High-pressure mini pump recommendations please (Topeak Road Morph now bought :) )

[wafter]

You can hate Lezyne all you want, but the truth of the matter is, they make the best pumps, and their Road Drive pump in the large size pumps to higher pressure with fewer strokes and less effort than any other mini pump on the market. Road Drive comes in 3 different sizes, you don't want the 2 smaller sizes. BUT, these are mini pumps, when you get 100 psi it will be tough, that is the nature of mini pumps, but most mini pumps won't reach 80 psi no matter how high they claim they can go.

If the Lezyne was too much work for you to pump up to pressure then you don't need another mini pump because they'll all be worse than what you had, so I would suggest a full-size frame pump. Zefal HPX4 is a fantastic pump for the money which I think is better than the Topeak Road Morph, I have both of those and I prefer the Zefal. Another great frame pump is the Silca Impero Ultimate II, this one is the high-end deluxe pump that will last a million years, but it will cost you about $100 on Bike Tires Direct and about $175 on the Silca site, you will need to know your frame measurement between the headtube and the seat tube.

Now, you could go with the CO2 option, if you do that look into a hybrid model, a hybrid will have a regular pump and a CO2 inflator built into it, that way you won't be stranded, or keep your Lezyne and buy a CO2 inflator. What you would do is put about 20 psi in with a pump then use the inflator, you do have to practice with them a bit because they can be tricky the first couple of times and you don't want to waste cartridges out on the road and end up with no air. The drawback with CO2 is that it will bleed through the tube fast, and the tire will be flat in about 24 hours, so that means when you get home after using CO2 you would have to completely drain the air out and pump in fresh air. The other disadvantages are that you have to buy CO2 carts, and you have to bring home the used ones to discard them properly. All those reasons are why I refuse to go with CO2, but we each have to make our own decisions as to which is best for us.

Thanks, although unless the Road Drive pump contains some tech I'm not familiar with (such as a dual-stage or switcheable HV/HP modes) I can't see how it can achive high pressure / high volume / low effort at the same time - that would be defying the laws of physics.

My experience of Lezyne has definitely been poisoned by the sub-par POS they market for the Brompton, however at least they managed to make the piston area a bit smaller to suit the higher output application.. perhaps their other offerings are made to a better standard than mine was.

I agree that mini pumps are poor for high pressure, and my research suggests that you're not going to get north of 40-60psi comfortably without some form of propriatory system, or in the form of a pseudo-floor-pump like the Morph that allows you to put a lot more effort in.

I'm not sure a frame pump would have helped unless anyone does a dedicated high-pressure job, and in any case would haev been a moot point on the Brompton. What sort of pressure can you get out of your Zefal?

As per my previous posts I'm not doing CO2 for all the usual reasons...

I've also been in the market for a mini-pump recently. I never used to carry anything, chancing my luck on not being too far from home and/or being able to limp to a friend's house, shop or rail station. I got given some CO2 paraphernalia for Christmas (though not by anyone with experience of them) but, when I actually needed it a couple of weeks back, entirely failed at being able to use it.

I eventually plumped for the Wiggle/CRC Lifeline Performance Road mini-pump, which arrived today. Good reviews, claims max 100psi, has an extendable hose, and (for better or worse) is properly mini (18cm, just about fits in my saddle bag). I just tried it out on an old, deflated 700x25c tyre and got to ~40psi in 150 strokes (easy peasy) and ~80 in 300 (significantly harder, but with stable grip and rhythm it kept on going, bless it). I've not tried it on the 700x35c tyres (max 65-70psi) of my current bike, as deflating a perfectly good tyre makes me anxious... but I'm going to assume it'll be fine, if maybe needing a little longer due to the increased volume. We shall see!

ETA: just thought I should mention, my pressure measurements were just via swapping with my track pump, I don't have a separate gauge. So YMMV.

