"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.