georgiaboy

Recently bought the Crank Brothers pro frame pump...



The pump was totally useless to me. I let the air out of one of my tires to give it a good test run. It took me about 20 minutes of constant pumping to reach only 40 lbs of pressure. The specs for the pump cite being able to inflate to 130 lbs. All I want is to get 80 lbs out of it. I am sure that I would eventually get there after 2 hours of rigorous pumping. However, on my commute if within 5 miles of where I live I could push the bike to my house in less time.

Anyone else have this pump? Did you have a different or same experience?

I am pretty much convinced to return this pump. Any other suggestions?

operator

Topeak road morph. Don't buy anything without a flexible hose. Easily does 100-130psi and it doesn't take years.

donnamb 

+1

Retro Grouch 

I'm not fond of mini-pumps. I suppose they really will generate the pressure that you want but, as you have found, they don't move very much volume with each stroke so they require a lot of strokes to get there. A guy my age might not have that much time left.

As Operator indicated, the road morph is hard to beat for functionality. The biggest drawback that I can see is they're a little clunky looking.

Lots of folks still rely on the venerable Zefal HPX. I've got a couple but I haven't had to use one for at least a couple of years. They'll get the job done and I think that they're a little better looking than the road morph. No hose, however, so you have to brace the pump head with your hand or you'll tear your valve stem off at the base.

I've been mostly using CO2 for the last several years. It's relatively expensive to use, but I only average one or two flats per year. Plus, it's faster and easier to use by far than any pump that you can carry on your bike so it's great for a lazy guy like me.

Wil Davis

This thing looks great in all the ads. I bought one, tried it, decided it was about as
useful as a one-legged man at an arse-kicking contest, and so returned it for a full
refund. Not only was it set up wrong straight out of the box, but it was totally useless!

If you want "small", then the Topeak Road-Morph is pretty good, but if you want "best",
then there's nothing to touch the Zéfal hp X4 (various lengths).

Hope this helps -

- Wil

Rowan

Zefal HPX in alloy. Great pump, and you can, I think, get brackets to go under the bottlecage on the down tube so it is out of the way.

Small is not always good on a bike.

Lurker1999

Another vote for the Topeak Road Morph. If you pair it with the Minoura Bottle Cage Holder (https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?sku=10274) you don't even need to take up one of the water bottle mounting points. Alternatively it comes with zip ties that you can use to fix the mount to your top tube.

DanPT

+1 With Gauge. Most place sell them with gauge but there is some that carry the model without gauge.

derath

+111111111111

If you buy any other pump I will personally laugh at you

Seriously though, it is like a small version of a floor pump. I have actually used it instead of my floor pump when I was too lazy to go back in the house and get it.

My only problem is I can't find a place to mount it on my OCR Comp

-D

jwbnyc

The Road Morph is great.

This one works well believe it or not:

https://www.topeak.com/2006/products/...rorocketal.php

I like it better than the Road Morph. It is single action which seems to make it easier to reach full pressure.

Siu Blue Wind

Got it!

twahl

As has been said....Road Morph with guage.

derath

Really? Cause I love my road morph, but as I said above I cannot find a place to fit it on my frame (darn curvy Carbon...)

So I was planning on keeping the morph mounted to the tandem and pick up a new, smaller pump for my roadie. I also carry CO2 on the road bike. I was planning on the mini morph, but haven't seen one in person yet to tell if it is small enough.

-D

georgiaboy

Thanks for all the replies. I have gotten return authorization for the Crank Brothers pump. Will look to purchase a Topeak.

jwbnyc

It works. Blew me away. I figured I'd take a gamble and pick one up. It wasn't very expensive so it wouldn't have been a big loss if it sucked, but it doesn't. Just be careful when removing it from the stem. Hold the stem and wiggle it off carefully.

Decided to go time it. Seven Minutes to get an Attack (700X22) from Zero to 110.

Banzai

My only gripe with the road morph is the mounting equipment. I would like something that mounts below and beside the water bottle cages, using the same screws. The pump is actually rather large, and on my small frame I can't fit it anywhere, except the downtube, but the mounting hardware won't work there. (I have one of those "teardrop" shaped downtubes.)

Great pump though. I'm just still trying to figure out my mounting woes.

Nachoman

I have a blackburn frame pump and a topeak road morph. Well yesterday I got TWO flats and I was cursing myself for carrying the blackburn instead of the topeak. Need I say more?

phantomcow2

I bought a blackburn Airstik pump to carry along. The quality of the pump is very nice, all aluminum, solid, nothing to break. Feels good to hold, and looks good.
It pumps air both directions of your stroke, but past 65ish psi, it only pumps on the "push". It just takes forever to get anywhere! Maybe it is okay for the narrowest of tires, but not for my 700x25c. Like all pumps without a flexible hose, you risk breaking hte presta valve itself. It is a pain to hold. Do not buy it.

Psydotek

For what it's worth, the Blackburn Airstik mounting bracket works with the Topeak Road Morph.

Why is this good? The Blackburn Airstik bracket is an offset mount so you can fit a bottle cage and the mounting bracket to the same spot. The Road Morph bracket forces you to lose a cage (or zip tie it to the frame somewhere). Since i don't want to lose a cage or zip tie stuff, being a disenchanted owner of an airstik and a new owner of a road morph i found the old bracket and new pump worked perfectly together.

bikingshearer 

I'm a big fan of the Zefal. Simply put, it works, every time. I understand the new ones swap between presta and schrader valves with no more fuss than pressing the pump head on - if so, very cool.

I've never had the problem Retro Grouch describes, though. The problem I have encountered is the plastic sleeve at the head end of the pump body sliding when I'm pumping. I've solved that by holding the pump body so my non-pumping hand is half on the sleeve and half off, i.e., a bit further up the body of the pump that the designer intended. I do have to pull back with my non-pumping hand to balance out the force of the pumping hand, but it all works well.

I have no experience with the mounting woes because all of my bikes are pretty conventional (read "old-fashioned" or "retro-grouchy"), but I bet creative use of velcro straps can solve a number of the issues. Not all of them, I'm sure, especially on full-suspension moutnain bikes, but probably a fair number of the others.

rmwun54

When using a mini pump or even a long pump without a hose you can eliviate the probability of messing up the valve stem by placing the puncture tube rolled up and secured with the rubber band from the new tube and place it under the rim by the valve stem, and then install the pump head and pump. It's what I do and I never have any problems with valve stem mishap.

jwbnyc

Call Topeak.

Maybe they could send you the mounting hardware for the Micro Rocket. It's not a perfect fit, but I have used it with a Road Morph.

*or*

Maybe we could start a email campaign to get a bottle cage mount for the Road Morph.

blickblocks

I use a second-hand Zefal HP and it works beautifully, if not the most ergonomic.

CastIron

I carry a Blackburn full frame pump. Hit 100psi and didn't even know it. Regardless of pump choice, I suggest a periodic spritzing of the valve with silicone spray lube.