Portable pump vs. CO2 tank(s)

rudycyclist said:

I'm curious as to if any roadies here carry portable pumps or if most carry a co2 tank or two? My parents have been riding me about not carrying an extra tube with me but I hate the fact of having to carry either co2 or a pump. What should I go with? Any product advice? I'm looking at manual pumps and I've also seen co2 "guns".

[font=Comic Sans MS]Hi there as a cross country MTB’er some road,[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS] I’ve looked at the pros and cons of pump verse canister, and i reached these conclusions. The canister its fast, small light and way cool, reusable if you get the one with a shut off valve. Cons it does not inflate to much over 2 bars and you have know way of knowing how much is left in the canister so you'll always have to carry two, it also costs about 2 bucks a canister.[/font]

[font='Times New Roman'][font=Comic Sans MS]A good light weight double action pump clipped to the water bottle cage is always there and will last for years, get one with a pressure gauge and you'll always get the tyre pressure you deserve, cons it takes a little sweat sometimes to pump that tyre. I decided go with the pump.[/font][/font]

While the CO2 inflators sure are slick whatcha gonna do when you run out of cartridges? A small pocket pump (check out Crank Brothers) will handle all your needs time after time.

capwater said:

While the CO2 inflators sure are slick whatcha gonna do when you run out of cartridges? A small pocket pump (check out Crank Brothers) will handle all your needs time after time.

Right. If you're actually concerned about getting flats, carry a real pump. CO2 inflators only make sense if you very rarely need to use them.

artmichalek said:

Right. If you're actually concerned about getting flats, carry a real pump. CO2 inflators only make sense if you very rarely need to use them.

I agree a small pump is the way to go, I can however see benefits from useing a canister in competition where the difference in time might be the difference of catching back up to the pack or not.

artmichalek said:

Right. If you're actually concerned about getting flats, carry a real pump. CO2 inflators only make sense if you very rarely need to use them.

I agree a small pump is the way to go, however I can see that a canister could come in handy in a race where the difference in time could be the difference in catchin the main pack again or not

A pump stratches frames. Depending on the price of your bike, I'd go with a CO2.

rudycyclist said:

I'm curious as to if any roadies here carry portable pumps or if most carry a co2 tank or two? My parents have been riding me about not carrying an extra tube with me but I hate the fact of having to carry either co2 or a pump. What should I go with? Any product advice? I'm looking at manual pumps and I've also seen co2 "guns".

vchu7105 said:

A pump stratches frames. Depending on the price of your bike, I'd go with a CO2.

A pump will only scratch your frame if you mount it with duct tape and rubber bands. Use a propper mounting bracket or put it in your jersey pocket.

Scotttri said:

I agree a small pump is the way to go, however I can see that a canister could come in handy in a race where the difference in time could be the difference in catchin the main pack again or not

RAV X,out our way make a combimation minipump co2 canister,looks cool to,this should sort out yor delema.
[img]olympiccycles.co.zabrowse.phpOpen ↗[/img]

vchu7105 said:

A pump stratches frames. Depending on the price of your bike, I'd go with a CO2.

Pumps attached to frames???!!!

Hey Austin Powers, we ain't talking about those big silver frame pumps circa 1967 (course they were great at whacking stray hounds).

I have a Crank Brothers pocket pump, less than 6 inches long, fits in the jersey pocket along with levers and a tube. Don't even know it's there.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/Profile.cfm?SKU=4394&item=40-0164&slitrk=search&slisearch=true

capwater said:

While the CO2 inflators sure are slick whatcha gonna do when you run out of cartridges? A small pocket pump (check out Crank Brothers) will handle all your needs time after time.

That's the standard line but it's just rhetoric. We all carry some level of insurance and we all decide how much risk we're going to take on mechanicals.

If you only carry one spare tube you're not as insured as if you had two.

If you only carry two CO2 carts you're not as insured as if you had three.\

If you don't have a chain tool, extra spokes, pedal wrench, computer battery, chainring binder bolt.... whatever, you might be flirting with disaster.

