Ruzer Pro Tubeless Glueless Bike Tyre repair kit

The Ruzer Pro is one of those must-carry items when you're running tubeless. It effectively seals punctures up to roughly 5mm in diameter, is easy to use, and because it's so small and light, you won't worry about taking it everywhere. The canister is a neat way of housing the kit, but you do pay a small premium for it, though.

Our sister site off.road.cc tested the Ruzer Pro Tubeless Repair Kit only a month ago with fat tyres, but I'm here to see how it works with road tyres specifically.

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There are loads of tubeless repairs kits out there, and essentially they all do the same thing – plug holes with little strips you stuff through the tyre. What's different about this kit?

The most obvious thing is its size. It's only 7cm long, and weighs a scant 30g. It's basically the size of a CO2 canister, so easily fits in your pocket, saddle bag or wherever, and you barely notice it's there.

If you're running tubeless it's probably the most essential thing you can carry with you at all times, and it's so effective that you can pretty much say goodbye to those 'just in case' inner tubes.

It's nicely designed, too. Everything is neatly contained within the CNC-machined aluminium case.

Just unscrew the top and you find the plugging tool attached to the top – which acts as a handle – and two plugging strips neatly wrapped around the tool. The kit is very well sealed with an o-ring around the cap, and I've not noticed any moisture inside the unit.

Performance

To plug a hole, just select a strip (brown for road), slot it through the fork, and push the rod inside the tyre. You then carefully remove the tool while holding either end of the strip as it pokes out the tyre. That's it – puncture sealed. I found it easily plugged small holes and then held pressure, even when left overnight at around 80psi on a 28mm tyre.

Interestingly, though Ruzer says the brown strips are more malleable and better for road tyres, and the black strips are for mountain bikes because they're more hardwearing but harder to plug with, I found both types easy to use. They work equally well on road tyres.

> Buyer's guide to tubeless tyres — find out all about new technology rubber

The Ruzer Pro works pretty much perfectly. There's no blade to cut the remaining strip, though I've not seen any kits that include one, to be fair.

There's also no reamer to roughen up the hole and help the strip stay in place, something the Muc-Off Puncture Plug Repair Kit does have. I'm not certain it's entirely necessary though – apart from one failure, which I'm pretty sure was down to me not inserting it far enough, I had no issues with the strips staying in place.

Because road tyres are quite thin, you do have to be careful of nicking the inside of your rims with the tool. That's a potential problem with any of these tubeless kits, mind.

I used a selection of screws to create the holes, to see just how big a hole the strips could plug. A 4mm and 5mm screw was no problem, but a 6mm screw proved just too big to seal, even with sealant working around the edges of the strip. If you get a hole this big in your tyre, though, you've been pretty unlucky.

Value

At £18, this isn't the cheapest tubeless repair kit we've reviewed on road.cc – that accolade goes to the £7.99 Zefal Tubeless Repair Kit which is much the same thing, but packaged in a much less compact and refined form.

It's £2 cheaper than recently reviewed Birzman Tubeless Repair Kit though, which is similar both on the outside and inside bar the inclusion of a reamer.

If you're running tubeless, the Ruzer Pro is an essential companion on all your rides, and it's great that it works with both on and off-road tyres. It's light, compact and works brilliantly. It's not the cheapest option, but it's elegant enough to justify its still modest price tag.

Verdict

Elegant, easy to carry and effective way to plug tubeless tyres