There you are in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire and your finger in your ear.

You fixed the inner tubeless tyre but now it does not want to hold air because the hand pump or the airflow from the compressor is too slow to kick the tyre on the rim. All the air escapes along the sides. It is a good idea to always have inner tubes with you for an emergency like this, but now, unfortunately there is none available.

If you have a coupling pipe or contrive something, you can pump another tyre to at least 4 bar and use this then on the flat tyre to get air into it. If the inside of the tyre valve is first screwed out the air will move faster and then a pump nozzle is not necessary. A little bit of soap water, rubbed on the edge of the tyre, will also help it to slide up and seal.

It also works sometimes if you put the wheel flat on the ground with the inside of • the rim at the top. Two people then get on the wheel and stand firm on the tyre until the edge slip over on the bottom lip of the rim. Turn the wheel around then and put the rim on something so that the tyre does not touch the ground but will now hang against the lip that is underneath. Now the compressor might be able to inflate the tyre.

Dr Wallace Vosloo is an Engineer and Scientist by profession. His family has lived in Africa since 1696 and he has a deep love for the continent. He is a practical outdoorsman and loves traditional hunting, axe and knife throwing, longbow shooting, black powder rifle- and cannon shooting, salt and fresh water fly fishing and tracking. The art of survival is Wallace’s main field of interest and his passion is to transfer these old forgotten skills to young hunters.

Another plan is to string a strong rope on the outside of the tyre, all along the middle of the tread and with a stick or some tool wind it up so that the tread of the tyre is drawn in and the ridges thus forced out against the rim.

A more daredevil plan is the following. Place the wheel flat on the ground. Now squirt lighter fluid or something similar that is volatile and flammable inside the tyre as well as a little bit over the outside ridge of the tyre and then also a stretch on the ground as a fuse.

Take a long stick with a burning rag in front and quickly light the fuse. The explosion will blow the tubeless tyre in its place. You might have to let out or add some air to get the right pressure.