For road, I like the little PDW Ninja (black) and carry one CO2. It’s an inflator and a tiny mini pump. Yes it takes ~500 strokes for a 25mm tire but it works fine if you don’t mind a few extra minutes and are reasonably fit. The short stroke goes fast and the inflator is easy to control - unlike the other push types shown here. For gravel/mtb I carry a PDW Shiny object inflator and the white Blackburn 2-stage which is easy to get 35psi in a 38mm tire. Missing in the photo are a couple old Zefal frame pumps - we keep one in each car for when we’re at a trailhead and somebody needs quick air. They don’t fit our newer bikes well and I use the silver Blackburn for vintage rides.

I carry hand pump, and in order to fix or replace the inner tube when get flat, I carry a pack of tire patch and patch glue and spare inner tube. If I only need put some air to my tires, if there is any gas station nearby, I use compressor in nearest gas station, I find it very convenient. Schrader valve is king, because of that 🤪😂

My full size Park Tool floor pump takes 22 strokes to get to 65 psi (my preferred front 28mm tire pressure) And it's barrel diameter and stroke length are bigger than a full size frame pump. The mini and micro pumps move a tiny fraction of air with each stroke -- that's the tradeoff for size and weight. 200 strokes isn't easy either, it needs pushing very hard on each stroke as the tire starts filling. My mini Morph has the small hose and I push down with all my upper body weight toward the end. It's slow.

wut?

3) Also true, but not generally a factor except for a slow leak or if you run tubeless. Or like to ride gravel at lower pressure but want to ride the 30 miles home at road pressure.

fair point.

If you have enough upper body strength to pump a tyre up to more than 30psi then you're too fat/muscly to be a real cyclist.

I balk a the unnecessary wastefulness of co2 (cartridges and manufacturing). Sure, filling a tire with co2 cartridge is feels cool and fast but It's not like pumping up a tire is hard or takes too long (3 min?). Sustainability really should be a priority for all of us. My Lezyne mini pump is going strong after years of flats in all situations. I don't leave home without it. Agree about the flexible hose.

I carry both actually. I always prefer the pump because it is reusable, but I carry the CO2 in case I need faster air.
This weekend I helped someone patch a tire and we had to fill the tube to find the hole; I'm very glad I wasn't relying on limited CO2 canisters.

Both: CO2 when you get caught up late and/or far from home and pump for when you're not in a hurry and/or when you have a second flat and you're out of CO2 cannisters

Lezyne hand pump. Fits in jersey pocket. I never use an inflator anymore.

Have one for the house and CO2 and a frame or hand pump with you on rides. You never know......

I only ever used a pump. Because, you know, it works perfectly well and I don't have to spend 50 quid on yet another piece of equipment that offers minimal benefits (to me). I mostly use a big, floor type one with a pressure gauge to top up every few weeks and tend to carry a very small and lightweight hand pump with me for emergencies. As for the CO2, my personal opinion is that they should be banned or the riders should be legally obliged to return spent cartridges in order to get new ones (or fined a really hefty sum if they fail to do so). Riding to and from work every day I can see at least a dozen of them discarded on the kerbside. Granted, it's not a dozen new ones every day, but it's a short ride and I also see them wherever I go. Really not fun if you don't notice one and ride over it, so it creates a risk for other riders and also the environment. That, however, is more of an opinion on laziness and stupidity of some of the riders using them than usefulness of the technology itself.

Oh, this being said, my mini pump actually has a CO2 inflater built-in. Never used it.

A recycling yard will take used (open) CO2 carts as steel scrap ~$0.1/lbs.

I mean... Something like a minute or two per tyre (700x25c)?

I carry CO2 cartridges for convenience and weight savings. However there are a couple things to be aware of. On a hot day after changing out the flat and inflating with CO2 the hot temperature of the day caused the cold CO2 to expand in the tire and blew the tire off the rim. Long walk to the bike shop. A second observation is that CO2 microscopically dissolves butyl rubber which causes the CO2 to permiate through the rubber. You will probably have enough time to complete your ride but you should re-inflate with air as soon as possible. A handy device is a scraeder to presta converter which you can use at the first gas station with air that you encounter. CO2 does not seem to permanently damage the tube. When it’s been re-inflated with air it does hold the pressure as normal. in my pre-CO2 days I carried a compact hand pump. Toward the end of a century ride there was a guy with a flat who had multiple flats that day (bad luck) and had exhausted his supply of CO2 cartridges. He was very grateful for the pump I was able to lend him.

