Howdy Fat-bike Friends! I received a little care package from Fat-Bike.com World HQ today containing one of Dynaplug’s “Racer” tubeless tire repair kits with the task of giving it a whirl and then letting y’all know how it works. Before we jump right in, I must confess, tubeless tires aren’t really my thing (go ahead and laugh/call me stupid, I’ll wait). In my own defense, I have seven fat-bikes and I enjoy semi-frequently swapping different tires onto different bikes, and not having to deal with the mess of sealant when doing so is nice. Despite my being fully on the inner tube program, I jumped at Gomez’s offer to try out the Dynaplug kit; the mechanic in me is always looking to learn new things and I’d not had an opportunity to play with these yet.
The first order of business was to set up a test dummy for the Dynaplugs. I found an old used 45NRTH Husker Du that was kicking around the shop and mounted it up to a HED Big Deal; the hardest part of the whole test as the floppy, worn out HuDu didn’t want to seat up very bad. Also worth noting, I did this without any sealant in the tire, so the Dynaplugs were on their own.
The Dynaplug kit came with two different sized plugs pre-installed, with two spare small plugs and one spare big dog. The first puncture I dealt the tire was with a pretty decent sized nail… one that I had pulled out of my tire earlier in the year. I have to say that the Dynaplug kit is as easy to use as the instructions let on. Sealing up the nail puncture was as simple as “remove nail, push in plug, remove tool, done”. I fired 20 psi into the tire and the plug held with nary a hiss.
To try out the bigger plug, I grabbed a 7/32″ drill bit and drilled nice big hole in the tire. The process to install the bigger plug was as simple as with the smaller one, although it does take a bit more wiggling and force to push it into a completely deflated tire. Again, I put a bunch of air in to see if the plug would hold, and hold it did until I hit 22.5 psi. At that high pressure, the plug hissed, but never actually popped out of the tire.
This well made little tool definitely a winner for tubeless users. The Racer weighs almost nothing and will slide easily into any pack or pocket. The plugs seem to really seal up tight, in spite of putting way too much air in the tire after plugging the holes, and I’m sure that a tire that actually had sealant in it would only reinforce the repair further. I would confidently continue to ride a tire repaired with the smaller plug for the remaining life of the tire. A hole big enough to need the bigger of the plugs might just be a Band-Aid to get you home; I’m not sure I’d go on my next adventure knowing there’s a pencil sized plug in my tire, but we’ll see how it goes with our test subject over the next few months. In the case of an even larger puncture, Dynaplug’s website suggests inserting more than one plug, until the puncture is filled and the repair can hold air.
For more information about Dynnaplug visit – http://www.dynaplug.com/
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