Floor Pump Hose - What In The World Is This Stuff Made Of??
 

I love my Topeak Joe Blow II floor pump that I've had for a few years...best pump I've used. Recently the air hose finally blew out.

Well that's fine, I thought to myself, I've always wanted to put a longer hose on there anyway so I could pump tires while the bike is up in the stand. So I head to an auto parts store and they sell me some fuel-line hose but it can only take 60lbs or so, and costs like $3/ft.

I figured I'll try it, so I head home with a 5 foot length and predictably, the hose balloons up from the pressure of pumping road tires to 110lbs. It is able to take it for a few days but then POW! Another blow out.

Back to the autoparts store...the only rubber hose with the same inside/outside dimensions they have that can take 120lbs is fuel injector line at $7/ft!! If I get only 4ft that is approaching the cost of another pump altogether! I don't mind spending some money but I think tossing a perfectly good pump is wasteful, especially since this hose material must be available somewhere. Topeak will sell me a hose but they only have 3.5foot lengths, and I'd really like to find a 5 maybe even 6 foot length.

So what on earth is the pump hose made of and where can I buy it in bulk? Is it PVC? I have a second pump that needs to have its hose replaced too. It has to be able to fit the fittings at the pump and head-end of the pump.

Go to a hardware store and get tubing for air compressors.

I was under the impression this stuff would have metal braid inside it and use metal fittings at the ends...not so?

none of my air compressors have metal braid on the hoses. I use brass fittings and small hose clamps to hold everything together. I have an old Blackburn pump with a piece of this hose and a Silca brass presta chuck. Has been going for over 20 years.

For $15 - $20 you should be able to find a TopPeak Twinhead or Smarthead replacement with a fairly long hose. My twinhead hose lets me pump from the floor while the bike is in the stand. Of course, my bike is not upside down while in the stand...

You don't need metal braid for air pressures below 250psi. Metal braid reinforced hose is for hydraulic, or very high pressure air lines, the stuff that operates at 1,000psi and up.

Bike pump hoses are either 2 layers of rubber with a cloth mesh (braid) between them, or non-reinforced rubber with a small ID and thick wall to work up to 200psi or so. They sell rubber and vinyl tubing that will work at home depot. I have a reinforced clear hose that I bought at Home Depot and it has the advantage that I can visually confirm that air is flowing into the tire.

I agree with Demon you just need better hose for an air compressor. if you really want something cool see if there is a hydraulic hose shop near you and they make you hose like you never saw before.

hosed
 

I usually buy the good stuff!

http://www.kentrubber.com/Uploadimages/2ah.jpg

http://www.kentrubber.com/default.aspx

Hoses for compressed gases have reinforcement, but it's not always metal. And while factory-installed hoses may have crimped metal fittings at the ends, hose clamps work fine as well.

Okay, I'm not going to let you get away with this..

sounds like you've got your answer, but do you really "love your Topeak Joe Blow? :lol:

i used to live in Denver, and there were times that the air was so bad you COULD see it passing through a clear hose...

I use brass fittings and small hose clamps to hold everything together. I have an old Blackburn pump with a piece of this hose and a Silca brass presta chuck.

I went down this path. Hated the heads on my two Specialized-brand pumps. Bought one each of the TopPeak replacements. Cut the just head of each Specialized pump. Extended each pump's hose by adding the TopPeak replacement hose. The TopPeak heads "just work", and having a longer hose makes airing up more convenient.

The statement is half true. I do have a clear reinforced hose on my pump.

The nonsense about seeing air flow came about because I've had this hose for years and got tired of people asking why I had a clear hose. The answer - because that's what they had - didn't satisfy, so I came up with a better one.

I had some of this on hand, and used several feet of it and some hose clamps to fix a Silca pump:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#52375K12

If your pump's fittings aren't 1/4", you can get other sizes as well. You might be able to find something similar at a hardware store.

And I agree that being able to see the air flow through a clear hose is useful.

Ha! Now that is funny :-)

Yes! I think most pumps have shorter hoses than I'd like, but the Topeak head really does work well.

Thanks for the answers everyone...I guess I was just looking in the wrong place; had no idea I could just head to Home Depot.

Great thread everyone. My ancient Silca floor pump needs a new hose, and I was wondering what to use. Now I know!

I have a yellow Joe Blow floor pump I bought on clearance sale at PBS for a paltry 18 bucks and I love it The yellow color also helps to easily spot the pump amidst garage clutter and the dual head work perfectly all the time. So glad to get it after the fiasco with a Schwinn branded floor pump I got from Target before that, thinking I was wisely saving money by buying it....

Chombi

Another Specialized pump head hater here. Just awful. I bought an AirTool about 9 years ago and could never get the head to seal properly without a lot of fiddling, and it liked to bend Presta valve cores too. I finally replaced it, first with a Silca then a Topeak dual-head. The rest of the pump has worked great though throughout all that time. Recently I went on a biking trip/vacation with a friend. He brought his brand new Specialized pump, and, wow, nothing at all has changed. The Specialized head is still finicky as hell. He seemed to have the hang of it though, and he's a noob, so there must be some technique to it that requires you to unlearn how every other pump head is used (unscrewing the Presta nut only part way seemed to help a lot, IIRC). I ended up using my Road Morph most of the time on that trip.

If I needed a hose I'd order a Lenzye hose , they are a bit longer , very flexable& I like the screw on chuck

was going to order one of these for my prestaflate compressor chuck because the hose it came with is too stiff

Twenty six months.

How long it would take me to complete Le Tour de France?

funny

specialize manufactures and sells
or has others manufacture and then sells

bikes
tires
helmets
pumps
among other things

however
when i worked in a shop years ago
about ninety percent of the specialized helmets we sold had the plastic mechanism at the back break
and turn into a jagged head poking device
and about twenty five percent of the specialized tires had the bead pull out of the sidewall and blow out catastrophically

a few years later i got a job in another shop that sold specialized bikes as well as accessories
and guess what
there was still about a twenty five percent failure rate on their tires
and people with specialized helmets still wound up with scars on the back of their heads
and probably ten percent of the bikes sold with specialized branded hubs came back with failed freehub mechanisms

the one thing i can say about my experience with them is that they were always quick with warranty replacements of whatever failed

about six years after that
a friend of mine bought a very nice specialized full suspension bike
and about half way through a season of regular but generally non abusive riding
the rear freehub mechanism failed
and specialized
who generally did such a good job with warranty replacements
had run out of hubs and wheels to use as replacements
because of the large number of failures they had that year

I brought home a 600ft roll of 3/8 air hose they didn't like at work. I think I'm set for life.