Rant: Planet Bike CO2 pump
 

I just came back from a short ride with the gf and managed to get my 4th flat on 138 in Canton, MA. This time it was a blade from a utility knife thrown on the side of the road. The tire has a nice gash in it but it held with a new tube long enough to ride back. Anyways, this is the first time I've actually had to use my Planet Bike CO2 pump, and I'm shocked how awfully designed it is. With the included tank, the chamber was too long for it to properly engage and it all leaked out before I could even use it. I happened to have a spare tank, and the chamber was so long it couldn't even puncture the tank. I had to stuff a piece of paper in for it to puncture and make a seal. What's the deal?

I could understand if the aftermarket tanks differ slightly in dimensions, but the issue with the included tank tells me there's an oversight in it's design.

I think your experience could have also been summed up as 'Rant: CO2'

Why would you use CO2 in the first place? Get a small pump. They work well enough to get you home or where ever you need to go.

CO2 inflaters are smaller and lighter(?) than a pump, i believe.

I've been using the planet bike CO2 pump for about a year now, about 5 times. Never a problem.

I use 16g cartridges though. For 12g you have to use the plastic insert, that might be your problem.

phfffft

save yourself a headache and buy a road morph

And that 50g matters just how much?

Well, for me, it fits better in my saddle bag. I'm not trying to say the weight is going to make you be a *little* bit faster, but rather that it makes it easier to carry. To each his own i suppose.

I don't think the OP meant for this to be a CO2 vs. mini pump debate, though.

smaller, lighter, faster, and easier.

Also more expensive and still needs a backup for multiple flats.

exactly what I was going to say.

I have one on the road bike, and if Im on a loner ride on the fixed, I throw it in the bag with me.

cannot break off vlave stems, has a pressure guage, has semi-comfortable handle(as opposed to others) and has a flip out foot rest.

road morph + infinity

I have trouble buying that.

The whole point of getting a CO2 pump was that it was small enough that I would always bring it with me. The Zefal I had before or even a Road Morph would have been large enough that I wouldn't always want to take it.

Crank Bros. pump, small enough to take with you with a high volume/high pressure switch to make life better.

There are plenty of mini-pumps which will fit into a saddle bag and pump up enough to get you where you are going. The one I use is a Barbieri pocket pump. It's 16cm long.

Fashion over function?

using a pump small enough to fit in even a medium size saddle bag is hell. Getting one that fits in the same bag as a co2 chuck and two cartridges is impossible.

I don't see how not wanting to carry a big bag with you every where is not a function issue.

Here's my carbon bling. It's only 55 grams.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e211/gbae007/pump.jpg

More like function over function.

Do you have any idea how big 16cm is? It's 6.3 inches, well small enough to fit even in a small saddle bag.

As for easy of use, just how often do you use your emergency pump? If you are using it so often that it annoys you it's time to buy some better tires.

Yeah, with the added bonus of causing the exact situation that the OP describes whereas a topeak road morph saves your ass all the time.

Yeah, let's just disregard the fact that you can mount a pump on your frame.

Compare the road morph to the pumps that do NOT have a flexible hose and you see his point.

People want to take CO2 only and be cool, no problem. Just don't come back crying because you had to walk back in the middle of a long road ride in the middle of nowhere.

which is too big to fit in all of my saddle bags but the largest one.

I actually have't used it all year which is why I am now willing to use CO2 most of the time... Having used an ultra-mini pump once at home just to see how it worked and giving up it is not something I want to put myself through on the side of the road in sweltering heat even if I may not have to do it till next year or even the year after that(think positive).

yes but that means one pump per bike and having to worry about it being stolen if it's a bike that get's locked up.

As far as breaking off stems go I took issue with his use of "cannot" rather then less likely too. I've seen floor pumps break valves so I'm pretty sure in the hands of someone incompenent enough a road morph could do the same. I have also never seen someone pumping properly(head supported at valve height) damage a valve with any other frame on mini-pump so I think that can just be chalked up to poor technique. Not that the road morph isn't a great pump.

The ops problem is either caused by a really ****ty inflator and/or him not knowing how to use it. It's simply not a problem with my innovations ultraflate plus or a chuck style one. Thats like saying all pumps suck cause the one super-mini pump I tried didn't work.

Let's disregard the fact that the mounting options for a Road Morph totally suck

/owns one
//carries it around in my bag
///CO2 in jersey pocket for long rides.

You haven't seen many saddle bags have you? A small saddle bag is 6 to 7 inches long. Plenty of room to fit a pump mini-pump if you angle it. If you don't know what an inch is ask your last girlfriend, she'll tell you.

oooh burn.
I guess we just have different ideas of small. For general use something I can shove in my pocket is nice. That means less then six inches long(which is perfectly average by the way.)

Of course you didn't even bother to coment on how useless such a pump is if you actually get a flat. No I think I stay with medium sized pumps or co2 depending on my needs.