richfell

Thanks for the total BS. I had a good laugh.

gregf83 

I'll confess, I've had the new lezyne pump sitting on a shelf for the last 4 months. I've yet to take it with me on a ride but I do plan to

I don't like riders waiting for me unless it's at the start of a ride. I don't mind riding home on my own.

Bah Humbug

Really? Just on the last page people were talking about CO2 being bad for the environment and criticizing people for using it.

rpenmanparker 

This thread is so "41". Trying to change minds that don't know how to change. CO2 is a sensible, compact, fast, convenient and reliable way to inflate tires when a fully functional floor pump is not available. If you agree, I congratulate you on your good common sense. If you disagree, no problem. I congratulate you on your fortitude and persistence. You're the one sweating out the alternatives. More power to you. Now, is everybody happy? I do wonder this, however: If you are committed to a manual pump for on-road tire changes, why not also be committed to a quality full size frame mountable pump that was really designed to do the job like a Zefal? Pump the tire if you must, but at least do it right. As far as the environment is concerned...you have to be kidding. In what universe would a well managed, cradle-to-grave supply and recycle chain for CO2 cartridges not compare favorably with human effort to pump up a tire? And if not, how significantly?

blarnie

Yeah boy! +F'ing 1.

blarnie

You put it back in your bag and take it home or throw it in someone's recycle barrel.

Bah Humbug

I missed that question. Yeah, it goes in a jersey pocket (back in the bag means I forget I used it and don't replace it) and, upon getting home, is put in the recycle bag. No different from any other consumable with a package.

banerjek

I have used CO2 and mini pumps for many years. In all honesty, I prefer the mini pump. It's better for helping find holes, better for getting things seated just perfectly, better for rounding out the tire, and it weighs the same as a chuck and a couple carts while taking less space by being attached to my bottle.

CO2 is fun, but I see it as a backup to the pump. Anyone who can't get 100psi in about 2 minutes either has a crap pump or problems with their arms. When you consider the total time involved in changing a tire plus some aspects of that process that can be faster with a pump, time savings are minimal and it's just a matter of personal preference.

Cat4Lifer

I agree with what you wrote.
And think it was silly for chasm54 to suggest that you implied it was "wrong" not to use CO2 cartridges.
And then a separate thought about the ability of a frame or mini pump to 100 psi.
Sorry for being so unclear.

::Edit::
Anyone who claims (s)he can get 100 psi with a mini pump is either lying or delusional.

Rowan

No me. I am a pump person like banerjek. Getting 100psi is down to the pump. The narrower the bore, the higher the pressure achievable.

But I know it's so hard for many cyclists to dial it up to 400W with their biceps...

rpenmanparker 

Why would you be finding holes on the road? That is an activity best saved for back at home later after the ride. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that hand pumps are much harder on the rubber around the valve stem. They can more easily lead to torn tubes especially when you get tired at you near the psi goal. When that happens you tend to lose form and wiggle the pump all over the place. The strain can easily tear the tube.

Bah Humbug

Ah, sorry, the way you quoted me made you think you were challenging my point instead of agreeing to it.

AdelaaR

I have had a very bad experience with CO² cartridges.
I personally don't have any, but I borrowed a bike from a teammate while doing the Belgian championship relay triathlon.
In the bike leg, about a kilometer in, we suddenly all heard a loud "PSSSSHHHHH".
We all stopped immediately and were all asking ourselves: "Who the **** flatted out like that?" (testosterone made us curse you see)
After some checking we realised nobody had in fact flatted out and we rode on.
It was after the race that we investigated this issue and we found out that a CO² cartridge inside the toolkit of my bike had "asploded" like that.
I didn't even know it was there ... as it wasn't my bike nor my toolkit.

Rowan

Fixed it for you.

Rowan

You have carbon fibre gas cartridges over there? Cool!

merlinextraligh

Yeah, but think of all the C02 that's sequestered in CO2 cartridges sitting in saddlebags, and tool kits. The CO2 to fill all those cartridges has to come from somewhere.

AdelaaR

There's carbon inside the cartridges so I guess that counts.

GP

I try to find the hole then check the tire at that location to make sure I got whatever caused the flat out of the tire.

When i pump the tire I brace it against my shoe so it doesn't wiggle.

AdelaaR

Hahaha Good one!

Bah Humbug

But there's carbon in me too! And you! And everyone else! We're all just ticking time bombs waiting to asplode!

mshred

got a flat this morning (dangit). glad i had my CO2. saved me a few mosquito bites if nothing else.

AdelaaR

panic mode!!!

Phantoj

I remember getting a flat on a group ride a while back... get the new tube and give it a few pumps with my mini pump to give it some shape before I put it in the tire. I could sense the anxiety in the rest of the group as they saw how pathetic my mini pump was; I'm sure they were trying to figure out how many thousands of strokes it would take.

Little did they know, it was one of those convertible pumps (probably why it's such a horrible pump), so after getting the tire mounted, I unscrew the handle, pop a CO2 cartridge in there and fill the tire in a couple of seconds while the group gasps, astounded at my mechanical skill. Or maybe the gasp was really a sigh of relief that they weren't going to have to sit around on a humid morning for ten minutes while I struggled with a dinky pump.

FWIW, I use the cheap 12g unthreaded cartridges and they are good enuf for me.

banerjek

To help verify the location of all debris in the tire.

Some punctures are tiny enough that it won't be visually obvious (especially in dark and/or rain). Likewise, there are situations where the debris could be in the rubber in such a way that the tire has to be pressurized for it to be exposed enough to stick out and penetrate the tube. You could also have multiple punctures and the pump makes it easier to figure out where hidden debris might be.

The solution to tube tearing is a pump with a hose. The Lezyne mini and Road Morphs mentioned on pump threads both have hoses so you won't ever make this mistake. The Road Morph is probably larger than most road cyclists would like, but pumping up to 100psi with the Lezyne really is no big deal. The hose is important. I would not use a pump without a hose specifically because you are likely to tear off a valve stem by mistake someday. I've seen others do it. It's pretty funny -- so long as it happens to them

You'll never lose form with a pump. My method is simple:

1. Mount tire on rim
2. Inflate tube just enough to give it a bit of shape
3. Insert tube under tire
4. Inflate to about 20 lbs
5. Squeeze all the way around making sure tire is fully seated and tube is in proper position
6. Spin to check balance
7. Increase pressure to 40 or 50 lbs, recheck seating and spin for balance
8. Inflate to full pressure and conduct final balance test

It looks like a lot of steps, but it takes me about 4 minutes from pulling over on the side of the road to continuing rolling on my way including futzing with gear.

Until recently, I used to get dozens of flats per year due to mileage and road conditions. In many years of riding, I have zero torn tubes, zero pinch flats, zero unbalanced tires, and only one or two instances where I somehow didn't remove all the debris.

If you want to save time, the quickest way to go is to use the mini pump for all steps up to inflating to 20lbs and using CO2 for finishing the rest of the inflation since that will take 2-3 seconds.

Cat4Lifer

I don't see why there's such a fuss over the use of CO2.
For the overwhelming majority of my time "seriously" riding (25 yrs), I've used a frame pump, then a mini-pump.
And for most of the time it was good enough. But when I broke the valve stem on my one remaining 'tube (lucky my companion had a spare & CO2 cartridge), I knew I'd be using CO2 from then on. And in the last few years, luckily I've only had to use a cartridge (save the time described above) once.