless Inflation Bottle - Review
Pressurize the RideAir cylinder with any floor pump and it's ready to do battle with your tubeless rims and tires.
SKS is a surprisingly large German manufacturer that makes a wide range of high-quality cycling accessories. Today we take a look at their RideAir compressed air storage bottle, which SKS double bills as a tubeless tire inflation device for cyclists and to automobile owners, as a refillable source of compressed air for roadside emergencies. SKS RideAir bottles weigh 450 grams, fit into most water bottle cages, and sell for around $60 USD. Like most SKS cycling products, RideAir comes with a five-year warranty.
RideAir Details
• Material: Aluminium / plastic
• Color: Alu-black
• Weight: 450 g
• Valve: Schrader or Presta
• Output max: 16 bar / 230 PSI
• Height: 262 mm
• Capacity: 600 ml
• MSRP: $59.95
• Contact: SKS Germany
• Material: Aluminium / plastic
• Color: Alu-black
• Weight: 450 g
• Valve: Schrader or Presta
• Output max: 16 bar / 230 PSI
• Height: 262 mm
• Capacity: 600 ml
• MSRP: $59.95
• Contact: SKS Germany
Construction and Features
RideAir is a 60 ML capacity aluminum storage bottle encased in a plastic shell that can be pressurized with a bicycle floor pump up to 16 bar (230 psi). A rubber cap protects its Schrader inflation valve and stows a Presta valve adapter. A short section of rubber hose, tipped with a screw-on Schrader fitting, tucks neatly into a groove around the top of the bottle when it's not deployed, and a small, flush-mounted gauge eliminates any guessing about if or how much of a charge is available.
When the time comes to inflate a tire, depressing its push-button valve releases a volume of air that should easily mount up a reluctant tubeless tire. RideAir is designed to hold a charge for an indefinite time, so you can keep it handy at the bike park or on race day, should you need to air up a tire quickly.
The plastic shell and its rubber cap should keep the RideAir bottle relatively dent free if you opt to leave it in a tool box, or let it roll around the back of your Sprinter, and the button is recessed to prevent an accidental depressurization.
RideAir is a 60 ML capacity aluminum storage bottle encased in a plastic shell that can be pressurized with a bicycle floor pump up to 16 bar (230 psi). A rubber cap protects its Schrader inflation valve and stows a Presta valve adapter. A short section of rubber hose, tipped with a screw-on Schrader fitting, tucks neatly into a groove around the top of the bottle when it's not deployed, and a small, flush-mounted gauge eliminates any guessing about if or how much of a charge is available.
When the time comes to inflate a tire, depressing its push-button valve releases a volume of air that should easily mount up a reluctant tubeless tire. RideAir is designed to hold a charge for an indefinite time, so you can keep it handy at the bike park or on race day, should you need to air up a tire quickly.
The plastic shell and its rubber cap should keep the RideAir bottle relatively dent free if you opt to leave it in a tool box, or let it roll around the back of your Sprinter, and the button is recessed to prevent an accidental depressurization.
The canister is sized to slip into a bottle cage, provided that there is enough room for its length.
Hose tucked into a groove below the push-button valve.
Unfortunately, the Presta adapter requires a valve core.
Schrader-valve filler and Presta adapter under the rubber cap.
Few own a pump capable of attaining its 230 psi maximum.
RideAir in Action
SKS is known for its quality, which is evident in the construction and execution of the RideAir cylinder. It's tall and slender, so when it is in use, it will be laying on its side, where its plastic housing does a good job of keeping the aluminum bits scratch free. Sixty milliliters is an adequate volume to launch a tubeless, 2.8-inch plus tire onto a rim, but the RideAir cylinder must be pressurized in the neighborhood of 160 psi (11 bar) to ensure that there will be enough air to get the job done. If you own a chubby, high-volume/low-pressure floor pump, it will be a grunt to top 160. A slender, high-pressure road-style floor pump works best, but attaining RideAir's 230 psi maximum with a bicycle floor pump of any kind is going to be a feat.
The upside of the 60 ml cylinder it that it fills quickly, so you are ready for action in no time. A downside to this design is that Ride Air's short filler tube is tipped with a screw-on Schrader fitting. That means I had to first thread the included Presta adapter to the valve stem, then screw on the filler tube before I could push the blast button and inflate my tire to the rim.
