Hutchinson Protect’Air Max

Hutchinson Protect'Air Max achieves a great seal for your tubeless tyre setup with minimal messy turmoil. The small, manageable bottle of sealant with a one-way valve cap allows for easy application, and it's not a bad price either, though this 120ml size isn't the most cost-effective way to buy it.

Tubeless is becoming widespread across pretty much all ride disciplines these days and there is a huge choice of sealants to keep you rolling should you unfortunately puncture out on the roads or trails.

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Hutchinson's Protect'Air Max makes for a good choice of latex sealant to combine with your tubeless-ready tyres and wheels. Having tested it on both a pair of road and gravel tyres, the sealant can't be faulted for performance. Refitting the Specialized Rhombus tyres that I tested a few months back, they sealed despite cuts and holes dotted around the casing that I hadn't noticed before.

Both sets of tyres were subjected to differing pressures to suit their applications – low for gravel, hard for the road – with minimal issues. Naturally, a little air escaped between rides, but rarely have I had a tubeless seal where that doesn't occur, especially when kept at high pressure. Throughout the test period the sealant did its job well, with no punctures out on the roads or on the trails.

> What they don't tell you about tubeless tyres

Drying of sealant can be a major issue, but with only a month's testing it's not really possible to comment on its long-term ability. That said, I didn't have to top up the tyres with fluid in the month that I've used them, which is promising, and we have had a lot of very hot days.

The initial setup is made surprisingly clean thanks to the simple squeeze cap with a one-way valve, which allows application without any spillage and is much better than some bottles or pouches where you just have to line things up and hope for the best.

Removing the nozzle of the bottle from the valve saw a bit of leakage, but nothing that a quick wipe with a rag couldn't sort.

Hutchinson suggests using 30ml per road tyre and 60ml per mountain bike tyre, but in both cases, it needed a bit more to seal successfully. For the brand-new road tyres I topped it up to about 40ml for the initial sealing, and the gravel tyres took about 55ml, but as I said they did have a few cuts in them already.

Value

The 120ml bottle is handy for a one-off, and is enough for two road tyres with some left over, but buying it in larger volume is much more cost-effective, especially if you are using multiple bikes with tubeless setups. 

At £6.95 for a 120ml bottle, the Hutchinson is a touch pricier than the Juice Lubes Tyre Sealant at £5.99 (140ml), but actually looks quite a good deal against the Panaracer Seal Smart at £8.99 for 120ml.

It fares even better alongside the Schwalbe Doc Blue, which is more than double the price at £7.99 for 60ml.

> Should you go tubeless?

Overall, the Hutchinson Protect'Air Max does a good job of sealing up your tyres while being easy to apply and not costing a fortune.

Verdict

Decent sealing properties and very easy to apply through your valves