Favorite mini pump.
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#52
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When I was in my 20s and had a bike with tubular tires, tried to get over 100 PSI in them. That was before I realized that what really mattered was the suppleness of thr tire casing, not so much how high the pressure was (or looked at another way, how hard the road felt when you hit a bump).
I had a plastic frame fit Silca (still have it, have not used it in years), and one time when I got perturbed with how much trouble I had in getting much pressure, I calculated out the inside diameter of the pump tube, and from that calculated how many pounds of force I had to push my two hands together if there was no friction when you are pumping it that way, and was shocked to learn that there was no way I would ever be able to get the recommended pressure.
When I first saw the Lezyne and Toppeak pumps that had a foot rest, yet were small enough to carry on a bike, I knew that was the answer to life's problems.
My narrowest tire on any of my bikes is 28mm now, that still needs some good pressure, but since that rarely goes very far from home, I carry the Zefal HPX on it. I can ride that a short distance with less pressure. My rando bike, that as 32mm tires, also carry a Zefal frame fit pump on it, but when I ride a brevet I carry one of my pumps with a foot piece in the saddle bag.
I had a plastic frame fit Silca (still have it, have not used it in years), and one time when I got perturbed with how much trouble I had in getting much pressure, I calculated out the inside diameter of the pump tube, and from that calculated how many pounds of force I had to push my two hands together if there was no friction when you are pumping it that way, and was shocked to learn that there was no way I would ever be able to get the recommended pressure.
When I first saw the Lezyne and Toppeak pumps that had a foot rest, yet were small enough to carry on a bike, I knew that was the answer to life's problems.
My narrowest tire on any of my bikes is 28mm now, that still needs some good pressure, but since that rarely goes very far from home, I carry the Zefal HPX on it. I can ride that a short distance with less pressure. My rando bike, that as 32mm tires, also carry a Zefal frame fit pump on it, but when I ride a brevet I carry one of my pumps with a foot piece in the saddle bag.
When I was in my 20's I was riding on 700x19 tubular tire on the front and a 20 on the rear, this was when narrow tires were thought to be the best due to aerodynamics. Due to those higher pressures needed, the Silca was used to inflate on the road after a flat. We carried two spare tubulars under our seats, plus had a tubular patch kit which contained a needle and thread, but to repair a tubular on the road could take up to 45 minutes, which is why I packed 2.
#53
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My Topeak Minimorph gets the job done, has a convenient handle and footpad, and fits in my jersey pocket.
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#55
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I found a flaw with my pump. It has a hose which I screw onto the valve stem. Nowadays, some brand new tubes have valve cores which are not screwed in tightly. I was commuting to work and got a flat, changed the tube, and every time I removed the hose, the valve core came out. I guess I'll check all my tubes before I put them in my tool bag, but I'm not happy about this. I ended up getting back on my route by flagging down a cyclist and using his pump, the kind you just push on and pull off.
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#56
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I found a flaw with my pump. It has a hose which I screw onto the valve stem. Nowadays, some brand new tubes have valve cores which are not screwed in tightly.
#57
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I saw a review that mentioned the lose valve core issue. Ironically, the same day I was testing out some new tires, and was going to lower the pressure. I unscrewed only the plastic valve stem cover and accidentally removed the core, and lost all my air. I will be tightening all my cores now and carrying a tool with me. I don't think the screw on hose of a pump will be an issue and I like the idea of a screw down attachment rather than a press and clamp type.
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I saw a review that mentioned the lose valve core issue. Ironically, the same day I was testing out some new tires, and was going to lower the pressure. I unscrewed only the plastic valve stem cover and accidentally removed the core, and lost all my air. I will be tightening all my cores now and carrying a tool with me. I don't think the screw on hose of a pump will be an issue and I like the idea of a screw down attachment rather than a press and clamp type.
#59
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The flex hose that came with mine has chucks on both ends. One is thread-on Presta, the other is push-on Presta. One end of the hose has a built-in wrench for Presta valve cores.
Before I put a new tube in my saddle bag, I make sure that the Presta valve core is tight.
When I use the pump, I usually use the thread-on chuck. I don't tighten it more than necessary when installing it.
After inflating, I use the push button valve on the side of the chuck to relieve the pressure in the line before removing the chuck.
So far, so good when it comes to not inadvertently removing valve cores. I do carry a couple of spare valve cores in the saddle bag as a backup.
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Yeah, well, I can do these things. And I will. I just ordered a couple of valve core tools to put in my two tool bags. I'm annoyed at the screw on hose and the fact that it has apparently become common for tubes to come with loose valve cores. This wasn't a concern back in the day.