What a difference a small word makes. CO2 does not "dissolve butyl rubber". CO2 dissolves IN butyl rubber. Thus, no rubber is transferred in the process and no damage to the rubber is expected. As posted earlier in this thread, CO2 permeation through butyl is rapid, such that your tire won't hold pressure as long as it would with air. It will get you to the end of your ride, though.

I have both, though I prefer C02 and my hand pump is a very small one. Many people don't, but I find it easier ti put a tube back in the tire if I've put a small amount of air in it so that it has some shape.

I recently bought a Zefal HP-X to complement my 90s steel build. It pumps almost as quickly and just as hard as my floor pump. The only downside is that I can’t throw it into a jersey pocket to take on rides with other bikes.

I’ve never used CO2, but if I was racing or riding fast group rides, I would. My usual interaction with CO2 involves me lending my pump to someone who just used their last cartridge. Against that, I have had cheap pumps collapse on me at in opportune times.

I would say to anyone starting out in cycling, get a good pump. It will be there if you need it. As you ride more, you can determine if adding the speed/convenience of CO2 is worth the additional hardware. For me, that hasn’t happened yet.

I went through a couple years of flatting so infrequently that I could not remember from flat to flat how to use my CO2 inflator. Mess up with one of those, and you end up with one or more empty cartridges AND a flat tire. Ask me how I know.

So I gave up on CO2 and always have a pump, because it's nearly impossible NOT to figure out how to use one, and even if you do, you can always start over. My steel and aluminum bikes fit frame pumps, so that's what I carry with them. The CF bikes have no place to put them, so I carry a Lezyne Road Drive minipump. The Lezyne works fine, but takes forever to fill a 28mm tire.

Did you ever answer the question of whether this is for when home or on the ride? This thread got too long to quick and I didn't see that you ever posted again here.

Seems that most think you mean what is preferred to carry for inflating when flatting on a ride. My choice is CO2. 16 gram cartridge is more than enough for one 25x622 tire. Maybe even bigger. Simple inexpensive inflators are easy to store in bike bag. But if you want a pump, I'd opt for a frame pump. Otherwise to me the advantage seems to fall to CO2 over a mini-pump. But you aren't me so you decide. Its no biggie to me if you want something I don't care for myself.

If your question is pumps in general as in for checking your tires prior to a ride or inflating tires at home, then a floor pump. I've been using a < $10 Zefal floor pump for over a dozen years. I changed the hose and airchuck once for about $4. It's about time for another airchuck.

In my personal experience, I carried CO2 when I was a hammerhead roadie doing A++ club rides and we were always hell bent on getting thru a ride as fast as possible. Having a dozen spandex clad egomaniacs standing around with their quads twitching, watching you air up a tire with a hand pump is no fun. And then you're stuck riding at 50-60 PSI at best while they're attacking climbs and doing town line sprints on 100-120 PSI.

But those were my skinny tire days and they ended a loooong time ago. These days I ride mostly solo on casual MTB trails or my gravel bike and run tubeless on both, so a hand pump is all I need for occasional loss of pressure if a puncture takes a while to seal. I also always carry a spare tube just in case of larger puncture that won't seal. But in those cases if I'm not out in the sticks somewhere I'd opt for an UberXL rather than mess around with putting a tube into a gunked up rim. With age comes a) wisdom, b) disposable income, and c) lack of patience. LOL

they're both easy enough to carry simultaneously, so I do

I carry 2 co2 cartridges and a c02 inflator on rides and save the large floor pump for the car or home. I always check/adjust tire pressure before the ride or as frequently as needed. Cartridges are sold in different sizes so try one or two out before settling on a size that meets your needs.

You know those are whippits, right?