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Portable Pump or CO2?

Old 06-22-20, 06:29 AM
  #1  
TBlackwell600
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Portable Pump or CO2?

Hey All,
I've been biking for the better part of 5 years, mainly rail trails on hybrids. I just purchased my 1st road bike and was wondering what the consensus is on what you carry, a hand pump or co2?
Thanks for your input.
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Old 06-22-20, 06:35 AM
  #2  
DorkDisk
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co2 for short rides, both for longer rides
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Old 06-22-20, 06:46 AM
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ridelikeaturtle
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Pump. I'm not in so much of a hurry.

With CO2, what happens when you have to re-inflate if the tyre may not seat properly, or you get another flat? How many cartridges would I need to carry? Two, three?
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Old 06-22-20, 06:54 AM
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shelbyfv
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Both. CO2 so your friends don't have to wait, pump for the backup or multiple.
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Old 06-22-20, 07:06 AM
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I just go with a pump.
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Old 06-22-20, 07:10 AM
  #6  
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I haven't had any problems with CO2. I carry two, but have only needed the second one once. Of course that was time I only had one in the bag. But even though I screwed up the inflation, I still got it about half inflated and that was good enough to make it the 10 miles or so I had left.
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Old 06-22-20, 08:14 AM
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Originally Posted by TBlackwell600
Hey All,
I've been biking for the better part of 5 years, mainly rail trails on hybrids. I just purchased my 1st road bike and was wondering what the consensus is on what you carry, a hand pump or co2?
Thanks for your input.
Full size frame pump achieving full pressure in 90 strokes for an unlimited number of flats.
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Old 06-22-20, 08:18 AM
  #8  
Paul Barnard
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I carry a small frame mounted pump. It's not a lot of fun to fully inflate a tire, but it has never failed me. I have never needed help getting rolling again. I have helped others whose CO2 failed them.
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Old 06-22-20, 08:48 AM
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Frame or mini pump all the way. I like the Topeak road morph g

https://www.topeak.com/global/de/pro...-road-morph--g
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Old 06-22-20, 08:50 AM
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Originally Posted by General Geoff
Frame or mini pump all the way. I like the Topeak road morph g

https://www.topeak.com/global/de/pro...-road-morph--g

inuse that one also.
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Old 06-22-20, 08:54 AM
  #11  
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Pump.

I get, what, a couple/three/four flats a year (one so far this year), so carrying two forms of inflation, plus the waste associated with CO2 (mt cartridges) does not justify the convenience of CO2.

If I was riding in an area where flats were a more frequent occurrence that might change the equation.
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Old 06-22-20, 08:55 AM
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AlgarveCycling
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Rechargeable portable air compressor/electric pump that fits comfortably into one of my jersey pockets along with a spare tube

No manual pump, no C02. Brilliant.
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Old 06-22-20, 08:55 AM
  #13  
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I own both but carry neither. After more than 10,000 flat-free miles on tubeless tires I decided to stop carrying either.
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Old 06-22-20, 08:55 AM
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I carry a pump and a tiny Presta to Schrader converter.
A six pack of converters was $7 and each one weighs in at massive 1.3grams.

Now I can go to any gas station and even re-seat a tubeless while on the road if I really really have to.

Barry

Last edited by Barry2; 06-22-20 at 09:18 AM.
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Old 06-22-20, 09:11 AM
  #15  
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CO2, but I carry three 16g cartridges, so if I do have any issues I have plenty of gas.
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Old 06-22-20, 09:25 AM
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Pump (Topeak Road Morph) for me. By the time I figure what caused the flat, and get the Michelin wire or glass shard out, I wouldn't save much time overall with CO2.
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Old 06-22-20, 09:31 AM
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NOTHING, till i use up 2 (of 3) favors from spouse per month.
then, 1 CO2 cartridge AND a mini pump. the cartridge is the back-up.... no really, it is for the rare case when my hands just dont care to pump a bit.
ALWAYS, few patches and a presta-schraeder adapter

Last edited by shrimp123; 06-22-20 at 09:41 AM.
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Old 06-22-20, 09:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
I carry a small frame mounted pump. It's not a lot of fun to fully inflate a tire, but it has never failed me. I have never needed help getting rolling again. I have helped others whose CO2 failed them.
This, except I did once have a mini-pump that fell apart on me once while I was helping another rider repair a flat. Fortunately we were able to flag down another rider with a pump.

He had used his only CO2 cartridge earlier in the day.
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Old 06-22-20, 09:52 AM
  #19  
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Originally Posted by Drew Eckhardt
Full size frame pump achieving full pressure in 90 strokes for an unlimited number of flats.
+1

I'm an older male who is always on the lookout for discreet places to relive my bladder. Three days ago I discovered recently mowed access to an orchard. Wheeled my bike to a nice private spot. A mile later, both tires were flat. The now gone weeds I'd been wheeling over were blackberries. I pulled out about a dozen thorns and still got three more flats. So 5 flats in 12 miles form one "incident". Thank you, Zephal!

All my bikes sport Zephal HPs, HPXs or Classics (HPX in HP styling). Always will. If I buy one of these new things that don't accommodate a TT mounted frame pump I'll have to get creative.

Ben
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Old 06-22-20, 10:29 AM
  #20  
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I carry a spare tube and (2) CO2.

I've never seen a mini pump that will give me the PSI that a 16g CO2 yields.
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Old 06-22-20, 10:31 AM
  #21  
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Both. I also carry both a spare tube and a patch kit. Belt and suspenders.
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Old 06-22-20, 10:37 AM
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I carry a mini pump. IMO CO2 has too many downsides. And, since I went to tubeless I haven't had to use my pump, so there's that.
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Old 06-22-20, 10:49 AM
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I'm in the "both" camp. I just began taking CO2 on rides a couple of years ago. I've been cycling for 40 years and can't believe I was a holdout for so long. The first flat I had and used CO2 I thougth back to all those flats over the years where pumped and pumped and pumped to get up to 100psi. The CO2 gets it up to that in seconds. But a piece of advice, in case no one else mentioned it...make sure that you practice at home with your inflater before you have to use it for a real flat.

Dan
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Old 06-22-20, 11:00 AM
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CO2. I'll take a mini pump for backup on especially long solo rides.


Originally Posted by _ForceD_
make sure that you practice at home with your inflater before you have to use it for a real flat.
This is important. I did not follow this advice the first time, and things did not go so well.
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Old 06-22-20, 11:06 AM
  #25  
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Originally Posted by GlennR
I carry a spare tube and (2) CO2.

I've never seen a mini pump that will give me the PSI that a 16g CO2 yields.
https://road.cc/content/review/260467-fumpa-minifumpa

3x 100 PSI if you need it. Then just recharge before the next ride. I'm a convert. No bigger than a mini pump.
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