70sSanO

Point

easyupbug 

My daughter has one and it was a great pump for the family for a few years until she needed a new gasket for the presta side of the head. She had to by the whole head/hose, they do not sell the gasket which is an odd shape. She is in Portland where waste like that is not appreciated.

cyccommute 

I would agree that the Medai is the best pump I have every owned. Unfortunately, the leather wore out about 20 years ago and I could never find a replacement which started a 20 year frustrating effort to find something worth while.

Yes, but... Lezyne pumps are pretty good but the check valve in the plastic base models melts and the pump is ruined. I had a Steel Drive model that melted the check valve recently. Lezyne told me that they try to steer people away from the plastic bases for this reason.

I recently tried to use that kind of head and, like you, found it extremely frustrating to use. On the plus side, you can easily replace the head of any pump with a different head. Here's a Lezyne dual head for $10. I found that kind of head worked on Schrader valves but was crap on presta. You can use a thread-on presta adapter for $1 to $3 or you can get a presta adapter that can be attached to the head like the SKS pump adaptor which has a chain on it so that you won't lose it if you switch back and forth or the Silca adaptor. I like the Silca because, well, it's Silca. I'm not sure I'd like a stainless one, however. The brass Silca adaptors develop a nice patina through use.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you a good pump to get now. I've found any number of them to be worse than crap. Park's floor pump is horrible. The economical Lezyne's aren't worth buying according to the company! (I have one of their CNC models but I haven't used it long enough to say whether it is any good or not.) Joe Blows are okay and may even be pretty good although I had one of the more expensive models fail me just before the cheaper Lezyne did...the needle on the gauge popped off and the top of the pump unscrewed with the heat fluctuations of my garage And it had a really funky chuck which I didn't like. I have a Pedros Prestige in my cubicle at work which seems to work well but it doesn't get much use.

I would tentatively suggest the Lezyne CNC pump but I'm not a fan of their chucks. Pump companies have gotten too cleaver with pump heads and overly complicated them. My Lezyne has a Silca presta head (30+ years old) permanently mounted on it so that it actually works. Time will tell if the pump is robust but, given the last 2 decades of experience, I'm not holding my breath.

2_i 

I would never buy a floor pump with plastic base and I am even weary about alu bases. Manufacturers tend to go over a range of products for different price brackets, though of course it would be better if they did not venture into bad quality, especially if they have aspirations at the other end. I can vouch for Lezyne digital both in full size and mini version for the road. Is this melting caused by friction due to air moving over a narrow passage?


Reading explicit or implicit recommendations for Silca heads, such as above, I got the recommended Silca heads and found them awful, awful, did I say awful? to the degree of going back and checking whether I ever followed any other recommendation of the same person. In any case, when I need an extra Presta head I use Hirame that I couple to a Zefal head for Schrader with an adapter. I have pieces for the Schrader version of Hirame but I do not use them presumably not overwhelmed by the Schrader operation of Hirame - can't recall.

fietsbob

Tried the Bontrager-Trek one in the LBS. It's long tube moves a lot of air compressed ,
at the bottom of the stroke, to a high pressure..
which is what a floor pump is for..

'smart' head adapts to either valve type, when you lift the lever.


as in earlier post my old ones still work,
so I'm not shopping for a new pump..



...

carlos danger

I have a joe blow sport. it had almost zero negative reviews on crc when i got it. its has been good for many years. it has a steel base plate.

carlos danger

when you compress air it gets hot. in a diesel engine it gets so hot it assplodes. air compressors are pretty much air heaters with the side effect of compressing air.

2_i 

Well, tubes do not melt when pumped - there needs to be locally generated heat that does not dissipate quickly enough. Adiabatic heating is not sufficient.

carlos danger

I have never managed to melt any of my tires/tubes/hoses/pumps/heads at least. But I'm usually not in a hurry either.

cyccommute 

Here's exactly what Lezyne said to me

I wouldn't have called my use "excessive" as I just it just to pump up tires. I do have 8 bikes but I seldom pump up more than one at a time. Having the valve melt was somewhat surprising considering that I've never had it happen before on any other pump.

I don't know what you are doing to have Silca pump heads not work. They aren't for Schrader heads. For a Presta valve, they push on, you pump up the tire and pull them off. There are zero working parts. It's about a simple as it can get.

