For Project OneBike, I’ve been swapping a lot of Schwalbe tires throughout the year. The Astral Wanderlust rims with pink White Industries XMR hubs have seen Schwalbe’s G-One Speed and Bite, X-One All-Around and Bite, and wide slicks from another brand, all depending on the ride. At times, it has meant swapping tires as much as once a week with my handy Topeak JoeBlow Booster pump. If it wasn’t for the milKit Tubeless System though, swapping tires this often wouldn’t have been nearly as easy as it was.
The system is made up of two valve stems, a valve core removal tool, a syringe for injecting tubeless sealant and a few rim stickers. Nothing too out of the ordinary, until you look closer at the bottom of the valve stems and the core. The rubber cover at the bottom not only seals the valve stem on the rim but also extends around the bottom to seal air and sealant in, with or without the core installed. The core has a tube attached to the bottom so that when installed and depressed, it breaks through the flaps at the bottom of the valve stem to let air out.
This design has three main benefits for me. One, you can remove the core to hit the tire with maximum airflow, without having to race to remove the pump head and replace the core to prevent air loss. Second, when installing the tire, you can install it dry, and add the sealant later with the included syringe. Three, I found that the stem and core have remained clog-free with minimal maintenance. There have even been a few times I set up the tires dry for a photo shoot, and they stayed inflated for a few days without sealant. This is a testament to the tire, tape, and rim, but also the valves for keeping everything airtight.
The other part of the system is the syringe. It comes with a long tube that inserts into the valve stem with the core removed and allows you to push through the rubber seal flaps to get into the tire chamber and inject the sealant. Just make sure the air pressure is low so that the force of the air pressure doesn’t push back on the sealant and plunger. Yeah, I did that once by accident, but luckily was able to pull the syringe out before anything bad happened.
The syringe has convenient markings on the tube to measure out sealant from the bottle, so don’t worry about pouring and spilling. If you do though, the handy valve on the tube allows you to close the tube for filling. The syringe also allows you to check sealant levels without having to pop off a bead from the rim or remove sealant almost all if you are swapping tires.
The milKit Tubeless System is available as a kit, or you can buy extra valve stems separately. Extra stems also come with the core removal. Stem lengths include 35mm, 45mm, 55mm, and 75mm, making them suitable for road, gravel, cross, mountain biking, really any kind of cycling. The kit comes in a handy tube you can use to store the whole set up, but the valve stem and core removal tool store neatly inside the syringe itself. Not that you’ll need to store them, because they should be in your wheels.
US Distributor, Hawley, currently sells the system for $64.95 and extra valve stems at $34.95, regardless of the stem length for either. It’s a little pricy compared to regular tubeless valve stems, but I found that it was worth it to spend a little extra to make life easier with how often I’m swapping tires.
It’s hard to believe, but milKit’s simple design tweak to the valve stem has made such a difference in installing tubeless tires. I plan on picking up another pair or two for other wheelsets I use to make life easier for my tubeless setups.
Based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Scott joined Bike World News as the Cyclocross Editor in 2012 before taking over as Tech Editor in 2016. He has also worked as a photographer for various pro teams and shoot races along the east coast of the US, including the 2012 US MTB National Championships, 2013 UCI Cyclocross World Championships, and 2016 UCI Road World Championships. Scott has a passion for performance and technology, with 35 years of riding and mechanic experience. He also enjoys soccer, running, teaching group fitness classes, and is the founder of Lancaster Beard Company.
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