The most important facts in brief

The Y-shaped foam insert is designed for tires from 2.1 to 2.4 inches wide and for rims with a rim width of 25 to 30 millimetres. A set of tire levers and a suitable tubeless valve are included. It is advisable to use the Vittoria valve. This has several side holes that prevent the valve end from sticking to the air liner and thus making pumping more difficult. A valve from Milkit was deliberately used for the test in order to find out how the system performs with products from other manufacturers. The Milkit valve has rubber flaps that have to open towards the tire insert, so problems are pre-calculated.

Round tire inserts usually cause increased rebound, a point that is often criticized. The Air-Liner looks similar to a highly compressed tire. The Y-shape indicates that there is little rebound here. The medium-density foam is easy to compress, indicating that it should also be easy to assemble. Compared to the classic air liner, the light version is manufactured as a ring and does not need to be cut to length and assembled.

In use

Mounting is similar to a tube setup. Pull one side of the tire onto the rim, place the Air-Liner Light in the tire and press its groove lightly into the middle of the rim. Then insert the second side of the tire and that's it. Almost, because now comes the tubeless setup. With the Vittoria valve this is easy, with the Milkit valve you have to fiddle around a bit until you get the hang of it. This is how it works: Insert the syringe into the valve just far enough to open the rubber flaps and allow the sealant to flow through. Otherwise the syringe tube will stick to the insert and there will be no flow. The same applies to other tubeless valves that do not have rubber flaps: Here too, no fluid will flow through if the insert is too tight against the valve.

In one of the installations, the assembly did not work right away. When pumping the tire with the compressor - still without sealant - one side of the insert exploded out of the rim and twisted in on itself. A sign that the Air-Liner really needs to be carefully inserted in the middle before pressing the second side of the tire into the rim.

Comparing two wheels with an identical setup (rims, tires, air pressure) - one with and one without the liner - the wheel with the Air-Liner Light feels plumper and has slightly more rebound. This is only noticeable when you press firmly on the tire with your hands, but not while riding. Off-road, there is hardly any noticeable difference at first. Only during a back-to-back test, in which two sets of wheels with and without inserts were ridden within a very short time, do you notice another advantage. As the tires with inserts deform less on roots, stones and steps, the bike rolls over them with more momentum. This makes a noticeable difference uphill and on flat terrain, but hardly at all on descents. On the other hand, the insert scores with good puncture protection. The wheel had to take around a dozen punctures. Twice the rear wheel even banged so hard that an emergency stop was necessary to check whether the wheel was still intact. It was. 

Conclusion

The Air-Liner Light from Vittoria was completely convincing. If fitted carefully with the supplied valves, it is child's play. The liner has no detrimental properties on the trail. On the contrary, it ensures better rolling behavior on very uneven surfaces and efficiently prevents punctures. And all this with a weight of just 50 grams. Although the insert rests on the valve, the sealant is well distributed throughout the tire.

Recommendation

The Air-Liner Light is primarily useful on the rear wheel, as this is where punctures are most likely to occur. Using the original valve saves you from the problems listed above.

Manufacturer

www.vittoria.com