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noglider posted: Yeah, well, I can do these things. And I will. I just ordered a couple of valve core tools to put in my two tool bags. I'm annoyed at the screw on hose and the fact that it has apparently become common for tubes to come with loose valve cores. This wasn't a concern back in the day.
#62
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I found a flaw with my pump. It has a hose which I screw onto the valve stem. Nowadays, some brand new tubes have valve cores which are not screwed in tightly. I was commuting to work and got a flat, changed the tube, and every time I removed the hose, the valve core came out. I guess I'll check all my tubes before I put them in my tool bag, but I'm not happy about this. I ended up getting back on my route by flagging down a cyclist and using his pump, the kind you just push on and pull off.
#63
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Are you talking about the Lezyne Road Drive? If so, I'm not sure what people are doing wrong to unscrew the core. I've been using one since 2013 and never removed a core with it. The only thing I can say is to make sure you take a pair of small pliers and make sure the core is snug, but I've never had to do that with any of my tubes I've used.
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#64
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No, my pump is the Topeak RaceRocket Mini Pump. As I said, the core was loose when I took the tube out of the box. The bike shop owner said he's seen this a lot lately. I wonder why. As I said, I'll check my tubes before I put them in my tool bag and I will also bring the valve tightening tool.
I have heard that for some reason those cores are coming out in newer tubes, but I didn't think much of it because my floor pump is a screw on chuck, and it didn't do anything to the cores either.
Needless to say, I'm baffled, maybe some tubes just come with the cores loose? Probably would be wise to tighten them.
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The issue I often encounter with road pumps is the length.
Stowing a pump that's over seven inches long is a problem I don't want to resolve.
however, a short road pump tends to require a bunch more strokes to net 90 psi.
Stowing a pump that's over seven inches long is a problem I don't want to resolve.
however, a short road pump tends to require a bunch more strokes to net 90 psi.
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I found a flaw with my pump. It has a hose which I screw onto the valve stem. Nowadays, some brand new tubes have valve cores which are not screwed in tightly. I was commuting to work and got a flat, changed the tube, and every time I removed the hose, the valve core came out. I guess I'll check all my tubes before I put them in my tool bag, but I'm not happy about this. I ended up getting back on my route by flagging down a cyclist and using his pump, the kind you just push on and pull off.
#67
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Minor observation - this thread was posted under Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets. The pumps of this thread are manual. No lighting or electronics. That leaves gadgets. My thought: minipumps, yes posted in the proper place.
#68
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@79pmooney, I've been thinking about it, and now that you said that, I'm definitely going to try to get my Zefal HPX pump working and mounted on at least one of my bikes. Why mess around, right? I've seen some people in The City carrying floor pumps. I've only done that once, but maybe they have their reasons.
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noglider Posted: @79pmooney, I've been thinking about it, and now that you said that, I'm definitely going to try to get my Zefal HPX pump working and mounted on at least one of my bikes. Why mess around, right? I've seen some people in The City carrying floor pumps. I've only done that once, but maybe they have their reasons.
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Why do you have to stow the pump? why not use the bottle cage bracket and mount it there?
Where are you stowing the pump? in you jersey pocket? I knew a guy who did that, had a crash, and that pump destroyed a disk in his back when he landed on it.
There is a new mini pump that I hadn't seen before, Topeak makes it, it's called the ROADIE TT Mini, TT stands for twin turbo, obviously there are no turbos inside of it. But if used correctly you can pretty effortlessly get to 90 psi, but it will take a god awful amount of strokes. Made only for presta, it is a two stage pump and it has an end cap that you turn to get it from high volume to high pressure, so you start pumping in high volume mode, then when it gets tough switch to high pressure, when pumping this thing you have to remember not to put your palm covering the back end cap because that's where the air sucks into the pump from. It's 6 1/2 inches long weighs 90 grams. It is a direct connect pump so you have to be careful when using it that you don't "saw" the valve back and forth as you put air into the tire, but from a video I saw of a guy using just two fingers to get the pump to work you shouldn't even be close to straining that might cause a person to start sawing as their pumping. This pump has pique my interest, and I think I will get it. It cost $44. There are not a lot of videos on that pump yet, one lady hated it, but I think she didn't know how to use it, because another video the guy liked it and was using just 2 fingers to stroke to pump with so we could see how little effort it took, she said it was killing her to get to 60, so I think she didn't change over to high pressure mode.
