New to road bik. Help Wanted!

QikSmurf

Hello all,

I'm new to road bikes and have acouple of novice questions.

I just bought a Cannondale R600 and it has Michelin tyres on it. They read 75-110psi on them. I can't get the pressure up past 50psi. I have 3 hand pumps and one where you put your feet on the two pegs and pump with two hands. That one has a pressure gauge and even with all my body weight behind it, I can't get past 50psi.

Any suggestions would be great.

By the way, I'm in the western suburbs of Brissy if there are any of you out there wanting a newbiw to tag along for a ride.
Cheers.

Dancier

Sometimes you need to release a bit of air from the tyre before putting the pump on.

Undo the the valve, push it down to release air, put the pump on and start pumping. Best of luck.

quickbuck

Cheeky!

Anyhow, as mentioned, let a bit of air out first.

Also, if the tyre is as hard as a rock (ie, can't push finger into it), then I would say your guage is kaput.

clackerz

As said check your valve. I have done this myself when in a rush.

~MoDCoN~

don't know if this is obvious... first time i was pumping high pressure tyres, i didn't unscrew the valve, and couldn't get any air in... the 50psi could be what you are creating b/w closed valve and the pump tube...

good luck anyway!

__________________
~Gone Crazy. Be back soon.~

kleng

+1 The presta valves have a section you need to unscrew to release the valve, then when you finished filling the tire screw it back up again.

thomas_cho

The "track pump" is not a huffy one is it? Anyway some of these "track pumps" look-a-like are not designed for high pressure tyres, I hope it was just something simple like forgetting to unscrew the presta valve before pumping.

quickbuck

Funny you should say that.

First time I saw Huffy (Being a Kiwi we wern't exposed to this stuff in our home land), was when we got some bikes in East Timor.

Well, Huffy was right. Lasted about 3 minutes, and we all walked off in a Huff!
To be fair the first breakdown was a puncture, and it would have happened to any bike, but some of the other breakages, well, we will leave it at that!

A Huffy pump, Well I Huffy, and Puffy, but my tyre still won't inflate lol.

We haven't heard much from the origional poster, so i wonder if they are too embarresed to come back?

QikSmurf

Hello again,

I've been away for a while and I have just finished reading the replies.

First, its not the valve. The valve is always unscrewed and primed.

It aint me, I'm 6' 2", 96kg with <15% body fat. It could be the pump. It's not a Huffy but it could be it's cousin. I bought a Repco from Big W for $25 and it could be the gauge.

The tyres do feel hard. Not hard as steel, but if I use all my strength and push my thumb into the tyre, it will "just" distort. So it could be the gauge.

Here is the problem again. With the tyre fully flat it, only takes a few pumps and I get to a point where the handle just won't go down. I'm not talking difficult and slow, I'm saying it won't budge an inch. I have tried a hand pump ( the one we use on our pram) and it can't match the Repco floor pump.

I only ask because I do get some tyre flex when I push the bike hard. Not sure whether you get that at 110psi. Anyway, I will try a LBS and see what they say.

Thanks for all the advise

thomas_cho

Okay, its a strain of the huffy. I dont think you could get a high pressure floor pump for $25. You could get a pretty adequate one for $50 ish.

And I dont think any of us are saying one needs the muscles to get to 110psi, you just need the right equipment.


FWIW, you can get some Topeak mini hand pumps which can pump to 100psi with just a little effort. But for everyday use, the floor pump is still most efficient.

When you are at your LBS, just purchase a good floor pump.