When all goes well (and it almost always does), neither action presents an issue and, while it is doubtful that tubeless bicycle wheels will ever need one, it could be argued that the Schrader fitting ads versatility to the system, should you need to top off an automobile tire. When it goes bad, however, threaded fittings play havoc with Presta valves. Unthreading valve cores from stems is a common issue, and screw-on Presta adapters are infamous for closing the valve as they are installed.
When all goes well (and it almost always does), neither action presents an issue and, while it is doubtful that tubeless bicycle wheels will ever need one, it could be argued that the Schrader fitting ads versatility to the system, should you need to top off an automobile tire. When it goes bad, however, threaded fittings play havoc with Presta valves. Unthreading valve cores from stems is a common issue, and screw-on Presta adapters are infamous for closing the valve as they are installed.
The push-button valve releases a copious volume of air with one touch.
To emulate the action of an integrated boost pump, I left my floor pump attached to the RideAir canister so I could top off the tire after the cylinder's contents were spent. All said and done, the system worked fine, and its small size made the bottle handy to store in my car, or near my tool box at home. After using it for a while, however, I wished that the hose was equipped with a conventional pump-head fitting. Some hard-to-mount tubeless combinations require the removal of the valve stem to maximize airflow, but that is not possible using the screw-on Presta adapter. If I continue to use the RideAir bottle, I'll probably replace the screw-on Schrader fitting with a lever-type inflation head.
Keep the floor pump attached and you can top off the tire after it's mounted, or assist a reluctant bead to seal.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | SKS's RideAir would be a good fit for those who are interested in a compact, lightweight and portable boost bottle. If you are seeking a more utilitarian tool to mount up tubeless tires, however, the RideAir system would not be my first recommendation. For home use, a one-gallon steel storage cylinder would be a better tool for roughly half the cost. That said, if SKS quipped the RideAir with a lever-type inflation head, this well-constructed boost bottle would easily perform at the level of its $60 MSRP. |
Author Info:
Member since Mar 23, 2011
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Riding a carbon fiber bicycle and choosing this thing over [recyclable] aluminum Co2 canisters because its reusability is more environmentally 'conscious', is like ordering a Big Mac combo, then super-sizing it, but getting a diet coke with it because regular coke has too many calories
-OR-
How many recycled Co2 cartridges you think it takes to manufacture ONE aluminum MTB frame?
Then waste a day trying to find replacements at your destination (pre Trans-Provence and pre Trans-Madeira - I am obviously a slow learner) and one ends up relying on the 100 ml EDC pump anyway.
So if you sliced your tire you won't be able to have it tubeless again on the trail right? I mean you can if you wipe all that tubeless fluid and patch the tire but that would take a lot of time wouldn't it?
Ok,...if the tire went off the rim you may want to go tubeless again on the trail. But that happens 1 out of 500 times you go out and ride.
This just seems a desperate way to get some money out of MTB.
www.amazon.com/dp/B076C8Y65S/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B076C8Y65S&pd_rd_wg=KKAAo&pd_rd_r=4VW0Y702T0X5TH8P5BDK&pd_rd_w=HQpwm
Have you used this to inflate a tire? Does it work for that?
I used to prefer Schraeder as well, coming from the BMX world -- until I got used to Presta. Everything just seems to go in easier with a Presta.
@TheR: Yeah I think i have some from Superstarcomponents but it seems they don't have these anymore.
I use it to fit 2.5x26" Schwalbe Magic Mary on my Flow MKIII rims. A floor pump just doesn't cut it with these big tyres. I only used it once a year ago, because I still use the same tyres, and they never burped, even in downhill bike parks.
bfy.tw/Exsi
www.harborfreight.com/5-gallon-portable-air-tank-65594.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdwSqwZV9-M
Yep less expensive, but BIMP'AIR sell different solutions to refill the caps at high pressure.
No thanks on the Thermos
I had a burst inflator made out of a 2L soda bottle, and I would usually need to put 45-60 psi in there to be sure it would seat. This is only 600mL, so ~200 psi is about right.