pumps



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Geoff Bowles

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What sort of pump do people carry on road bikes theses days?

I'm finally retiring my old road bike, which has a neat frame-fitting pump, but the new bike has a
"compact frame" with sloping top-tube.

On my mountain bike I carry a short pump in a mounting low on the seat tube, but this would look a
bit messy on an elegant road bike

Geoff
 
In message <[email protected]>, Geoff Bowles <[email protected]> writes

>On my mountain bike I carry a short pump in a mounting low on the seat tube, but this would look a
>bit messy on an elegant road bike

I agree, but my compact frame is too small for a frame pump. I've got a Blackburn Airstick AS-1
mounted on the bottle cage. You could put an even smaller pump in your jersey pocket.

--
Michael MacClancy
 
Geoff Bowles wrote:
> What sort of pump do people carry on road bikes theses days?
>
> I'm finally retiring my old road bike, which has a neat frame-fitting pump, but the new bike has a
> "compact frame" with sloping top-tube.
>
> On my mountain bike I carry a short pump in a mounting low on the seat tube, but this would look a
> bit messy on an elegant road bike

I find my road bike looks odd _without_ an HPX under the top tube!

~PB
 
"Pete Biggs" <pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Geoff Bowles wrote:
> > What sort of pump do people carry on road bikes theses days?
> >
> > I'm finally retiring my old road bike, which has a neat frame-fitting pump, but the new bike has
> > a "compact frame" with sloping top-tube.
> >
> > On my mountain bike I carry a short pump in a mounting low on the seat tube, but this would look
> > a bit messy on an elegant road bike
>
> I find my road bike looks odd _without_ an HPX under the top tube!
>
> ~PB
>
>

Hi.

Having used many and various pumps over a good few years the 'SPECIALIZED Airforce4' that I have now
has been the best so far and mounted on the bottle cage looks quite spiffy on my current road bike.

Cheers

Jo B.
 
Jo B wrote:
> Having used many and various pumps over a good few years the 'SPECIALIZED Airforce4' that I have
> now has been the best so far and mounted on the bottle cage looks quite spiffy on my current
> road bike.

How long is it, and how many psi can you get from it? Other pumps might be lighter and look better
but no mini pump can compete with the HPX when it comes to high pressure :) (Just not physically
possible).

cheers ~PB
 
Thus spake "Pete Biggs" <pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc>

> How long is it, and how many psi can you get from it?

Too right; LENGTH IS STRENGTH!

> Other pumps might be lighter and look better but no mini pump can compete with the HPX when it
> comes to high pressure :) (Just not physically possible).

I have a largish supply of fairly useless little pumps, which I'm quite happy to donate to anyone
who is willing to send me an email first and to pop round to collect.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.
 
"Pete Biggs" <pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Jo B wrote:
> > Having used many and various pumps over a good few years the 'SPECIALIZED Airforce4' that I have
> > now has been the best so far and mounted on the bottle cage looks quite spiffy on my current
> > road bike.
>
> How long is it, and how many psi can you get from it? Other pumps might be lighter and look better
> but no mini pump can compete with the HPX when it comes to high pressure :) (Just not physically
> possible).
>
> cheers ~PB
>
>

It's about 10" long & rated up to 160psi, I have no trouble getting upto 110-120psi .

Cheers

Jo B.
 
Thus spake "Jo B" <[email protected]>

> It's about 10" long & rated up to 160psi, I have no trouble getting upto 110-120psi .

> Cheers

There speaks a Real Man™. He probably rides one of Sheldon Brown's saddles.

A Gurl

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.
 
"Helen Deborah Vecht" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thus spake "Jo B" <[email protected]>
>
>
>
> > It's about 10" long & rated up to 160psi, I have no trouble getting upto 110-120psi .
>
> > Cheers
>
> There speaks a Real ManT. He probably rides one of Sheldon Brown's
saddles.
>
> A Gurl
>
> --
> Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

Ere you takin' the p*ss and wots all this about saddles ? dont use one meself :-O

A Blowk
 
"Jo B" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Pete Biggs" <pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Jo B wrote:
> > > Having used many and various pumps over a good few years the 'SPECIALIZED Airforce4' that I
> > > have now has been the best so far and mounted on the bottle cage looks quite spiffy on my
> > > current road bike.
> >
> > How long is it, and how many psi can you get from it? Other pumps might be lighter and look
> > better but no mini pump can compete with the HPX
when
> > it comes to high pressure :) (Just not physically possible).
> >
> > cheers ~PB
> >
> >
>
> It's about 10" long & rated up to 160psi, I have no trouble getting upto 110-120psi .
>
> Cheers

Yep its also easy to inflate tyres to 110-120psi with cheap SKS or Zefal (SPS?) framefit pumps
costing 3 or 4 quid a 1/4 of the price of an HPX, much lighter than a HPX too.

The only downside of the cheap pumps is they can explode if you treat them without respect.
 
Jo B wrote:
>>> It's about 10" long & rated up to 160psi, I have no trouble getting upto 110-120psi .

