birdmove

I am riding my single speed flat bar road bike every day now. It has 700C tires, rated at, I think it is, 60-80 psi. I have been pumping it to 70 psi, and like the ride pretty well. But, holy mackeral, it is very difficult not to get mycheapo Bell To handle pump to pump that high. Even with my meaty muscles and massive weight of 195 pounds, getting it to 70 psi makes me ashamed of my 67 year old self. I'm just wanting a pump for home use. I have a old mini pump, unused, but I can't picture that thing getting me to 70 psi. I know there are hand pumps for pre charged pneumatic air rifles that can reach 2000-3000 psi, but they can run several hundred dollars. Any suggestions on inexpensive bike tire pumps for my purpose s?
As always, thanks for any comments. It seems I'll need to top off these tires every week or two.

Koyote

I don't know what you are using, but try a decent floor pump. The Topeak Joe Blow Sport is a popular pump, and not too expensive. It will easily get a tire to 70 psi.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=joe+blow+...l_863eh15f6c_e

scottfsmith

When the head (the thing you attach to the valve) gets old it can start loosening at higher pressures and then tires can become difficult to inflate. So a cheap option could be to just buy a new head; they are trivial to swap out. My current pump is doing like your old one and I have been meaning to change out the head on it. It is a 25 year old pump with a 15-year old head on it (first head lasted 10 years).

Or just buy a new pump, any floor bike pump today should do well over 100psi for $50 or less.

Milton Keynes

I always use a small air compressor.

skidder

I use a Serfas TCPC floor pump that's about 10 years old that I bought at a local REI. Its used at home to inflate /top-off the tires on 3-4 bicycles per week that take 70-80psi in the tires. No issues with it. I also carry a hand pump while riding, a Mini-Morph Master Blaster that can be used as a "mini-floor pump" for roadside repairs (far easier to pump up a tire than other types which require holding a pump with both hands). 70-80 PSI tires/tubes should not be a big deal to pump up if you have the right equipment.

VegasTriker

Have you tried lubricating the pump seal inside the barrel of the pump? Here is a picture of an old Bell pump that I picked up for $2 at the Goodwill surplus store about two years ago. The only mods I made to it were extending the length of the hose and adding a presta valve head since I only use presta valves on my bikes. It will pump my 700C X 23 tire rock hard in just a few pumps. There shouldn't be a lot of resistance when you inflate the tire no matter what pressure you are attempting to reach. If lubricating the pump does not make it easier to pump and let you reach the desired pressure, look for something blocking the path of the air after it goes out the bottom of the pump. Maybe there is dirt or debris blocking the outlet.



The pressure you are using in your 700C tire seems a bit low. Have you checked the sidewall of the tire to see if the recommended pressure range is written there? The Kenda 700C X 23 tire I use doesn't have a range embossed in the side of the tire but does have have "120 P.S.I./8.3 Bar" there. That's the maximum recommended pressure, far higher than 60-80 PSI. If I ran my tire at 60 psi, I would get pinch flats galore.

coffeesnob

it should not be that difficult to pump 70 psi. Unless you are just totally a noodle in the muscle dept. You may not have your nozzle connected just right.

wolfchild

Topeak Road Morph can easily pump the tires to 70 - 85 psi.

Random11

I have a Bell pump and put 80psi in my tires. I'm 71 years old. My Bell pump works great. My thought is that something is wrong with your pump.

alcjphil

There are 2 types of floor pumps, high pressure and high volume. If the pump has a fat barrel, 2 inches or more in diameter, it is a high volume pump and it will be very difficult if not impossible to get more than 60-70 psi into the tire. High pressure pumps have skinny barrels, my Sica Super Pista pump has a barrel like that and 155 pound me can get my tires up to 170 psi with it