portable pump
 

This is another rookie question by me. I recently got a portable pump to put on my bike. Last night, I decided to try it out to see how it works, but soon as i stuck the tip to the hole, all it did was deflate my tire. I couldn't pump any air in no matter how hard I put it in. Am I forgetting how to do something? I don't see how it is so hard to pump the air into my bike.

Silly as it sounds (and something I learned the hard way) is that with some mini pumps (and some full sized pumps), you have to flip the lock up to lock the pump on the valve, and click it back down to release it, which is contrary to all the old habits you used to have on how to use a pump.

Also, if you have presta valves (skinny, litte nut on the top) make sure the valve is unscrewed all the way and that the part that wiggles is 100% straight when it goes into the pump head.

I got it working now. The thing inside the pump was in the wrong way so that's why it wasn't working, but now it's fixed.