Established in just 2020, STZY is a relatively new entry to the tubeless ‘bits’ market, selling all the valves, syringes and repair kits that sealant sloshing tyres require. Beyond just the functionality, STZY stands out with its vibrant anodizing in a cornucopia of colours – including an ‘oil slick’ option.
It’s fair to say that the market is pretty flooded with options, so let’s take a look at what the STZY bits have to offer and where they stack up against the competition.
STZY tubeless valves
Beyond just the broad range of colours, the STZY valves pack in a lot of nice little extra features.
First, is the inclusion of a valve core tightener in the dust cap. Admittedly, it’s not as seamlessly done as Nukeproof’s solution, but it gets the job done and is always on your bike. Little plastic tighteners might not weigh much, but for me at least, they always seem to disappear just when I need them.
Second, is having an Allen key slot to help tighten and loosen the valve. I’ve been in the situation where a seized lock nut has nearly prevented me from popping in a tube after bottoming out a tyre on a square-edge hit – it would have been a lot easier if I could have stopped the valve spinning with an Allen key.
And third, a caged end to the valve so the air can flow sideways for compatibility with tubeless inserts. Even if they’re not something you currently use, it’s nice to have your options open.
One slight criticism I would make is that the rubber seal between the nut and the rim is the common thin-ish size. This hasn’t caused me any issues with the installation at all, but I’ve found that these tend to perish rather quicker than thicker O-rings like the type Schwalbe uses.
But considering that the Schwalbe valves only have the Allen key slot and don’t have an in-built core tightener or caged end, I’d still very much opt for the STZY valves.
Of course, there is scope for putting the Schwalbe lock nut on the STZY valves for an ideal set up, but perhaps that would be excessive. Perhaps.
In terms of value, at £15.99 for such a variety of colours and the neat little features, the STZY valves are pretty good. At full price, Lifeline’s Universal Tubeless valves are £9.99 / $11.99, plain black and don’t have any of those nice extra features going for them.
Muc-Off does also offer valves in a wide range of colours, is compatible with tyre inserts, has an Allen key slot and comes with a valve core tightening dust cap. However these have an RRP of £24.99 / $29.99, which is much more expensive.
STZY tubeless syringe
The tubeless sealant injector is a pretty straightforward piece of kit. It’s a syringe with a tube that leads to an aluminium end with threading for both Presta and Schrader valves.
Using a tubeless injector means that you can inflate a tyre on the rim dry, getting the bead to pop into place without sealant spraying everywhere. Then: deflate the tyre, unscrew the valve core, suck up the sealant, inject it in, screw the valve core back up, inflate the tyre and you’re good to go.
(That’s turned out to be a lot of individual steps for what’s actually quite a straightforward process).
With the aluminium end screwing on to the valve core, I found the process a bit more of a faff than systems which use a long thin tube that pokes through the valve and deep into the tyre.
As you screw on the chuck, you have to simultaneously twiddle the syringe in your hand or the tube will become all twisted – a long thin injector tube, on the other hand, slides straight in. Also, in attaching onto the valve, it means you can’t suck up the sealant in the tyre to check how much you have left – which is one of the most useful things about other injectors.
To be fair, at £9.99, the STZY injector is quite cheap. Park Tool’s tubeless injector costs around £20.00 / $25.95. However, you can get sealant injectors of that long, thin style for a similar price from Amazon. Having not tested those ones ourselves, we can’t vouch for their performance, but it is something to bear in mind.
STZY Tubeless repair kit with built in CO2 inflator
This is quite a neat bit of kit. It combines storage for the tubeless plugs, a little fork for inserting them and a chuck for a CO2 canister, all in one smart package.
STZY does provide a diagram on the way it’s supposed to be put together, but I found that putting the CO2 chuck on the side with the fork gave more space in the other end for keeping the tubeless plugs.
Being so compact, naturally it doesn’t come with a bleed valve for releasing the CO2 – once you’ve burst the canister you’ve committed – but that’s just a trade off you’ll have to decide for yourself.
I haven’t had to use the plugs in anger yet – which on the one hand is quite nice for me, not having had any near ride-ending punctures – but on the other, I can’t vouch for how good it is at sealing.
I’ll continue carrying it with me though and when that day does come round (it’d be foolish to presume that’s an ‘if’) I’ll update this review with my experience.
At £19.99, it’s competitively priced for a tubeless repair kit that also has a CO2 chuck, I haven’t come across anything with a lower RRP. But for compact plug and fork kits in general, you can get these for half the price – although not in such a range of colours.
