Spare inner tubes and puncture repair kits are on the list of must-have items to take with you. But having repaired a puncture or replaced an inner tube, you still need to reinflate the tyre. You can get CO2 cannisters with which to inflate tyres..... apparently. I have no experience of them though and am not a big fan of things you use once and then throw away. So, I prefer to carry a pump.
I had a pump on my mountain bike but had never used it. Not once. I assumed it would be fine for any touring I might do. But I wondered how long it would take to reinflate one of my new tyres to a reasonable pressure, say around 50 lbs per square inch and so decided to test it. Good call. It was completely useless. At about 30 lbs per sq. inch, the seal between the pump and valve failed so that air that should have been going into the inner tune, spilled out of the valve. Useless. So, a new pump was selected.
I went for a very small and light mini-pump which adds very little weight to the overall load. When it first arrived, I was surprised at just how small it was and wondered how long it would take to get enough air in my tyres from such a small pump, which would clearly deliver only a small volume of air at each stroke. So once again, I did some testing. Yes, it took 200 strokes to reach 50 ppsi but..... it was really easy and the seal around the valve was rock solid. So, it definitely meets my needs. If you have larger tyres on your bike though, I suggest you look at MTB mini-pumps. They are fatter and deliver more air per stroke.
After reading the usual reviews, by the way, the pump I ended up selecting was the Topeak Race Rocket HP Mini Pump. Here it is:
The pump came with a bracket which fits to the frame under the bottle cage, using the two screws that hold the bottle cage in place. Fitting is super easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment