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Mr Wolf's Mousse Balls
Nitro Mousse is shown below...Mousse tire inserts 

I've switched from TechnoMousse tubes to Mr Wolf's Mousse Balls. I ordered a set of front balls and rear balls from Slavens Racing in Colorado Springs, and FedEx delivered them the next day. On Saturday! Outstanding! The first install was on a new front Pirelli MT43 90/90-21 on my CRF230F.

The install was easier than my former TechnoMousse tube installs. First, I did a dry fit of the balls in the MT43 tire to see how the spacing was gonna work out.

Then I pulled the balls, and lubed each one as I re-inserted them in the tire. The balls went in easily. Spacing 1-index-finger width apart, I used 22 of the 26 in the box.

I used my Rabaconda to get the first bead over the rim, then long tire irons to lever the second bead over the rim. The tire final-seated on the rim with no effort on my part. I had previously lubed the tire bead surface with the supplied silicon lube. I used my custom modified c-clamp to seat the bead lock, and that was it.

I went for a short 20 mile test ride, and the front end felt great. I liked the planted feel of the previously used Technomousse, and the Mr Wolf balls felt the same. Solid and no bounce when landing. Some characterize this as a dead feel, but I welcome the no-bounce planted feel.

I installed the balls in a new rear Shinko F255 120/90-18 on my CRF250F. With 22 installed, I ended up with very little space between balls. With 21, there was too much space. So I went with 22. As it turned out, the feel while riding was fine.

I went for a short 40 mile test ride, and the new rear tire with balls felt great. I was riding some very rocky dirt roads, due in part to recent rains washing away the dirt and leaving rocks exposed. Big rocks.... I did not notice any harshness or softness in the rear tire, so I'm thinking 'so far, so good'. Further testing is required.

BTW, the 'balls' aren't ball shaped at all. They are in the shape of a short cut-out section of a mousse tube, with flat ends and an arrow on one side that you point to the center of the tire (axle) when you install the balls. They could be called balls as in a ball-shaped clump...

The front balls are smaller than the rear balls, and as far as I know, one size front fits all front tire sizes and another size rear fits all rear tire sizes. AND, they are expensive.

I'm hoping they last longer than the Technomousse, but time will tell.

Follow-up info as time passes.......

Mousse tire inserts - a new brand arrives. (Previously used Mousse system)

Nuetech, makers of TUbliss, introduced Nitro Mousse tire inserts in late 2016, just in time for Christmas. I ordered up a few stocking stuffers at Slavens Racing in Colorado Springs, and FedEx Santa delivered them the next day. Outstanding!

I ordered the tires a few months ago, so I was all set for a day of mousse wrestling. The tires and meece will go on one of my CRF230F bikes. If all goes well, I'll put a set on my other CRF230F in time for spring riding in the Rockies.

The Nitro Mousse web site has more information.

Very good informative videos:

Nitromousse Install      Jimmy Lewis is a famous desert, rally, offroad racer: Dakar, ISDE, Baja. I like the use of vise grips, and bought three of them to use exclusively for installing mousse. I will put some thin plastic sleeves on each jaw to protect the rims.

How to install a bib mousse.    Megan Griffiths shows us guys how easy it is!

How I struggled with mousse installation

The generous amount of lubricant I use makes mounting the mousse difficult. The simple act of pushing the mousse into the tire carcass is impossible without many hands that can hold the mousse in place.

I make an initial push, move to ANY other spot to push some more in, and the mousse at the initial location promptly oozes back out. I need more hands to hold the mousse in, and then I need to lever the bead over the rim on both sides of the tire.

As the picture shows, I have 7 'hands'. Actually I have 8, but I had yet to put the last strap on before I proceeded to seat the tire beads.

The 'hands' are ratcheting tie-down straps that have the straps shortened to about 24" to minimize fooling around with the extra unused length. I use straps that have the smallest ratchet to make handling/positioning easier.

I tighten the straps during bead-seating, always just near where I have levered the bead into place. I work around the entire circumference, then flip the assembly over to get the back side.

To seat the beads, I lube them with Ru-Glyde, a tire mounting lubricant, and then introduce air into the inner-tube chamber, forcing the bead to seat. I have previously installed an ATV valve stem; the kind that mounts to the metal wheel on an ATV and yard utility wagon wheels (see attached picture). I remove the valve core - leaving just the hollow tube that allows an abrupt introduction of air on the back sides of the beads. The force from the air pressure seats the beads. Excess air bleeds out because the seated beads are not air-tight, but they are mechanically held seated by the force of the compressed mousse pressing outwards. I put a cap on the valve stem to keep dirt out.

These stems are larger in diameter than the holes normally drilled for bead locks and inner-tube valve stems, around 1/2 inch in diameter. There are normally 2 holes in motorcycle rims; I just drill one of them out and mount the ATV stem. I do remove one of the rubber seals; only one is needed for my use.