>> There speaks a Real ManT. He probably rides one of Sheldon Brown's saddles.
>>
>> A Gurl

> Ere you takin' the p*ss and wots all this about saddles ? dont use one meself :-O
>
> A Blowk

A Blowk with a name like Jo. ....I've been swizzed!

And 10" aint no mini, by the way.

~Pete "like I said, don't do inuendo" Biggs
 
Frank wrote:
> Yep its also easy to inflate tyres to 110-120psi with cheap SKS or Zefal (SPS?) framefit pumps
> costing 3 or 4 quid a 1/4 of the price of an HPX, much lighter than a HPX too.

I can't agree. I've still got a Zefal SP size 4 and anything much beyond 95psi with it (and every
other cheap pump I've tried) is extremely hard work. The HPX is far superior because it has a
narrower barrel, spring lock-out feature and a better valve connection system. I like to save weight
on my bike so there's no way I'd carry this big heavy ugly expensive thing if it wasn't so damn good
at inflating my 130psi tyres. It's also just simply nicer to use with _all_ tyres.

~PB
 
"Geoff Bowles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What sort of pump do people carry on road bikes theses days?
>
> I'm finally retiring my old road bike, which has a neat frame-fitting
pump,
> but the new bike has a "compact frame" with sloping top-tube.
>
> On my mountain bike I carry a short pump in a mounting low on the seat
tube,
> but this would look a bit messy on an elegant road bike
>
> Geoff
>
> Try CO2 cartridges, take two with you. If you need more than two then your
tyres are suspect.

Graham
 
"Geoff Bowles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> What sort of pump do people carry on road bikes theses days?

In a small pack under the saddle I carry 1 set of plastic tyre levers, two spare tubes, 1 pack of
self adhesive patches, 1 CO2 inflator, 2 spare CO2 cartridges, 1 chain link extractor, and 1 20
quid note.

The inflator hasn't let me down yet but the obvious risk is that each cartridge is a one-shot deal,
so if you tear a tube or have a fiddly puncture that takes several goes to get right you could run
out of charges.

--
Dave...
 
Frank <[email protected]> wrote:

: Yep its also easy to inflate tyres to 110-120psi with cheap SKS or Zefal (SPS?) framefit pumps
: costing 3 or 4 quid a 1/4 of the price of an HPX, much lighter than a HPX too.

Depends if you have any upper body strength or not. I have the proverbial pipe-cleaner arms and
can't get 120PSI out of a cheap Zefal for love nor money. I can get 90, which gets me home but isn't
ideal for 23mm tires.

Just to confuse the issue I have a HPX but normally use a blackburn double action mini-pump (a very
good quality one) out of which I can get 110PSI, which does fine (I normally only pump to 115PSI
with the track pump anyway)

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org Power is delightful. Absolute power is absolutely delightful -
Lord Lester
 
"Arthur Clune" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Frank <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> : Yep its also easy to inflate tyres to 110-120psi with cheap SKS or Zefal (SPS?) framefit pumps
> : costing 3 or 4 quid a 1/4 of the price of an HPX,
much
> : lighter than a HPX too.
>
> Depends if you have any upper body strength or not. I have the proverbial pipe-cleaner arms and
> can't get 120PSI out of a cheap Zefal for love nor money. I can get 90, which gets me home but
> isn't ideal for 23mm tires.
>
Upper body strength is an issue, but I'm no weight lifter. I think technique is important:

I wear leather palmed track mitts (the frame fitt moulding is painful)

Brace the valve end of the pump against something solid (to push against)

Press the pump up into the valve (so the weight of the bike holds the valve in the pump).

Lean into to pump so the final part of the push comes off your shoulder.

You only need a momentary max force on the pump of ~ 30 kg

> Just to confuse the issue I have a HPX but normally use a blackburn double action mini-pump (a
> very good quality one) out of which I can get 110PSI, which does fine (I normally only pump to
> 115PSI with the track pump
anyway)
>

Obviously a track pump is the sensible thing at home. But for the 1 or 2 % of rides I actually need
to fix a puncture, a cheap pump is fine.
 
Frank <[email protected]> wrote:

: Brace the valve end of the pump against something solid (to push against)

This can be very tricky - verges and hedges don't supply the necessary.

Personally I think that getting back on the road quikcly and with less fuss is worth 20 quid.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org Power is delightful. Absolute power is absolutely delightful -
Lord Lester
 
On Wed, 16 Apr 2003, Frank wrote:

>
> "Arthur Clune" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > Frank <[email protected]> wrote:
> But the HPX's has a narrower cylinder (the only reason that higher pressures can be got with less
> force) so it takes longer to pump as less air goes in with each stroke.
>
> Personally I prefer something lighter, I have to carry it on every trip and only ever use it
> occasionally.

I know that the day I leave the pump at home will be the day I get a puncture, so as long as I have
a reasonable pump I wont get a puncture. Decent tyres help, too.

The zefal SP is cheap, lightweight and snugly frame mounting. Its quite comfortable to hold at the
valve end, too. (as long as you dont have too many spokes)

I have carried a pump whenever Ive been out on a bike and consequently havent had a puncture since
september. The pumps have been used to pump up plenty of other peoples tyres though!

-Alex

--
----------------------+ Alex Graham | [email protected] | ----------------------+
 
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