Peaty’s Holeshot Tubeless Puncture Plugger review – a brilliantly simple and effective puncture fixer

Even if you're running the very best mountain bike tires filled with the finest tubeless tire sealant known to humanity, punctures are still very much possible when running a tubeless tire setup as larger holes and gashes can be too big for fluid alone to fill. That's where a tubeless hole plugger such as this new tool from Peaty's comes in.

Stabbing a tubeless tire hole plugger into your tire's weeping wound and depositing a rubbery 'worm' in the gap as you withdraw will usually plug things enough to allow the tubeless fluid to work it's milky magic and re-seal the tire.

Peaty’s debuted their unique looking Holeshot Tubeless Puncture Plugger at the Core bike show, but using it reveals how brilliantly this hook-and-a-half design works in every phase of the fix. The anodized ‘pill’ looks sweet and keeps the weather out too.

Design and specifications

The big difference between the Peaty’s plug tool and the competition is that rather than a standard double-sided ‘claw’ to hold the tubeless plug, Peaty's have removed most of one side of the claw. This leaves a ‘hook-and-a-half’ that’s also a lot smaller in size. The shaft is knurled to act as a rasp to roughen/clean the puncture hole.

The tool is in a double-threaded knob head which screws into the ribbed canister which also holds two sheets of 3 x 1.5mm and 3 x 3mm butyl plugs. The canister is O-ring sealed to keep water and dirt out and it’s available in 12 different ‘Chris King’ style anodized colors: Black, Bourbon, Emerald, Gold, Matte Mango, Navy, Matte Punch, Red, Silver, Matte Slate, Matte Turquoise and Violet. This head is then reversed to form the handle for the tool when you need to use it.

As well as saving your tire, Peaty’s also help save the planet with fully recycled cardboard packaging that has clear instructions printed on. The plastic plug sheets are recycled too and avoid the issue of paper wrappers getting wet and rendering the plugs unusable.

Performance

The advantages over a standard ‘claw’ tool are really clear. For a start you don’t even have to pull the plugs out of the wrappers and shove them into a claw manually. You can just hook them straight off the plastic so they don’t get contaminated with sweaty fingers or dirty gloves. If you’re worried about the plug falling out of the hook you can also use the pointy end to skewer the plug instead. That’s also the way to pre-load a plug onto the tool if you’re a racer after an instant fix.

Because the tool is much smaller than a claw, it causes less damage to the tire carcass as you push the plug in so you’re not widening the wound either. 

The real win over previous claw designs though is that the hook doesn’t try and drag the plug out with it when you pull it out. Its simply a case of loading the hook, stabbing it into the tire far enough and then pulling it out. No trying to prod bulging plug haemorrhoids back in after they’ve unraveled, trying to manually scrape the plug out the tool, or otherwise routing around with the tool feeling the carcass tear and gape as you do it. 

Because the plugs are 50mm long you don’t need to trim down excess tail and they seem really sticky as well. Probably because you’re not having to manhandle them into the claw beforehand. The fact you haven’t widened the wound makes it more likely the plug won’t pull out afterwards either. Peaty’s sell both sizes of plugs in refill six packs too.

Verdict

It’s rare that you get a product that dramatically improves on a widely used process and creates a properly positive experience from what can often be a nightmare. If we had to pick a fault, the pointy end can be painful if you stab yourself by accident, but in terms of plugging tires quickly, cleanly and securely with minimum tire damage Peaty’s Holeshot tool is simply brilliant.

Tech Specs: Peaty’s Holeshot Tubeless Puncture Plugger

• Price: $29.99 / £21.99 / €25.99
• Colors: Black, Bourbon, Emerald, Gold, Matte Mango, Navy, Matte Punch, Red, Silver, Matte Slate, Matte Turquoise and Violet
• Size: 65 x 20mm
• Weight: 22g