Dynaplug Tubeless Tyre Repair Kits

Are the Dynaplug tubeless tyre repair kits the simplest way to sort your tubeless woes?

I’m a big fan of tubeless tyres, what started as a way of increasing and improving my grip in cyclocross has spread to all my bikes. On or off road, training or racing I’m a convert and happy to spread the word. The amount of times I’ve thought “oh no! Puncture!” Only to roll on as the sealant does its thing. But – yes there’s always a but. – sometimes you will get a puncture that is too big to seal, what then? Well that’s where Dynaplug and their tubeless tyre repair kits come in.

Founded back in 1991, Dynaplug are an American company that design and manufacture tubeless tyre repair kits. While tubeless is still argued over in the bike world, it’s pretty much standard everywhere else. Cars, motorbikes, wheelbarrows, trailers, golf-carts all rolling on tubeless. And where you have tyres, you have punctures. Repairing or replacing an inner-tube on a bike isn’t a big deal: annoying yes, but it’s pretty simple.

A puncture on your car though, that’s a whole world of hassle. You have to raise your car off the ground and replace the entire wheel, a major operation. If it’s a simple puncture caused by something piercing your tyre however, then you can repair it by removing the object, filling the hole and re-inflating, easy. Which is what a Dynaplug does.

But what is a Dynaplug?

The heart of the repair is the plug, this is a cord mounted to a pointed, non-abrasive brass tip. The cord is impregnated with a proprietary rubber that never dries out and can even “flow” into the tyre around the hole. The plug is held in a hollow metal insertion tube, with the pointed brass tip at the end. You insert the brass tipped plug into the puncture and when you withdraw the tool, the plug is left behind. And that’s it, pump up the tyre and you’re good to go.

It is the simplicity and speed of this repair that appeals to me. I’ve used other tubeless repair tools before, like the Maxalami, so I know they work well. What I like about the Dynaplug tool is their design and the different varieties they have created. Many of the tools are machined from aluminium and anodised, that appeals to the old skool mountain biker in me!

What are the options?

You can choose from the Racer, Racer Pro, Carbon Racer, four varieties of Covert grips including one for drop-bars, as well as their own grips and handlebars. And that’s not all, there’s also the Air, DynaPlugger and three versions of their Pill. You should be able to find your perfect match amongst that lot, or maybe collect them all?

The Dynaplug Air looks appealing to me with its ability to add air while repairing the puncture. Perfect for those punctures where you have lost a lot of air and need to get going quickly again. I have had a couple of instances where sealant has sealed the puncture, but each time I hit a bump, it broke the seal. The hole was just a little too big for the fibres in the sealant to make a complete seal. Eventually I lost enough air that I had to stop and plug that hole, then dig out the pump and replace the lost air. In this case I could have done it all in one operation.

What are those pointy heads made from?

There are two sizes of plug, the standard, pointy brass-tipped one and an aluminium round headed Megaplug! This is three times the size of a standard plug, for really big holes. I asked the guys from Dynaplug when I met them at IceBike SOUTH recently about the metal heads on the plugs. I was worried about them damaging the rims when the tyre pressures are low. According to them it’s not a problem as the metal is so thin. Looking on line I’ve read multiple reports of people riding around with plugs in and they haven’t experienced any problems.

With a new bike on the way to compete in this year’s UCI Gravel World Series, I’m looking at any little extra bits of kit to get me to the finish. I’ll try out some of the Dynaplug’s product and let you know how they perform.