Pump Options

[Jenkins]

I've got a couple of combination mini pump & CO2 dispensers - the PDW Magic Flute & a Bontrager Air Rush (I think), so the best of both worlds. Wiggle also used to do an own brand combination pump that would fit in a saddle bag, but was only of real use to get a bit of air in the tube when fitting the tyre to stop it getting trapped.

 

[faster]

That's a false comparison between a no-name Wiggle one (that they no longer sell? Cheapest is now a £4 plastic one with no sleeve) with some of the famous-brand bling mentioned above. I could just as easily say your claim is nonsense because I compare my £10 telescoper with a £23 Topeak Air Blaster Inflator.

Thanks for the heads up - that one you've linked to looks excellent. I think i'll get one.

It's a real step up from my £1.99 one as it also has a valve to make it more controllable (it's not plastic either btw). My old one pumps up tyres in a more explosive fashion and goes from 0 to 100 psi in a fraction of a second. Quite scary the first time you use it, but it hasn't let me down yet. Hands-up though - I do have a more expensive one too, but I think that was only a tenner.

A sleeve is unnecessary - I always wear gloves or mitts.

I don't consider Lifeline no-name. Everything Lifeline I've bought has been excellent. Since we're talking about pumps, the cheapest Lifeline track pump is excellent.

I sort of understand what you mean regarding it being an unfair comparison, but I think my point still stands. Cheap (maybe all!?) inflators just work - it's a very simply device and there is very little to go wrong. Cheap pumps on the other hand, are not so good in mine and many other's experience. Using CO2 inflators is cheaper than using pumps imo.

What the fark are you doing to your bike? Riding it in the sea? Stop doing that, else the pump's the least of your worries, with bearings and probably frame shot to hell.

And how many winters does a CO2 inflator last being doused in salty water while attached to the frame? I suspect salt crust doesn't help the seals to either cartridge or valve.

I presume you don't commute by bike in winter.

Surely nobody would carry an inflator on their frame? They are tiny. All of the tools/puncture stuff I carry goes into my back pocket. I don't like the look of pumps/bags etc attached to the frame unnecessarily.

Good for you. I'm not tragically unlucky - I'm just riding a few thousands of miles a year in the real world: through towns and cities where idiots throw glass bottles out of cars when they finish their coke/beer/vodka and councils don't really care, and out among the fields where rain washes arrowhead flints onto the lanes and idiot farmers flail hawthorn hedges and don't clear up properly. I get maybe 6-10 punctures a year.

Wow - that's a lot of punctures. If I were you, I'd stick with the pump.

 

[mjr]

I don't consider Lifeline no-name. [...]

Sorry, I should have written store-brand. Thanks for pointing that out. I've corrected my earlier post. It's a typical store-brand: some items are good, some dreck.

Cheap pumps on the other hand, are not so good in mine and many other's experience.

Yeah, and I imagined all the users of cheap inflators that I've seen suffer freezer burns or get enveloped in more dry ice than a 80s pop act(!)

Using CO2 inflators is cheaper than using pumps imo.

CO2 inflator = 50p per use. Pump = almost free per use. You have your opinion. I have maths.

I presume you don't commute by bike in winter.

Out almost every day, me duck, but I have guards on the bikes. Oh and I'll continue to presume you're riding through the sea, as you didn't disagree

Surely nobody would carry an inflator on their frame? They are tiny. All of the tools/puncture stuff I carry goes into my back pocket. I don't like the look of pumps/bags etc attached to the frame unnecessarily.

Does your back not get showered with a stream of crap off your back wheel like most guardless road bikers, then?

Nice stylish bags are never unnecessary. Putting hard objects in your jersey back pockets is a gamble IMO but it's your spine.

Wow - that's a lot of punctures. If I were you, I'd stick with the pump.

Not really. I just ride a lot.

