BluesDawg

Oh, how awful!

(so am I)

dwilbur3

I've been told (by an LBS guy who seems to know his stuff) that a mini pump (or CO2 or that matter) really are only good for getting enough air in the tire to get you home. Once home you can pump it up right. If your ride demands better than that, you should step up to a frame pump.

europa

This was no snakebite as the holes were over 6" apart. The 'cut' theory fits though. The other option is a bit of grit in there, installed with the tube. Or just bad luck.

I've heard of people using talc in their tyres to allow the tube to settle itself inside the tyre properly - anyone else do or heard of that?

Richard

roadfix

I think that's pretty much common knowledge here.

Pamestique 

Richard - here's generally what I do, when I buy new tubes, I take them out of their boxes and put them in a baggy with some (not alot) talc. The talc does help place the tube back into the tire.

Do you also have a floor pump? I seldom if ever get flats. I think last one was 3 - 4 years ago. I've worn out tires and not changed a tube.

Before each ride, I use my floor pump to properly inflate my tires. I do not start a ride unless my road tires are at 100 psi (where I like them). I also make sure to quickly check for road debris - glass, wires bits etc. Now on the road I do what I can to avoid debris but sometimes it's hard. If I run through glass, I stop and check my tires. Yes I know some people can do this while riding. I want ot be thorough. Lastly I replace tires when they get worn. My choice of tires is Gatorskin 700X25 or 28 (depending what I am doing).

I carry my Topeaks pumps while on the ride. They work beautifully. You won't regret the investment. My Topeak Mountain Morph is the only pump I have ever used that can porperly inflate a MTB tires on the trail. When my friends get flats, they always come looking for my pump!

stapfam

I always use talc when installing a tube at home- bit awkward carrying talc on the trail- but the spare tube is in a plastic bag with some talc in it. Reason for using talc is to stop the "Dry" Tube sticking to the tyre and making it difficult to pull out of the tyre to repair.

And if you have ever installed a tyre without talc and tried to take it out after a year or so- you will understand why I use it.

roadfix

I always carry my spares in plastic baggies with a little talc in them too.

az_cyclist

The "spares in a baggie with talc" sounds like a good tip! thanks

Retro Grouch 

I think that's completely backwards. 120psi with my HPX takes a good amount of time and a lot of energy. I get bored with the pumping process before I get to even 100psi but at least it's good enough to get me home. On the other hand one 16 gram CO2 gives me 120psi in about 3 seconds with no effort.

He's right about 1 thing. If you inflate a tire with CO2 it'll definitely be soft the next day and you'll have to top it up with your floor pump.

Randochap

The Road Morph will, as I said earlier, quickly put 140lbs in a tubular, without breaking a sweat.

It's a mini floor pump.

Talc. Yes.

sknhgy 

Tell yo momma to STFU.

bikinfool

While I do the talc in the baggie thing too, and find that talc does help, here is wheelmaster Jobst Brandt's view https://yarchive.net/bike/tire_talc.html

dwilbur3

Actually I think he would have agreed with you, I just didn't say it very well.

blue steal

I've been using my blackburn mini for over 7 years now. Works fine, but to fill a tire completely would require 200+ strokes. It is small enough to carry in my jersery pocket. Use it primarily to get the bead to seat on the rim, about 25-40lb, then use c02 to take it on up to 120lb. However my next pump would be the topeak road morph. Most of our club members use them and they are a very good pump.

staehpj1

I forget the model and brand, but I have a mini pump that has worked pretty well for me. It may be a Blackburn, but I can't check the brand and model now since it is in Spain with my folding bike on loan to a good friend. It is short and thin and is double telescoping (sort of a piston inside a piston). That makes it effectively about twice as long as it's collapsed length.

On tour I use a Topeak MTN Morph and on my road bike I am likely to use CO2, but this little double telescoping one works pretty well. It lives on my folding bike.

oldbobcat

Aren't you the guy who was complaining about the annoying click? By the way, was it in the pedal?

I agree. The only thing mini-pumps are good for is stuffing in your under-the-saddle bag so your bike can look clean and professional as if you have a following caravan with spare wheels and a spare bike.

Real men aren't embarrassed to carry full-length frame pumps. Someday you'll save the group ride and be a hero to fit 40-something divorcees whose CO2 inflators mysteriously failed.

I keep my four old Silcas in tip-top shape with grease in the barrels and new valve gaskets from Excel Sports in Boulder.

tcs

I see another advantage in carrying a pump over an inflator. A finite supply of CO2 is something of a zero sum game, and in a road-side situation one is given precious little time to evaluate said divorcee and decide if they are cartridge worthy.

Best,
tcs

europa

Not generally available here ... which is probably the only reason I'm not carrying one.

I was in the lbs on saturday and asked about my Torpeak Road Morph. It'll be in later in the week. Yup, that's right, the bicycle industry in this country is so determined to make sales that it takes over a week to deliver a pump from one of the bigger distributors - it can be quicker as well as cheaper to buy things over the internet. The funny thing is, I was in the shop the previous weekend, just looking and yacking, and the manager had a long winge then about how hard it is to get stuff here ... so I was prepared to wait when I rang up and ordered the pump He's one of Stapfam's mob and spent many years working in the British bicycle industy which he rates a wonderful compared to the cave man attitudes of the local industry. He's a good bloke actually, which is why he's getting my business despite his shop being small and lightly stocked - it helps that he's the closest too but he's given me enough of his time to justify getting my money as best he can. But the industry in this country really gives me the tom tits - you lot gaily talk about stuff that's just not available here, or available easily - cheap, easy to get items for you quickly become expensive to us. The only place you get much choice is in the roadie market and even there you have to fit into a narrow paradigm. It's no wonder that the internet is such a popular market place ... with the irony being that the roadies have embraced it too.

Richard

oldbobcat

I imagine that while you may be deciding whether the woman with a flat is cartridge-worthy, she may be deciding if you are sponge-worthy.

zonatandem

Thumbs up on the Topeak Mt. Morph; have one mounted on our tandem. 100 easy strokes gets in 100 lbs.
Use a Quicker Pro on my racinbg single; works fine but a bit more work than the Topeak.
Did have a no-name mini pump for a while. Worked OK but it took 400 pump strokes to get up to anywhere over 90 lbs on my road tire. Quicker Pro is a huge improvement.
Have loaned out my Topeak to more than one roadie that ended running out of CO2s!
Pedal on!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Retro Grouch 

Yeah, and you might not want be pulling out a mini at a time like that either.

oldbobcat

As Crocodile Dundee would have said, "That's not a pump. THIS is a pump!"

CACycling

I picked up a Hurricane Air Scepter @ Performance last year and it has served me well. Yeah, it takes 100 or so pumps to get a tire to 100 psi +/- but it attaches easily and securely to the valve and it works. Between my wife and I, I've had to repair 4 or 5 flats on the road since I've gotten this pump and I have not been disappointed. Plus I picked it up when it was on sale for $10. It even has a shraeder adapter and patch kit stored in the top of the pump (haven't tried either of these yet).
https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=4361

jkretsch

Got a spare mount for the Hurricane Air Scepter you'd like to sell?

Kontact 

I have a CO2 inflator that is also a mini-pump.