Gas canisters for a road bike. Any good?

[Veloscot]

So on tonight's training ride I hit a pothole travelling at 32mph and my trustee Topeak pump flew out of its mount and met its death under the wheels of a car.

On my return I got chatting with someone on Twitter who asks me why I carry a pump at all? He recommended I carry gas canisters. My question is do any forum members use these and how do you get on with them? Also, can they get road bike tyres above 100psi easily enough?

 

[ufkacbln]

So long as you realise that the number of punctures sustained will be C+1, where C is the number of canisters carried

 

[rualexander]

CO2 gas pumps are great for speed and ease of inflation on a wet night and they will get your tyres up to 100psi easily if you have the right size of canister for your tyres, but there is always the risk that you'll have more punctures than you have canisters (a rare situation but possible), so a decent pump is still the best option.

 

[Veloscot]

So long as you realise that the number of punctures sustained will be C+1, where C is the number of canisters carried

So I take it that one canister is only good for one inflation? I was advised to take two with me on a ride. Max number of punctures I've ever suffered on a single ride was 3. But that was my fault for riding on rubbish Taiwanese tyres.

 

[ianrauk]

One canister is good for one road tyre inflation. It's worth still carrying a pump though. It's a good idea to start inflate the tyre first before using the c02.

 

[HLaB]

I've never used cannisters my self but if I did I think I'd go for one of those combi type pumps which take cartridges but is also a conventional pump. Touch wood, i've never had more than 1 p'ture on a ride but for peace of mind I would go this route but as I've said I've no experience of gas cannisters.

 

[rualexander]

Also be aware that if you inflate a tyre with CO2, ride home and put it in the shed for a week, the tyre may be flat when you get your bike out next time. I've not experienced it personally but there was a lot of discussion about this on the CTC forum here

 

[amaferanga]

I carry one CO2 cannister and a mini pump. As already pointed out its a good idea to inflate a little with a pump first - I've pinched the new tube a couple of times with CO2, but never have with a pump. And yes you should let the CO2 out and re-inflate with air when you get home.

 

[John the Monkey]

So I take it that one canister is only good for one inflation? I was advised to take two with me on a ride. Max number of punctures I've ever suffered on a single ride was 3. But that was my fault for riding on rubbish Taiwanese tyres.

I've p*nctured two tubes on a commute (one form the obvious nail sticking out of the tyre, one from a well hidden thorn that wasn't apparent when I did my first replacement). I limped home with a slow puncture (invisible to the naked eye) that meant I had to top up the tube every mile or so. Without a proper pump, I'd have had to walk instead after exhausting my supply of cartridges.

I'm wary of Co2 for that reason, and at least partly because of the wastefulness of it.

Personally, I carry a Topeak Road Master Blaster on the LHT, and a Specialized Airtool road on the SCR2. Either will achieve enough pressure to allow me to continue a ride, and I don't need to worry about running out of anything other than the strength required to pump (and tubes/patches/glue, I suppose).

 

[amaferanga]

The benefit of CO2 is that you can get 100psi in a couple of seconds, where as with a mini pump you'll be lucky to get 100psi ever. So CO2 allows you to carry on your ride with normal pressure as opposed to having just about enough.

 

[Fiona N]

When I'm out near home, I just take a minipump/CO2 cartridge combo. You can get a bit of air into the tube for fitting before using the CO2 canister to give you full pressure. I usually have one new canister in the pump and two spares and that's always been OK so far.

For longer rides & audaxes, I take a proper minipump (Top peak mini foot pump) and CO2 canisters with just the coupling/hand protector (as the canisters get very cold and can freeze onto you fingers).

 

[cyberknight]

I carry this..

Topeak road morph, it gets up to road tyres pressures very quickly and the mount has a Velcro strap to stop it bouncing out.C02 is ok but you have to remember to deflate + re-inflate with normal air afterwards as the C02 leaks and your tyre will go down eventually.

 

[Veloscot]

@cyberknight thanks, the road morph is what I use at the moment. In fact I have two of them because they are so good. Or at least I did have two until one of them got flattened yesterday . Just asking about gas after it was recommended.

I think what I will do is continue to carry a pump on solo rides, but I will use gas on sportive rides since at least I know there might be other riders or service vehicles that can help me out if I get really stuck.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[Davidc]

Also be aware that if you inflate a tyre with CO2, ride home and put it in the shed for a week, the tyre may be flat when you get your bike out next time. I've not experienced it personally but there was a lot of discussion about this on the CTC forum here

A tyre full of CO2 should stay up longer than one full of air. That's because CO2 molecules are heavier and bigger than the N2 and O2 molecules which make up virtually all of the air, so they take longer to get out through the natural holes in the rubber. Nice simple physics.

I've inflated my tourer front tyre with a Halfords CO2 inflator (to 100 psi) in the past, 2 weeks later it was down to about 90, just like the back one, so the new tube was fine but being full of CO2 didn't help at all.

On rides over about 2 miles I carry the Halfords CO2 thing, only one canister with it, and also carry a mini pump. The CO2 inflator is great for quickly inflating a tyre beside the road, but I'd not want to be without a pump, especially for the gentle puff or two when fitting the tyre, and when starting proper inflation. Neither does a pump run out of gas!

 

[snailracer]

A tyre full of CO2 should stay up longer than one full of air. That's because CO2 molecules are heavier and bigger than the N2 and O2 molecules which make up virtually all of the air, so they take longer to get out through the natural holes in the rubber. Nice simple physics...

Unfortunately not so simple, CO2 dissolves into and chemically reacts with the nitrile rubber used to make inner tubes, so CO2 won't keep it inflated for very long.