Bike Perfect Verdict
Simple, minimalist, intuitive and bombproof design that blows up tires super fast and won’t freeze your fingers.
Pros
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Downward inflate is super fast
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Push to go is totally intuitive
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Inline design resists freezing
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Double-sealed to retain pressure
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Full coverage finger protection
Cons
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Watch out for hot brake rotors
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Like their Holeshot Tubeless Puncture Plugger tool, the new CO2 inflator from Peaty’s Products looks really simple but hides a lot of operating advantages to make it a super easy and potentially super fast way to inflate a tire. It comes in loads of fancy colors and protects your fingers too. It's definitely one of the best CO2 inflators around, keep reading to get our full verdict.
Design and specifications
While most inflators use a right angled head and some screw onto the valve, Peaty’s have gone with an inline, push fit design. Rather than a thumbwheel valve they also use a spring loaded release valve. There’s no plastic in it either, just anodized alloy in 12 different ‘Chris King’ colors with high quality O-rings for the valve and double O-rings for the canister. The only fanciness (besides the colors) are the wings for screwing it onto the canister and the laser etched Peaty’s logo.
The Holeshot kits comes with either two 25g C02 canisters for MTB (seen here) or two 16g canisters for road/gravel but either way you get recycled cardboard packaging with clear instructions on the back. The thick silicon sleeve wraps right round the bottom of the canister too, minimizing the chance of you freezing your fingers.
Performance
The inflator couldn’t be much simpler to use either. Screw it firmly into the cartridge using the wings. Grab it by the covered canister and press it onto valve, releasing the air into the tire. No awkward angles to potentially bend or snap a valve core off with, no dials to gradually release just press and go like a spirits optic at a bar. Plus Peaty’s found in testing that if you put the valve at the bottom of the wheel and use the inflator inverted (so the gas is at the top) the inline design pushes the liquid CO2 through the valve first. That gives it the whole tire to expand in and dumps the whole 25g into the tire in just a few seconds. Perfect if you’re in a hurry or need to blow the tire back onto the rim for a solid seal. Because there’s less leakage and less residual pressure, you generally get more CO2 out of the canister so you get a higher pressure in the tire too. Alternatively use it valve upwards and the gas will clear blocked valves or any other blockages and fill the tire more subtly.
With no regulator valves or angles in the inflator there’s less chance of the C02 freezing and restricting flow and there’s just generally less to go wrong. The canister connection is double sealed too, and the spring on the push valve is strong enough to stop it discharging accidentally. That means you can carry it round if you’ve not completely emptied it, or might need to top up more later.
The only problem we can see is if you’ve got big hands and are running a really high spoke count wheel so there’s less space to get your paws in. You also need to be careful of hot rotors if you run big discs and are inflating from the offside. I always managed to get enough space to work the inflator without any problems using a 32 or 28 spoke wheel though and I’ve got hands like bear paws.
Verdict
I’ve been using the Holeshot inflator since last summer and been massively impressed. The spring-loaded inline design is super intuitive and literally bypasses a lot of potential icing and valve bending issues. The thick, wraparound finger protector is great and the inverted inflator hack is a proper Formula 1 pit stop style eye opener. Plus while you could probably find a cheaper, plasticky inflator if you wanted, when you’re dealing with 870psi of compressed carbon dioxide, the sturdy all-metal finish of the Holeshot is definitely reassuring. Just remember to inflate from the drive side to avoid hot rotors if you get a flat on a descent.
Tech Specs: Peaty’s Holeshot C02 Inflator Kit
- Price: 16g Inflator Kits = $36.99/ £27.99 / €32.99, 25g Inflator Kits = $39.99 / £29.99 /€34.99
- Colors: Black, Bourbon, Emerald, Gold, Matte Mango, Navy, Matte Punch, Red, Silver, Matte Slate, Matte Turquoise and Violet
- Weight: 14g (inflator head only)
