Funn FastAir Tubeless Valves Join the Rapid Inflation Race - Bikerumor

2023-03-01 11:42:47 By : Ms. Vicky Fang

Funn MTB joins the rapid inflation race with a high-flow redesign of the presta valve, said to make tubeless tire inflation a quicker, easier affair. The $35 USD Funn FastAir Valve presents as a more affordable competitor to the Reserve Fillmore Valve, but is still slightly more expensive than 76 Projects’ Hi Flow No Clog offering. While the design is a sort of hybrid of the two, the concept is the same; the FastAir offers a higher volume path for airflow allowing for rapid tire inflation and, should also be less vulnerable to sealant blockages.

Much like the Reserve Fillmore, the new Funn FastAir Tubeless Valve claims to offer 3x the airflow of Presta. Similarly, the design seeks to solve a common drawback of the use of a Presta Valve. Tubeless tires often require rapid inflation in order to force the tire bead to seat on the rim effectively, and it is often the case that the tiny lumen of the Presta Valve simply isn’t up to the job.

Removal of the valve core allows for use of the full volume of the valve stem, increasing the rate of airflow. This normally gets the tire seated with a floor pump, rarely requiring use of an AirShot or compressor. The FastAir Valve offers up extra internal volume as is, without the removal of its core. Thus, the process of seating a tubeless tire with the FastAir versus Presta requires fewer steps, and should take up much less of your precious ride time.

A cross-sectional view of the valve internals reveals how the FastAir achieves that.

The traditional valve core is replaced with a hollow shaft through which air can pass. The base of that shaft empties out into the lumen of the valve stem. Here you’ll find the seal, beyond which is the lumen of the tire. Atop the shaft is the valve cap which, when screwed down tight, cinches the shaft up to seal off the valve. When the cap is unthreaded, the shaft can be pushed down to pop the seal, allowing air to flow freely in either direction.

We don’t have any numbers but, we assume the actual volume of the air flow path inside the FastAir to be much larger than that inside a Presta Valve, hence its ability to deliver 3x the airflow and thus, easier tubeless tire inflation.

Those familiar with the Reserve Fillmore and 76 Projects Hi Flow No Clog will appreciate how the Funn FastAir is, pretty much, a hybrid of the two. Funn seem to have combined certain features of each design to produce a new high-flow tubeless valve at a reasonable price point.

While the aforementioned claim to be significantly less susceptible to clogging up with sealant, Funn made no mention of that aspect in their marketing material. Likely, given the higher volume, it will be less susceptible to choking up. Actually, a brand representative has just confirmed to us that they are indeed claiming a “No Clog” bonus, and that you can inject sealant through the valve, negating the need to pop the bead when a top up is required.

Ultimately, whether or not this or any other tubeless valve does clog is largely dependent on the sealant you use. Some of them, like Joe’s No Flats Podium Sealant, claim to be able to seal holes up to 10mm in diameter.

Importantly, if it does clog, you can clean it out as it is completely rebuildable. Conversely, the more expensive Reserve Fillmore Valve, is not.

Importantly, the FastAir is compatible with tire inserts thanks to the slots on the base allowing air to exit sideways into the tire. And, it’s compatible with CO2 inflator heads, too. And finally, we are told it should work with a digital tire pressure gauge.

The Funn FastAir Tubeless Valves will be available by the end of February, retailing at $35 USD per pair, and are sold with a one-year warranty. Get them in black only.

Jessie-May Morgan is the UK & Ireland Tech Editor of Bikerumor. She has been writing about Mountain Bike Riding and Racing, and all its weird and wonderful technology for 4 years. Prior to that, she was an Intern at the Mountain Bike Center of Scotland, and a Mountain Bike Coach and Leader in the Tweed Valley.

Based in Innerleithen, Scotland, Jessie-May can often be seen riding the Glentress Trail Center, and its neighboring Enduro and Downhill Tracks. She regularly competes in Enduro at a national level, and has recently competed on the World Stage at a handful of Enduro World Series events.

For Bikerumor, Jessie-May is testing the latest mountain bikes, equipment and kit, letting readers know what’s hot and what’s not.

For context, she weighs 60kg and stands at 5ft 4″ tall (163cm).

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Small error at the beginning : the link the the 76 Projects’ Hi Flow No Clog valve actually leads to the  Reserve Fillmore Valve article.

My only issues with these high-flow valve systems (and I use one of them) is that it makes injecting sealant into the tire a very messy experience. Yeah, you can unseat the tire to add more sealant directly, but that adds to the complexity of regular maintenance. It would be nice if the companies creating these high-flow systems also created a screw-on fitting attached to a syringe so you could pump sealant through the valve stem with little not mess. For me, if someone did that, I’d never look back at a standard presta valve again.

Zero mess here. I just use an old 4oz Orange Seal bottle and the tubing that came with it. The tubing fits tightly over the body of a Fillmore valve.

Let’s hope more competition keeps the price down for these types of valves.

Oddly I discovered Fillmore valves have a tiny pair of flat areas at the base you can carefully grip with a wrench and then use a 2.5mm hex key on the base where the o-ring is. That will allow you to unscrew and separate the whole thing and clean off the poppet inside the valve stem. No idea why they say it’s not rebuilable? Hope that helps someone.

Yep. I’ve taken a Fillmore apart. Can’t imagine ever needing to replace the metal parts, just the o-ring. I guess disassembly might be needed if the bore somehow clogged…

A more useful measurement to give would be the maximum distance from the internal to external rim seals, i.e. the maximum rim depth it will accommodate. These look a bit short for a lot of carbon rims. I bought some (expensive) Reserve Fillmore valves. They went through my rims, but not enough to get the pump head on. You can get longer ones now (for even more money). It’s good to see these will be a more reasonable price.

Will these take a thread-on pump?

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