#71
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rekmeyata: The Silca Tattico is rated for 100 psi. I believe you can get to 90 psi with it. If you want one specific for high pressure that wont suffer from the heat the Silca Impero and the Silca Pocket Impero will definitely work for this. The Tattico is all metal other than the hose and has a heat sink in it. The Impiro models are all metal other than the silicone grip and the frame bumpers.
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The Silca Impero Frame Pump. The Silca Portable Floor Pump, Topeak Mega Morph These are a few suggestions for a larger volume air pump. I will be getting the Stompump. They claim that it puts out three times as much volume as allot of those small pumps.
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79pmooney: By 2013, SILCA was the oldest company in the bicycle industry to have been continually owned by the same family. In August of 2013, Claudio Sacchi, grandson of Felice, sold the company to Joshua Poertner an American. I had one of those old Silca pumps and put the Campi pump head on it. I believe the pump body was plastic. I later replaced it with a Zephal. The company sold in name only. The current pumps are of American design and are higher quality than the old Zephal pumps. Silca does sell replacement parts for the older floor pumps and makes a few models of their own along with some cutting edge racing bicycle tools and accessories.
#74
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Back when the best regarded pumps were Zefal and Silca, I tried them both many times. The Zefal won handily. @79pmooney is right about handling abuse. Plastic is not as durable as aluminum.
And folks, it's Zefal with an 'f' not a 'ph'. Z-E-F-A-L
Silca may be an admirable company, but it doesn't raise the Impero pump in my eyes. I'm comparing pumps, not companies.
And folks, it's Zefal with an 'f' not a 'ph'. Z-E-F-A-L
Silca may be an admirable company, but it doesn't raise the Impero pump in my eyes. I'm comparing pumps, not companies.
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Therein lies the problem, the longer pump will reach 90 psi, but a short one won't even get to 90! While the Lezyne Road Drive small is just at 7 inches, I'm not sure if it can reach 90, it's tough enough with the 11 inch one I have, but it's the easiest mini I have ever owned to get to 90,
Why do you have to stow the pump? why not use the bottle cage bracket and mount it there?
Where are you stowing the pump? in you jersey pocket? I knew a guy who did that, had a crash, and that pump destroyed a disk in his back when he landed on it.
There is a new mini pump that I hadn't seen before, Topeak makes it, it's called the ROADIE TT Mini, TT stands for twin turbo, obviously there are no turbos inside of it. But if used correctly you can pretty effortlessly get to 90 psi, but it will take a god awful amount of strokes. Made only for presta, it is a two stage pump and it has an end cap that you turn to get it from high volume to high pressure, so you start pumping in high volume mode, then when it gets tough switch to high pressure, when pumping this thing you have to remember not to put your palm covering the back end cap because that's where the air sucks into the pump from. It's 6 1/2 inches long weighs 90 grams. It is a direct connect pump so you have to be careful when using it that you don't "saw" the valve back and forth as you put air into the tire, but from a video I saw of a guy using just two fingers to get the pump to work you shouldn't even be close to straining that might cause a person to start sawing as their pumping. This pump has pique my interest, and I think I will get it. It cost $44. There are not a lot of videos on that pump yet, one lady hated it, but I think she didn't know how to use it, because another video the guy liked it and was using just 2 fingers to stroke to pump with so we could see how little effort it took, she said it was killing her to get to 60, so I think she didn't change over to high pressure mode.
Why do you have to stow the pump? why not use the bottle cage bracket and mount it there?
Where are you stowing the pump? in you jersey pocket? I knew a guy who did that, had a crash, and that pump destroyed a disk in his back when he landed on it.
There is a new mini pump that I hadn't seen before, Topeak makes it, it's called the ROADIE TT Mini, TT stands for twin turbo, obviously there are no turbos inside of it. But if used correctly you can pretty effortlessly get to 90 psi, but it will take a god awful amount of strokes. Made only for presta, it is a two stage pump and it has an end cap that you turn to get it from high volume to high pressure, so you start pumping in high volume mode, then when it gets tough switch to high pressure, when pumping this thing you have to remember not to put your palm covering the back end cap because that's where the air sucks into the pump from. It's 6 1/2 inches long weighs 90 grams. It is a direct connect pump so you have to be careful when using it that you don't "saw" the valve back and forth as you put air into the tire, but from a video I saw of a guy using just two fingers to get the pump to work you shouldn't even be close to straining that might cause a person to start sawing as their pumping. This pump has pique my interest, and I think I will get it. It cost $44. There are not a lot of videos on that pump yet, one lady hated it, but I think she didn't know how to use it, because another video the guy liked it and was using just 2 fingers to stroke to pump with so we could see how little effort it took, she said it was killing her to get to 60, so I think she didn't change over to high pressure mode.
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