 

[HLaB]

I've got a couple of combination mini pump & CO2 dispensers - the PDW Magic Flute & a Bontrager Air Rush (I think), so the best of both worlds. Wiggle also used to do an own brand combination pump that would fit in a saddle bag, but was only of real use to get a bit of air in the tube when fitting the tyre to stop it getting trapped.

I had that pump/CO2 adaptor, I had just stopped carrying a standalone pump only to go to use it and find the stem adaptor had seized. After that and thinking of all the other times I'd seen CO2 on mates bikes overinflate causing a blow out and the amount of times I had got home with tube pumped up by hand I decided the CO2 was a waste of space and I went back to a standalone pump. I wasn't sure I liked the 'throw away' nature anyway

 

[faster]

Sorry, I should have written store-brand. Thanks for pointing that out. I've corrected my earlier post. It's a typical store-brand: some items are good, some dreck.


Yeah, and I imagined all the users of cheap inflators that I've seen suffer freezer burns or get enveloped in more dry ice than a 80s pop act(!)


CO2 inflator = 50p per use. Pump = almost free per use. You have your opinion. I have maths.


Out almost every day, me duck, but I have guards on the bikes. Oh and I'll continue to presume you're riding through the sea, as you didn't disagree


Does your back not get showered with a stream of crap off your back wheel like most guardless road bikers, then?

Nice stylish bags are never unnecessary. Putting hard objects in your jersey back pockets is a gamble IMO but it's your spine.


Not really. I just ride a lot.

Errr, yeah. Whatever.

Hope that poor luck you've been having with all those punctures improves for you.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Mod note:

This is all getting a but unnecessary, and about pumps for goodness sake!

Agree to disagree and move on. Any more squabbling after this point will be removed.

Thankyou.

 

[Milkfloat]

I don't get how people over-inflate with CO2. A 16g cartridge gives about 90 psi on a 25mm 700c tyre, plus I am yet to see an inflator that does not have a way to control the flow, even if it is a simple as screwing the cartridge back in a bit.

 

[faster]

I don't get how people over-inflate with CO2. A 16g cartridge gives about 90 psi on a 25mm 700c tyre, plus I am yet to see an inflator that does not have a way to control the flow, even if it is a simple as screwing the cartridge back in a bit.

Agreed - this is exactly my experience, and as the size of the tyre increases you end up with a lower pressure.

 

[HLaB]

I don't get how people over-inflate with CO2. A 16g cartridge gives about 90 psi on a 25mm 700c tyre, plus I am yet to see an inflator that does not have a way to control the flow, even if it is a simple as screwing the cartridge back in a bit.

I've seen it plenty of times (touch wood its never happened to me), if a tyre is damaged 60psi can be enough to make it go pop. I've seen too many times folk put the 90psi in their tyre and all seems fine for a moment, they are good to go and then pop

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Cheaper, really? How much does it cost you per inflation? CO2 inflators are the inkjet printers of cycling.

Reliable, really? How many roadside inflations before you must refill/reload it?

I find it difficult to believe people still carry wasteful gadgets instead of a simple pump.

Blimey, I'm finding myself in total agreement with @mjr. Mind you it's not about Brexit... I often carry a basic frame pump I got from Decathlon for under a fiver. It ain't the best pump in the world but it will easily inflate a tyre enough to enable the bike to be ridden onwards to a destination or ridden back home. That's all it needs to do. I've got a track pump at home which will supply all the pressure I require for very little effort.

 

[carlosfandangus]

I don't get how people over-inflate with CO2. A 16g cartridge gives about 90 psi on a 25mm 700c tyre, plus I am yet to see an inflator that does not have a way to control the flow, even if it is a simple as screwing the cartridge back in a bit.

Mine was all my own fault, I have used CO2 successfully in the past, I was just being over enthusiastic this time, hence the pump with larger low volume tyres, I simply put to much in to soon.

 

[Brooks]

I often act as a back marker on our group rides and most weeks we would deal with someone having a puncture. Once the tube is changed it's always the same, the struggle with the Barbie Doll pump most people carry! They even swap one useless pump for another for the same result.😀