General Cycling Discussion - Barbieri Carb One mini pump and Joe Blow Pro floor pump questions?

I am currently in the market for both a decent floor pump and mini pump. I currently have a Diamondback floor pump and mini pump that I got at Dicks Sporting goods when i started cycling. I struggle to get the mini pump to 60psi with my road bike tires and it just wont go any higher regardless of how much i pump. The floor pump will pump to 130+ psi, but it doesnt fit right on presta valves. I have to let almost all of the air out of the tube and then mount the head for it to work. The pump will not work if there is no air in the tubes either.

So for a floor pump I am looking for something easy to use with a gauge that will last for a few years.

The mini pump issue is a bit more complicated. I dont have any place to mount it on the bike itself. I have a Specialized Allez Elite Cro-Mo and it has cables without housings under the top tube, so I cant mount a pump there. I havent tried mounting pumps next to the bottle cages, but on my mountain bike I thought they just got in the way. My saddle bag (Topeak Aero Wedge) has a pump holder and that is where I currently mount my pump. Pumps larger than 8-9" will stick out pretty far and look odd. I am hoping to find a pump that will reach 100-110psi without horrible trouble.

Performance Bike currently has a combo with the Joe Blow Pro and Barbieri Carb One for $70. With the current 20% coupon that would be $56 for both. Is this a good deal and would this be a good choice or should I look else where?

Thanks,
Brian

The Joe Blow Sport is also selling for $16 (after 20% off) right now. Would the Pro be noticably better than the Sport for household use?

The Joe Blow Sport is also selling for $16 (after 20% off) right now. Would the Pro be noticably better than the Sport for household use?

I use the Joe Blow Sport and like it a lot. Easy to use with convenient 'T' head that works equally well on Presta and Shroeder. The gauge is easy to read.

Well, I ordered the combo. I will post on how they turn out.

A day after I placed the order I got an email from Performance saying the combo was out of stock. Even though they won't sell it to me they still have it available on the webpage... Anyway, I ended up with a Joe Blow Sport and the Barbieri CarbOne.

I am overly impressed with the Joe Blow Sport the the $16 it cost me. It is mostly metal, weighs about twice what my old pump did and feels very sturdy. It is also very quick and easy to pump tires to high pressure.

The Barbieri CarbOne is junk. I cannot get the pump to above 50psi which is worse than my old pump. Around 40psi it becomes very hard to pump and the valve loses air at about the rate I put it in. It has no valve lock on the pump, so there is way to get it steady and I bent a valve "screw" while trying. At 40psi I am also exhausted from the effort I have put in.

I am currently in the market for both a decent floor pump and mini pump. I currently have a Diamondback floor pump and mini pump that I got at Dicks Sporting goods when i started cycling. I struggle to get the mini pump to 60psi with my road bike tires and it just wont go any higher regardless of how much i pump. The floor pump will pump to 130+ psi, but it doesnt fit right on presta valves. I have to let almost all of the air out of the tube and then mount the head for it to work. The pump will not work if there is no air in the tubes either.

So for a floor pump I am looking for something easy to use with a gauge that will last for a few years.

The mini pump issue is a bit more complicated. I dont have any place to mount it on the bike itself. I have a Specialized Allez Elite Cro-Mo and it has cables without housings under the top tube, so I cant mount a pump there. I havent tried mounting pumps next to the bottle cages, but on my mountain bike I thought they just got in the way. My saddle bag (Topeak Aero Wedge) has a pump holder and that is where I currently mount my pump. Pumps larger than 8-9" will stick out pretty far and look odd. I am hoping to find a pump that will reach 100-110psi without horrible trouble.

Performance Bike currently has a combo with the Joe Blow Pro and Barbieri Carb One for $70. With the current 20% coupon that would be $56 for both. Is this a good deal and would this be a good choice or should I look else where?

Thanks,
Brian

I would recommend you to get the Topeak Road Morph. I could easily pump my tires up to 120psi easily. of course by the time you are at 80psi, it gets a bit tough but still doable. i mount mine right under the top bar on my sirrus. even though the brake cable is there.. you can still mount it behind the brake cables. it's not too hard, just takes a while to figure out. as for the floor pump.. did you use a adapter for the presta valve? if not, perhaps you can try that and maybe that will fix the problem?

good luck,
rui

Do yourself a favour and get a real frame pump, by that I mean a
Zefal HP, HP2 (I think thats the new designation) or even better
get an old Silca Imperio with steel campy head. It will pump up anything.
Be aware the Imperio has a tendency to blow the handle out (and across
the room or road or whatever), so you have to be careful with it (has never
happened to me tho, just don't let the handle go).
I have Joe Blow sport, got it for about same price on sale, works like a charm.

Marty

2 of my bikes have the road-morph on them and they work flawlessly. Easy to switch over for my kids bikes with schraeders. My specialized also has the cables under the top tube but they do not interfere with the pump at all. At home in the garage we have the Joe Blow in the garage at home works flawlessly as well. Just look for a good sale, I happened to catch them on sale at the LBS for the same as online so went for them.

I have been using the Joe Blow sport pump for about 3 years with no complaints. I carry a Zefal hpr mini pump which has a double extension & can give me 80 pounds or so without to much effort & it has a guage. As a backup floor pump, I picked up a "Wrench Force" floor pump at the local Goodwill store for $4. It has a much Larger guage & sounds a beep when you reach the selected pressure.

I've had nothing but a great experience with the Barbieri CarbOne. It is tiny, and hides behind the down tube water bottle. It is stripped down to just a presta head. It works great. The secret to getting high PSI is to have your wheel/bike flat on the ground, then use a downward force to pump. You will get high PSI pumping this way. I've quit using CO2 and have had to use this on numerous occasions. Highly recommend!

I've had nothing but a great experience with the Barbieri CarbOne. It is tiny, and hides behind the down tube water bottle. It is stripped down to just a presta head. It works great. The secret to getting high PSI is to have your wheel/bike flat on the ground, then use a downward force to pump. You will get high PSI pumping this way. I've quit using CO2 and have had to use this on numerous occasions. Highly recommend!

This is a 6 month old thread and in the mean time I have long since made my decisions. Performance returned the Carb One I bought without question and I purchased a Topeak Road Morph. The Road Morph works extremely well and I feel the feeling of security and ease of use it provides is well worth the little extra wait of carrying it. I have also been extremely satisfied with the Joe Blow Sport I purchased. It is very effective at getting my road bike tires to 130psi, but due to the narrow chamber it takes quite a few pumps to pump up MTB tires. Regardless, it is an excellent pump for around $20.

Have fixed two flats on the trail in the past month with the Road Morph, can't praise it enough (dang goatheads). Methinks it's time for tougher tires, or maybe the Slime protection belt I saw the other day...

You should have kept your CarbOne. It is the lightest, smallest, most powerful mini-pump around. I have no problem exceeding 110 psi when using it to fix a flat on the road. The trick is proper finger grip around the wheel rim and pump head (which is designed with the proper grip in mind).