Video Review: Bontrager TLR FlashCharger Floor Pump – Can it replace an air compressor?

“Game-Changer – With Flash Charger TLR, setting up tubeless tires at home and on the road is a snap. Pinkbike.com’s product of the year is a designed for efficient installation of Tubeless Ready TLR tires without the need for a compressor. A pressurizable chamber instantly releases air creating seamless tubeless tire seating. Air compressors are so over.” – TrekBikes.com

JOM of Gravel Cyclist puts these claims to the test with an in-depth video review of Bontrager’s TLR Flashcharger Pump. He inflates multiple tubeless tyres on several different wheelsets – watch the review to find out if the Bontrager TLR Flashcharger Pump is a replacement for the air compressor?

Tires inflated include:

Wheelsets in the review:

Thanks for watching!

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11 Comments

  1. K-Dogg K-Dogg

    Nice review JOM.The way you hold that thing you should do assault rifle reviews.
    You would need to get some tats for those arms though. Actually, you should get some arms too. 🙂 (Not that I can say shit either)

    • JOM JOM

      Haha nice. Tats no, arms yes. People in glass houses 🙂

  2. Avatar Edward Ng

    I’ve owned one of these for over a year now. The pump worked great in the beginning, but as of the past couple of months, it has failed to seat any tubeless setups that I’ve tried on tubeless compatible Alex rims. I can’t tell if it’s the rims or something else; the flip-chuck head, I believe, is the culprit, as the rubber inner seems to have worn to the point where it doesn’t allow sufficient air flow into the wheel to seat the tires. A shame.

    -Ed

    • JOM JOM

      Thanks for writing in.

      Perhaps it is worth contacting Bontrager or your dealer? The pump may be out of warranty, but perhaps they have spare parts?

      For the record, I received this pump over a year ago. It has seen a lot of use, hope it continues to hold up.

      • Avatar Edward Ng

        I can check into that, but either way I am pretty disappointed, because I didn’t even use this pump as my day-to-day pump (I have a Lezyne alloy floor drive for that), so it should really hold up much better than this. I am considering either an AirShot canister instead, or a different charger-type pump like the JoeBlow Booster or Lezyne OverDrive. It would be best to find a pump with a bypass so that filling the tire normally won’t involve waiting for the air to pass through the chamber first.

        -Ed

        • K-Dogg K-Dogg

          Ed, I assume you have tried inflating with the valve core removed?
          My Joe Blow often needs that.

          K-Dogg

          • Avatar Edward Ng

            Hey, K-Dogg; I’ve indeed tried this, but it has never been successful for me, unfortunately, because even though I immediately cap the valve with my finger as soon as I pop off the flip chuck, and then I tried to screw the core back in as quickly as possible, the tires that I have been trying to mount have come unseated again before I can fully get the core engaged (that, or even with the core removed, I can’t get enough flow to seat the bead in the first place, which is what happens most of the time).

            -Ed

        • JOM JOM

          If you contact Bontrager / Trek, I hope they do the right thing. Good luck!

  3. Avatar Bobk

    I’ve been using the Airshot with good results. It is a small light weight canister which is easy to pack. You can charge it with any good floor pump which can deliver 150-60 PSI. The hose head on the Airshot can be attached to the presta valve with the valve core installed; or for greater air flow you can remove the valve core and insert the head directly into the valve with the core removed. Even though I own a compressor, I prefer to use the Airshot because it is less hassle than setting up my compressor. If you already own a good floor pump, I that the Airshot makes more sense. BTW, I think that Schwalbe is licensing or reselling the Airshot with a Schwalbe label. Specialized is also selling a similar product, which costs a bit less than the Airshot.

  4. Avatar Jim

    Thanks for the well done review. I have one question. If the cylinder is preloaded to 160 psi is there a chance of blowing a road tire (25 mm) off the rim instead of simply seating it? I’ve been fortunate in being able to seat my tubeless tires with just a very old floor pump so for the time being I’ll stick with that.

    • JOM JOM

      Hi Jim… I should have said in the video – you don’t need to load the cylinder up to 160psi every time. In many cases, I load it up to about 100 – 120psi. For a road tyre, I’d go for 100. You won’t blow tyre off the rim at that pressure. Remember, cylinder pressure doesn’t equate to tyre pressure. Different shapes, different storage capacities.

      Good luck!

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