I do install a bead lock in the other rim hole.

Mounted front MT43 and mousse.
It was a tight fit; I struggled for 20 minutes,
but I like how it turned out.

The new MT43 is taller than the medium worn MT21 - about 5/8 inch.

Mounted rear Shinko 255 and mousse.
Long ordeal, but I won. I think.

The new Shinko 255 is taller than the medium worn MT21 - about 7/8 inch.

Test Rides

Several test rides have gone very well, with the new tires and meece performing well on packed and loose dirt. Traction aplenty and good feel. The meece substantially reduce tire bounce and some riders say they have a dead feel, but I prefer the no-bounce inaction. I feel that the tire stays on the ground more, providing more traction.

A test ride on the rocks at Penrose did not disappoint. The sticky front MT43 was like velcro on the rocks. The non-flat-able meece allowed me to hit rocky ledges as needed to get over them and not worry about flats. Picking lines as needed allows a certain freedom of choice. Just one more thing not to fuss over - ride and smile. My grunty 230F is such a fun ride.

I have installed mousse on my new 2019 CRF250F, and they work as good as those on the 230F - excellent.

CRF230F
Front Nitro Mousse 80/100-90/90-21 - about $113.  Slavens Racing
Front Pirelli MT43 2.75-21 DOT - about $77.
Rear Nitro Mousse 100/100-18 - about $113  Slavens Racing
Rear Shinko Trail Pro 255 Radial 110/90R-18 DOT - about $71.
Veteran Tire and Rubber TR-416-S 1" Outer Mount Metal Valve Stem - about $9 for 4 pack   Amazon

e bike install

And now, something completely different - mousse on an e bike.

I've installed front and rear mousse on my XBike, a Surron e bike. The tire is a Shinko SR241 Trial Tire (2.75-19).

The first thing to do is to apply silicone lubricant to the inside of the tire, spreading it to cover as much of the inside as you can.

Next is to put the mousse inside the tire.

Next, I put the wheel on my tire stand. The tire with mousse installed is place on top of the rim. The object is to lever the tire bead that is on top, facing up, down past the rim. As you do this, the lower bead will pass over the upper rim and then the lower rim. When the entire upper bead has been levered into place, you will turn the wheel/tire over and then lever the remaining bead over the rim.

I like to take care of the bead lock next. Others may prefer to do it last. The idea is to get the bead lock edges past the tire bead so when it's tightened down, it will catch on the tire bead and lock it against the rim, keeping the tire from rotating on the rim.

This is the first appearance of my 'helping-hand' straps.

Adding straps, more or less equally-spaced around the tire

Moving right along here, with all straps installed and some of the tire bead levered into place.

Skipping ahead to the finish; both sides levered into place, and all straps and tools removed.

Some notes.

The straps I use as helping hands are endless ratchet straps. They don't have hooks, instead they have only one strap that goes around the tire and mousse and is fed back into the ratchet drum. I position the mechanism so that I can tighten the strap by cocking upwards and tightening on the downward stroke. The leverage on the ratchet lever is most easily applied in this direction - downwards. Getting the mechanism flat against the outside of the tire is the best position.

The straps are 8 feet long, and I cut them down to about 16 inches now, using some heat to finish the cut end. The excess length is a hinderance to one-handed operation and gets in the way when you are operating the lever.

Although I usually use 8 straps, for this install 2 straps were MIA, and so I used what I had on hand as a poor substitute. I have ordered extras from Amazon.

Long levers are required due to the force needed to get the tire bead past the rim edge. Even with the long levers, it is usually very difficult to get the last several inches of bead into place.

I use some of the silicone lubricant on the tire bead to help it slide over the rim and when seating on the rim.

The Nitro Mousse instructions say to put half of the silicone lubricant inside the tire and half on the mousse. I did this for all of my installs up to this one. On this install, I found a statement on the silicone lubricant tube that says to put all of the silicone into the tire. The silicone will spread everywhere it's needed during the install and on the first ride. You'll see the silicone oozing out past the tire bead after the first ride as evidence that this is correct. This method makes getting the mousse inside the tire at the start of the process very easy.

I did not install the ATV valve stem on these wheels. I did install a rim lock on each wheel; details at some future time... Not easy, but not that hard. I just need to take pictures. One last note - I have a trick for getting the bead seated if it doesn't seat when you lever on the final part of the tire; note and pics later.

The white square in some of the pictures is a folded Kleenex tissue. It provides a white surface for 'white correction' in my photo editor.

Shinko SR241 Trial Tire (2.75-19) - about $40 each.  Amazon
Nitro Mousse NM19-195M - about $122 each.  Slavens Racing
Endless Ratchet Tie Down Straps, 8ft - 4pack - about $26.  Amazon
2 packs for a total of 8 straps.