calyco

Anyone tried out both the road drive medium and large? I had the cheaper pressure drive which didn't work too well, maybe because of the small size. I gave up at about 80 psi (hard effort pumping). I just bought the medium road drive, was able to do 105 psi medium effort.. still a bit of grunt lol. If the large is even better (less effort) I might return the medium

lyrictenor1

I have a Road Drive (medium) and use the Lezyne Pen Gauge in place of the stock hose. Pretty decent decent pumping to about 90psi. However, I like my tires at 115psi , and I've counted about 250 strokes to get there (with a decent amount of effort and heat from the pump to get there).

dangerd

I have the larger one and I like it, can get 110 - 115 out of it with a lot of strokes (250) sounds about right. I try to put it against a tree / wall etc to pump.

TrojanHorse

I have no clue what size my lezyne road drive is but yeah - it's hard to get the tire up to full pressure. Thank goodness for CO2! For me, the pump finds the leak and gets the tube started, then I use CO2. If I HAD to, I'd pump the tire up all the way but it's not intended to be the primary source of air. I had a topeak road morph G and that thing was brilliant for pumping. If you really want to use your pump (frequently) get one of those. They're bigger and have a little teeny footpeg that works surprisingly well. The main advantage of the road drive is the tiny size... at least for me.

Clipped_in

I own three Road Drive mediums, and I thing they are great!

San Pedro

Used mine for the first time yesterday.  I was pleased with it.  I can't remember if I got the one rated for 160psi or 120, but I was able to get my tire pressure to around 85psi without too many pumps (and the pumps weren't hard on me), which was enough to get me to work and home.  Very good for it's size and ease of use IMO.

chaadster

I have a med Road Drive (carbon, but same as alu, I believe) and thought it got up to pressure well enough, but I think I've only used it two or three times in three years. I've since gone tubeless, so didn't use it all last year.

I also have a medium alu Road Drive with pen gauge on my minivelo which i've only used once, and only to top off.

For lightweight, discreet, rare use, they're excellent. I haven't seen a mini-pump shootout in a long, long time, but the Road Drive's construction suggests to me that it's about as good as they come in that size range, so I don't expect anything less from the Large, which should save several strokes during your timee of need.

calyco

Guess I will keep the medium. The size is pretty good, discreetly attached to seat tube and it is very doable to 100 psi. Just thought the large might be a little easier because of the longer barrel, if just saving like 20 seconds then nvm. Thanks!

Clipped_in

I can only get about 90 psi out of my road drives, and I must admit I use C02 as well. Usually C02 if I'm riding with others, and pump if I'm by myself/not in a big hurry.

calyco

Thanks, maybe I will try the C02 as well since its cheap. Doesn't hurt to have it. I like the idea of unlimited air with the pump. I was using the road drive in the comfort of my home, checking my flat readiness.. seeing how much psi I could possibly get. I got 105 psi but with a bruised palm, pushing last strokes in claw like grip. Nothing too bad but in reality on the road, I think I will prob get about 90 psi as well before I physically give up

Yellowbeard

I know the OP specifically asked about the medium & large, but for what it's worth:

I have the small Road Drive, and I found that I could get a 23mm tire to 120 psi with about 300 strokes. Obviously it sucks, but if you wear gloves and take breaks it's still realistically doable.

I bought mine so I could carry just one 16g CO2 cart without worrying about double flats. Oh, and it's tiny so I can carry it anywhere without bothering with a frame mount.

ddeand 

A few years ago, one of the bike magazines did a test of a number of small pumps. I can't remember which pumps were the best, but I was surprised at how many strokes it took for theose frame pumps to get a road tire up to pressure. The fewest strokes was about 250, and some of the pumps needed close to 700 to fill the tire. I figure anything around 300 is pretty good.

lyrictenor1

Really, the number of strokes isn't the problem for me; the effort needed for each stroke past 90psi is what makes it annoying.

ragnar.jensen 

I have the long and have used the medium. The long is definitely easier. 140 strokes brings my 23 mm tires to 110 psi.
No grunt required, even though my arms are built like drinking straws.
--
Ragnar

flar

There are pumps that have dual mode "high volume" vs "high pressure" settings, but I don't see a description like that on the Lezyne site. With all of the models they have, it would be nice to have a "which model is best for you" that shows the variation in features (they even all look alike to make it hard to fathom why one is better than another).

Personally I went micro+CO2 for reasons stated above and I had to use a non-Lezyne pump since they don't have any really really micro models suitable for just the job of providing air to find a leak and to help with installation.

A "Micro Drive" would be nice as would a "Dual Drive"...

relayer66

I have a Pressure Drive and I am able to get about 1psi per pump, all the way to 120psi (about 120 pumps), using the Lezyne pen gauge as a reference...not to say the pen gauge is accurate, it probably isn't. Those last few dozen pumps are hard and the pump gets hot.