Are frame pumps any good?

I am in need of a pump, but I remember the ones I had as a teenager, and
they seemed to wear out pretty quickly, but that could have been because
they were low quality pumps. I have been using a plug into your cars lighter
electric deal, and it has trouble getting up to 50 PSI and as you know most
road tires are rated for 65 PSI seems like I have seen a bunch of names
while browsing some of the bike parts sites, throw me some good names.

Ken
--
More of my mind dribblings: http://mind-dribble.blogspot.com/
And my homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

I picked up a pretty decent Wrench Force pump at my LBS for about $23
or so. It works great. It's a floor pump, though, so you can't take
it with you...at least not comfortably.

As for frame pumps, I had one a while back that worked fine. Don't
remember the brand name, but I do remember that it was cheap - about
$15 or so. They make ones that have built-in gauges, which seems like
a handy feature.

Check out bikenashbar.com for some ideas. Or just ride down to your
LBS and talk to them.

-Bill H.

Why not just go to a reputable LBS, take their advise, and buy one.
This is not a big deal and there are plenty of good frame pumps that
will get you up over 100 psi.
Or you can go with CO2 inflators which are much faster and easier to
use. The new ones even allow you to keep a cartridge seated in the
inflator so that you are not wasting partial cartridges.
Lots of options - many of them pretty good.

"gds" wrote in message
oups.com...
Why not just go to a reputable LBS, take their advise, and buy one.
This is not a big deal and there are plenty of good frame pumps that
will get you up over 100 psi.
Or you can go with CO2 inflators which are much faster and easier to
use. The new ones even allow you to keep a cartridge seated in the
inflator so that you are not wasting partial cartridges.
Lots of options - many of them pretty good.

Everyone talks as though there are LOTS of LBS all over the place! I live in
an area and there is ONE within a 50 mile radius. And I do go there
sometimes, however I find some of the guys there to be less than helpful.

Ken Marcet wrote in message
...
I am in need of a pump, but I remember the ones I had as a teenager, and
they seemed to wear out pretty quickly, but that could have been because
they were low quality pumps. I have been using a plug into your cars
lighter
electric deal, and it has trouble getting up to 50 PSI and as you know
most
road tires are rated for 65 PSI seems like I have seen a bunch of names
while browsing some of the bike parts sites, throw me some good names.

Zefal HPX. And you might check your PSI numbers.

So, go to one of the reputable on line retailers (there are several).
Call the 800 number and talk to someone. I generally find the folks to
be helpfull. Buying a pump or a CO2 inflator is not a big deal. There
are lots of good options out there and lots of good places to buy them.

I'm not trying to be flip but a top of the line CO2 inflator is under
$20 and there are good pumps avqilble for just a bit more so this is
not a big decision.

How many road tires will a standard CO2 cartridge fill?

"gds" wrote in message
ups.com...
So, go to one of the reputable on line retailers (there are several).
Call the 800 number and talk to someone. I generally find the folks to
be helpfull. Buying a pump or a CO2 inflator is not a big deal. There
are lots of good options out there and lots of good places to buy them.

I'm not trying to be flip but a top of the line CO2 inflator is under
$20 and there are good pumps avqilble for just a bit more so this is
not a big decision.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 15:53:35 -0500, Ken Marcet wrote:

I am in need of a pump,

I'd get a good floor pump and something small for if you have a flat on
the road--a mini pump, co2 inflator, etc.

Plenty of good floor pumps around, I got a Joe Blow on sale for fifteen
bucks and it's great. It's nice to have a huge gauge and be able to
inflate a flat tube in under ten strokes.

For a true frame pump, nothing beats a Zefal Hpx.

There are several "standards'" If I remember correctly the most common
are 12g and 16 g. I use the larger-whatever it is. I inflate to
~110-115 psi and it takes less than one cartridge. I find the
convenience fantastic as it literally takes one second to inflate the
tire.
And while I don't wear suspenders and a belt I do carry a hp frame pump
on long solo rides just in case.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 16:08:16 -0500, "Ken Marcet"
wrote:


"gds" wrote in message
roups.com...
Why not just go to a reputable LBS, take their advise, and buy one.
This is not a big deal and there are plenty of good frame pumps that
will get you up over 100 psi.
Or you can go with CO2 inflators which are much faster and easier to
use. The new ones even allow you to keep a cartridge seated in the
inflator so that you are not wasting partial cartridges.
Lots of options - many of them pretty good.

Everyone talks as though there are LOTS of LBS all over the place! I live in
an area and there is ONE within a 50 mile radius. And I do go there
sometimes, however I find some of the guys there to be less than helpful.

Though it seems like you are being pressed off onto the LBS, people here
mean well - the theme is to get experience, try things out for yourself,
and establish a good relationship with your LBS. I can empathize on finding
the LBS guys less than helpful - mine were the same until I changed to a
different shop. If you purchase at the LBS then if there are problems you
can return defective merchandise, perhaps even get instruction on use.

Today's pumps are much better than those that typically came with the bike
back in the 80s, imo. The best pumps are 'zephal'. There are some tricks to
getting a frame pump to perform, where to brace it, etc. - google the group
for zephal or frame pump, maybe?.

In addition to this newsgroup try online reviews:

http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Pump/product_86619.shtml

www.roadbikereview.com

www.epinions.com

....and soforth.

HTH,

jj