Frame fit pumps, realistic maximum pressure?

[rrarider]

I have always carried and rarely used a frame fit pump on my lighweight 1980s steel bike. (These are the sort that you have to hold on the Presta valve while you pump.) I have bought a new seatpost pouch to carry my puncture kit and thought it about time I checked if the kit worked. I put the patched tube I had been carrying on the wheel and put a new tube in the bag. I had a bit of difficulty getting the pump on the short valve, so tried to see if it would fit on the rear wheel, which had been inflated recently to 115psi with my track pump. The result was a big bang as I appear to have turned the pump I had into a large calibre air gun and it was destroyed in the process. I replaced the pump with one of similar low quality and with that I can pump a tyre up to 'quite hardish' but nowhere near the 115psi I see in the specs for a number of pumps. Quite frankly I don't believe it's possible to achieve that pressure and I wonder what other members have achieved with their pumps in the real world.

From memory I've only used similar pumps in the past to get a quite hard tyre but not really hard. The pump I bought was a cheap Zefal and I wonder if could get better results with a better pump.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Not directly answering your 'how hard have you got it?' question but . . . What width tyres are these? How heavy are you? Why do you need 115psi?
By the side of the road, hard(ish) is good enough. Getting it up to whatever can wait for a track pump at home or in a visited bike shop (if on tour).

 

[MichaelW2]

Zefal HPX will get you over 100psi. It also has good spares support. I had to ditch my old Blackburn pump because the new spares kit is different to the old design.
You have to pick a valve length appropriate to your rim design. Long valves belong in deep section rims.

 

[Tim Hall]

Zefal HPX will get you over 100psi. It also has good spares support. I had to ditch my old Blackburn pump because the new spares kit is different to the old design.
You have to pick a valve length appropriate to your rim design. Long valves belong in deep section rims.

Topeak road master blaster will also do that, IME.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Topeak pocket rocket is plenty good for 100psi at the roadside and without undue effort.

Lezyne ABS with dual ended flexi hose is also good if you have problems with the locking nozzle type pumps or just prefer the traditional pump and hose styleeee

 

[steve50]

I will give the Lezyne a vote too, great little pump.

 

[rrarider]

The Zefal HPX and the Master Blaster both look good and not exorbitantly expensive. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Diggs]

I will give the Lezyne a vote too, great little pump.

yep +1 on the lezyne. I find it's less faff roadside if you can screw on the hose

 

[dellzeqq]

I've got a Topeak Road Morph G which will go to 120 psi eventually. Fits to the seat tube in a very neat way. About £25.

 

[John the Monkey]

I can vouch for both the Master Blaster and Road Morph, with a slight preference for the former. Specialised's airtool road is good too, although they keep messing about with the design.

 

[gbb]

Regarding frame pumps, I have had a Zefal Rev88 I think for maybe 10 years, cheap as chips, inflated the tyre real quick, quicker than a mini pump and while I can't say what pressure it inflates to but I like my tyres hard and never feel the need to top up with a track pump afterwards.
The HPX being a better quality pump has to be better...and I consider the Rev88 perfectly good .

 

[slowmotion]

I've got a Lezyne Road Drive with a dual flexible hose. I always had problems with fixed head pumps falling off the valve stem when I was pumping hard. A hose buys you a fair bit of movement to play with.

 

[mjr]

I always had problems with fixed head pumps falling off the valve stem when I was pumping hard. A hose buys you a fair bit of movement to play with.

I've had problems with fixed-head pumps damaging valve heads and valve-tube joints enough that I won't use them any more.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I've had problems with fixed-head pumps damaging valve heads and valve-tube joints

It's not the pumps which do the damage you've experienced, it's the pumper. Car hits cyclist.

 

[mjr]

It's not the pumps which do the damage you've experienced, it's the pumper. Car hits cyclist.

It's aided by a design flaw of direct-attach pumps, similar to your other example being aided by some design flaws.