road bike / race bike / hybrid / touring / fitness bike - CHOSEN AND BOUGHT

Maurice Wibblington wrote:
bugbear wrote:
Get a track pump, if you haven't already got one, to keep the tyres
nice and hard.

Or a Zefal XP pump; expensive for "a pump"
but cheaper than a track pump.

Could you explain, for a newbie, what the differences are, how they
differ from a bogstandard pump, and the pros and cons of each...

A track pump is large a floor-standing vertical stirrup pump for using at
home. It's gotta be the most efficient and comfortable type of manual pump
there is.

Zéfal HPX is, IMO, the best full-length pump to put on the bike. It's tough
and reliable and the barrel is just right to manage high pressure and a
decent volume per stroke as well. The spring lock-out feature is
particularly nice. Twiddle a knob and the spring effectively disappears so
there's nothing to compress but air at the end of each stroke. It is quite
heavy, though, and you look like an armed robber while carrying it around
the shops. (Cue jokes about blowing up the gaff).

To save space & weight, I like the combination of a super-light mini pump
and a CO2 inflator. (That's two separate products to get the best of both
worlds, rather than a combined unit).

~PB

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 21:01:45 +0100, "Pete Biggs"
wrote:


Zéfal HPX is, IMO, the best full-length pump to put on the bike. It's tough
and reliable and the barrel is just right to manage high pressure and a
decent volume per stroke as well. The spring lock-out feature is
particularly nice. Twiddle a knob and the spring effectively disappears so
there's nothing to compress but air at the end of each stroke. It is quite
heavy, though, and you look like an armed robber while carrying it around
the shops. (Cue jokes about blowing up the gaff).

if it's quite heavy, and you hopefully won't be needing a pump that
often, surely it would make more sense to carry a lightweight
bogstandard pump?


To save space & weight, I like the combination of a super-light mini pump
and a CO2 inflator. (That's two separate products to get the best of both
worlds, rather than a combined unit).

a superlight mini pump I can understand, but a CO2 inflator?


M

Maurice Wibblington wrote:
On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 21:01:45 +0100, "Pete Biggs"
wrote:


Zéfal HPX is, IMO, the best full-length pump to put on the bike.
It's tough and reliable and the barrel is just right to manage high
pressure and a decent volume per stroke as well. The spring
lock-out feature is particularly nice. Twiddle a knob and the
spring effectively disappears so there's nothing to compress but air
at the end of each stroke. It is quite heavy, though, and you look
like an armed robber while carrying it around the shops. (Cue jokes
about blowing up the gaff).

if it's quite heavy, and you hopefully won't be needing a pump that
often, surely it would make more sense to carry a lightweight
bogstandard pump?


For me, its because a HPX works every time, to full presure, and quickly.
Cheap pumps don't.


--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

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"Rob Morley" wrote in message
t...
In article
bugbear wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:

Get a track pump, if you haven't already got one, to keep the tyres
nice
and hard.

Or a Zefal XP pump; expensive for "a pump"
but cheaper than a track pump.


Did you mean Zefal HPX? They're about £20 - you can get a track pump
with a gauge for less than that.

Perhaps I like toys. My frame pumps are Zefals.

Do they have gauges?

My track pump is a Silca.

And it wasn't 20 quid. Sadly.

Neither was mine - it was free :-)

Given the choice, all other factors being equal, which would you use to
inflate a tyre?

Air?

Maurice Wibblington wrote:
On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 21:01:45 +0100, "Pete Biggs"
wrote:

Zéfal HPX is, IMO, the best full-length pump to put on the bike.
It's tough and reliable and the barrel is just right to manage high
pressure and a decent volume per stroke as well. The spring
lock-out feature is particularly nice. Twiddle a knob and the
spring effectively disappears so there's nothing to compress but air
at the end of each stroke. It is quite heavy, though, and you look
like an armed robber while carrying it around the shops. (Cue jokes
about blowing up the gaff).

if it's quite heavy, and you hopefully won't be needing a pump that
often, surely it would make more sense to carry a lightweight
bogstandard pump?