2_i 

Well, the apparent simplicity was the problem in itself: The same friction that was supposed to hold the head put against pressure while pumping was the friction which was opposing mounting the head on the valve. I can imagine such absurd contradiction for a certain point in time, skimming on the edges of two thresholds, but the time has moved on by several decades.

cyccommute 

Well, kinda...but not quite. The air doesn't asspolde in a Diesel engine...at least not until you inject the fuel. And the heating of the air is a side effect of the compression.

Tubes don't melt because they are on low pressure side of the compression. The heated air moving across the venturi is going to cool as it expands to fill the tube. The check valve in the Lezyne pump is the Venturi so it will see the greatest heat on the compressed side. I didn't take the pump apart but I have looked at the video on how to replace the check valve (in pumps that allow the valve to be replaced). The check valve appears to be just a plastic piece mounted on a spring. I suspect that their plastic isn't up to the job so it melts or deforms and gets stuck in the venturi or the venturi itself collapses. The CNC version has a metal base and a plastic venturi.

Cyclist0108

I just got a "Lezyne CNC Digital Floor Drive Bicycle Pump". One of the features of this is that the pump-head threads on to the valve, rather than the conventional quick-release/clamp lever pumphead. I was so pleased with this feature, I demonstrated it to my wife, at which point I also learned that this doubles as a valve extractor, and all the air blew out. (You need to really tighten the valve core first.) To add insult to injury, my rear tire blew off in my face a few seconds later (not the pump's fault -- the gauge is absolutely accurate -- my box rims don't have hooks).

She became annoyed and left on a ride without me.

Anyone recommend a divorce lawyer?



Despite the comedy, I would definitely recommend it. I got it on Amazon.

2_i 

How do you like the handle in the CNC one? I was skeptical about the metal handle and went with a non-CNC one with a wooden handle and it is good. The metal handle of the mini floor Lezyne for the road has edges that protrude into the hand when you grab it, so I cut a piece of soft plastic tube I put around it for pumping to cover those edges and it is OK.

Cyclist0108

I didn't notice it one way or the other, so I guess the handle is ok.

If not, I have some bar tape...

cyccommute 

The handles on the Lezyne CNC pump that I have are extremely comfortable. Are you talking about the Lezyne CNC Travel Drive? Our co-op has one and it's not the most comfortable pump to use. The larger CNC has a nice smooth handle that is very comfortable.

On the other hand, if you are talking about the Lezyne hand pump, those are much less comfortable to use than a Topeak Morph.

That's the major problem I have with Lezyne's heads. I absolutely hate the thread on head! It's fiddly and futzy. That's why I put a Silca chuck on mine. I also own a Lezyne handpump which never gets used for the same reason.

2_i 

Thanks, good to know.

Wow! I did not even know it existed. Upon closer inspection it is too big for my applications, but it looks like an interesting concept.

Indeed this is the one with an uncomfortable handle. I cover it with a piece of tube that slides onto the pump's body when not in use.

I did not like the thread either but got used to it over time and I got to appreciate that it hardly ever leaks any air.

woodcraft

The local 'bicycle thrift store' (Trips for kids) had a Velowurks pump so I asked how they liked it.

It didn't get a good review (chuck problems?) but it was donated & the guy I spoke to favors Lezyne screw-on chucks

which I dislike.

2_i 

Due to this discussion I learned about and got a Lezyne ABS1 Pro chuck, trying it out as a replacement for the Lezyne Standard ABS chuck. I like it indeed more - I guess now I am in complete piece with a Lezyne chuck. This chuck was offered as second-hand, barely used - must have been off someone who hated it Too bad such a chuck will not work with a Micro Floor pump.

davidad

Silca has resurrected the Pista pump for $100.

robertorolfo

Those of you that are happy with your pumps, do you also use a gauge to verify pressures, or do you completely trust the gauge on the pump?

I'm NOT happy with my Park Tool Home Mechanic floor pump, mostly because the gauge seems completely unreliable, and I'm debating whether if I should get a completely new pump, or just buy a gauge with a bleed valve and keep the pump that I have.

zze86

Glad this thread spurred such conversation!

Based on Cyccommute's suggestion I started looking for a replacement head and found the Topeak smarthead upgrade kit which lets you use one chuck for both Presta and Shrader. They have a newer, shinier version but not knowing if I would like the valve engagement I got this less expensive one.

So far I really like it. No need to fiddle around with which head to choose. No screwing in. Just plug it in, lift the lever and start pumping. Works equally well with either valve. Will have to see if they have a similar kit for my MorphG.