I've had two flats on the same ride maybe 3 times in 23 years of riding. Had to walk home once when I had three (year #3). Now I carry two tubes and three CO2 carts - that's my comfort level. Never used two carts in the same ride, but did give one away (to a frustrated guy with a minipump) and then needed a second for myself later in the day.

I carry one tube, repair kit, two CO2 carts and an adapter in case I need to get air from a gas station. In a longer ride say 100 miles or so, I'll carry two tubes, repair kit two CO2 carts and my Crankbothers 5" inch pump with gauge. The pump fits in your back pocket, is very light and has a knob you turn for volumne and then for high pressure. I carry the same for mountian biking.

rudycyclist said:

I'm curious as to if any roadies here carry portable pumps or if most carry a co2 tank or two? My parents have been riding me about not carrying an extra tube with me but I hate the fact of having to carry either co2 or a pump. What should I go with? Any product advice? I'm looking at manual pumps and I've also seen co2 "guns".

I've been carrying a CO2 pump with a spare cartridge on the new bike. Haven't had a flat myself in 2 yrs+ riding, but I got a chance to finally use it to inflate a buddy's tire a couple of weeks ago. 12g cart worked perfectly, about 5 seconds to inflate.

On a cross-country tour, sure, I'd probably take my frame pump (and floor pump). But for local riding, particularly with groups, CO2 does the job for me.

Hi

Can I ask how many pumps would it take using the CRANK Brothers Power Pump Mini to pump a road clincher up to 100psi ? and if it takes a big effort ?

The canister has a slight advantage in this area as you can fill it to about
120psi (16gram canister) very quickly.

two tubes and three CO2 carts ..........Same here.

GO GAS !

capwater said:

Pumps attached to frames???!!!

Hey Austin Powers, we ain't talking about those big silver frame pumps circa 1967 (course they were great at whacking stray hounds).

I have a Crank Brothers pocket pump, less than 6 inches long, fits in the jersey pocket along with levers and a tube. Don't even know it's there.

performancebike.comProfile.cfmOpen ↗

Hey! What's wrong with a sizeable frame pump? I wouldn't ride without mine! I'd like to see you get some good pressure going with a pocket pump... I'm able to use some serious shoulder action to pump up the tube to 110 psi or so. Not to mention the pump is good for whacking things, it looks like a nightstick.

I decided to go with gas. I got a small pack to go behind my seat and everything fits perfect. A tube, 2 16 gram tanks, and my little gun fit perfectly with a little space for cell phone, I.D., etc. Thanks for all the advice everyone provided for me.

AmpedCycle said:

Hey! What's wrong with a sizeable frame pump? I wouldn't ride without mine! I'd like to see you get some good pressure going with a pocket pump... I'm able to use some serious shoulder action to pump up the tube to 110 psi or so. Not to mention the pump is good for whacking things, it looks like a nightstick.

Hey, don't want to get into a "my pump is bigger than your pump contest"!Actually the Crank Brothers pocket pump is a cool design. It has 2 modes; high volume to get you going and high pressure to get it finished. Works rather well. To each his/her own........

kleng said:

Hi

Can I ask how many pumps would it take using the CRANK Brothers Power Pump Mini to pump a road clincher up to 100psi ? and if it takes a big effort ?

The canister has a slight advantage in this area as you can fill it to about
120psi (16gram canister) very quickly.

The answer is, it takes a while to get it to 100psi. It dosen't take that long to get it to say 70psi (maybe 1-2 minutes of pumping) which makes the tire ridable but to get it up to 100psi is a lot of work. The pumping gets really difficult past around 80psi. You aren't pushing against the floor like with a floor pump. It is all arm strength. That said the crank bros pump did work better for me than the other mini pumps I've tried.

The co2 canisters does have a big advantage here. It gets it up to pressure pretty much immediatly.

I am assuming someone has studied this, but does anyone know if there is a difference in the life of a tube inflated with CO2 compared to a tube inflated with air?