Might only be needed occasionally but it'd be a shame if one of those
occasions was in the middle of what would have been your best ride ever and
your bog standard pump failed to deliver decent pressure, or broke.

To save space & weight, I like the combination of a super-light mini
pump and a CO2 inflator. (That's two separate products to get the
best of both worlds, rather than a combined unit).

a superlight mini pump I can understand, but a CO2 inflator?

Full pressure in three seconds from a tiny device, for virtually no physical
effort.

~PB

In article
Pete Biggs wrote:
snip
Might only be needed occasionally but it'd be a shame if one of those
occasions was in the middle of what would have been your best ride ever and
your bog standard pump failed to deliver decent pressure, or broke.

Better carry a defibrillator as well, just in case your best ever ride
gets interrupted by acute myocardial infarction.

in message , Maurice
Wibblington ('pimple@arse/met') wrote:

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 21:01:45 +0100, "Pete Biggs"
wrote:


Zéfal HPX is, IMO, the best full-length pump to put on the bike. It's
tough and reliable and the barrel is just right to manage high pressure
and a
decent volume per stroke as well. The spring lock-out feature is
particularly nice. Twiddle a knob and the spring effectively disappears
so
there's nothing to compress but air at the end of each stroke. It is
quite heavy, though, and you look like an armed robber while carrying it
around
the shops. (Cue jokes about blowing up the gaff).

if it's quite heavy, and you hopefully won't be needing a pump that
often, surely it would make more sense to carry a lightweight
bogstandard pump?


To save space & weight, I like the combination of a super-light mini pump
and a CO2 inflator. (That's two separate products to get the best of
both worlds, rather than a combined unit).

a superlight mini pump I can understand, but a CO2 inflator?

It takes a lot of work to get up to pressure with a mini pump.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

IMHO, there aren't enough committed Christians, but that's care
in the community for you. -- Ben Evans

Rob Morley wrote:

Might only be needed occasionally but it'd be a shame if one of those
occasions was in the middle of what would have been your best ride
ever and your bog standard pump failed to deliver decent pressure,
or broke.

Better carry a defibrillator as well, just in case your best ever ride
gets interrupted by acute myocardial infarction.

Punctures are the most common sort of mechanical failure, and they're easy
to do something about, so it makes sense to be well prepared for them.

To put the weight into perspective, the HPX is only 100g heavier than a
bogstandard plastic pump.

~PB

On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 09:06:47 +0100, Simon Brooke
wrote:


a superlight mini pump I can understand, but a CO2 inflator?

It takes a lot of work to get up to pressure with a mini pump.


I see. But presumably they're costly or have some other drawback
otherwise no-one would bother with any kind of pump?


M

in message , Maurice
Wibblington ('pimple@arse/met') wrote:

On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 09:06:47 +0100, Simon Brooke
wrote:

a superlight mini pump I can understand, but a CO2 inflator?

It takes a lot of work to get up to pressure with a mini pump.

I see. But presumably they're costly or have some other drawback
otherwise no-one would bother with any kind of pump?

CO2 inflators are basically one shot - at least, they're pretty much one
shot per cartridge, and the cartridges are

(a) not light, and
(b) not cheap

A single cartridge will get either a road tyre or a mountain bike tyre up
to working pressure from flat, but not if you don't get it right first
time, and if you have a slow puncture or a second puncture they are
useless.

The serious mountain bike racers among my friends use a combination of CO2
inflators and tubeless tyres with slime. If they puncture the slime should
seal the hole. They use the CO2 to reinflate and pick up a new cartridge
next time they got through the feed zone. A bad puncture usually means an
abandoned race.

If you don't have a support crew waiting with spare cartridges every five
miles up the road, you really have to carry a pump as well as an inflator,
and if you're going to carry a pump anyway (and you're not racing) a good
pump will get you to pressure given time.

I have a CO2 inflator but don't usually carry it except when racing off
road (which I do very rarely); for normal use a pump (Blackburn Airstick,
although a wider bore pump would really make sense on the mountain bike)
does the job. At home I have not one but two track pumps!

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; no eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.
;; Jim Morrison