I think you were lucky to get to 80psi if it's rated at 100! Sounds like it does the job though


So... the opportunity to use the Road Morph in anger presented itself on the way into work, with the experience being far more positive than the quick test it previously had.

The foot deployed easily, the head went onto the scrader valve easily enough and seemed secure and had the tyre up to six bar very quickly in 80-100 manageably strokes. Bizarrely, unlike last time I had zero issue with my knuckles striking the pump body this time - presumably because my grip was different but I can't really see how..

Other than the difficulty in reading the pressure gauge I can't really fault the pump's performance today and if continues to behave in this manner I'll be very happy with it.

Of course there are a couple of caveats - this was the front tyre so "only" needed six bar / 87ish psi (I usually put in 80psi, but that scale's impossible to read) while I'd want seven bar / 100ish psi in the rear. On top of that as per my last post I didn't find the valve head a particularly good fit on the Presta valve.. and I see no reason why this should change.

Anyway.. I was considering returning it and getting the Lezyne; however it's acquitted itself well today, so unless there are any really grimey problems with the Presta valve I'll be happy to hang onto it

 

[froze]

Like I said, most pumps will struggle like crazy to get to 80 and most can't. The Lezyne Road Drive LARGE size version is difficult too, but it's easier than others I've tried, and I was able to get tire psi up to 100psi with it, but anything past that would have required a huge effort getting increasingly more difficult the higher I would have gone till it would become impossible to go any further, now if I was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I could probably get it to 135 psi, but I seriously doubt that even he could get it to 160.

If a pump is rated for 100 psi, I doubt it could get to 80, almost all those 100 psi pumps are made for high volume, not high pressure.

If you need a high-pressure pump, at this time there is none better than the Lezyne Road Drive, but you do need to get the large-size version if you want to have an easier go at it.

 

[HLaB]

As a self confessed Lezyne fanboy I've resisted posting on this thread until now! I have a Track pump, mini pump and suspension fork pump, all from Lezyne. I do find them all really nicely made, with no plastic parts, all metal (with a gorgeous wooden handle on my track pump!) and built to last.

Thats true of most of their stuff bar (no pun or psi intended) their original lite drive (or a similar name) which was an all plastic construction to save weight. I think they've went back to their CNC Aluminium stuff which suggests my experience was mirrored by a few folk. The pump worked well enough at first and was fast being two stage. The third or forth time I needed it on a ride however, there was nothing, the seals or something had gone. Having been impressed with the pump originally I got one of their metal pumps as a replacement. Lol, that could have been a pump for life until it ejected its self from my pocket during an interval session

 

[HLaB]

SKS was extremely helpful in the warranty

I've not used SKS for a while but I found their warranty country dependent, in the UK it was almost non existent and you had to jump through hoops and pay to get it, but in Germany it was no quibble and they would send out a replacement for free to the UK the same day. Thats probably all changed post brexit, the UK warranty is probably still just as bad but the German's probably have to quibble now too

 

[froze]

If you are wanting a high-pressure pump, then the Lezyne Road Drive is the best one, just be sure you get their large version.

 

[Sharky]

Who needs a pump?

View: https://vimeo.com/93221541

 

[froze]

Who needs a pump?

View: https://vimeo.com/93221541

Has anyone tried this yet? I couldn't even get a tube to blow up into a large circle not alone inside a tire taking 80 psi, I wonder to what psi did he get the tire too??

 

[froze]

The Lezyne Road Drive has 3 different sizes, the largest size can reach 100 psi with quite a bit of effort, but at least it gets there!

Lezyne has another pump too that works a bit better than the above one called the Tech Drive HP, while it is longer, that is advantageous. Test results showed after 150 strokes it reached 75 psi in a 28mm tire.

I have bought and returned about a dozen pumps because they couldn't get to 65 even though they said 160, one pump literally blew out the end of the pump when it got to 35 psi. The only other pump that does almost as well as the Lezyne is the Topeak Race Rocket DX, now it's called the DX II, that one was a struggle to get it to 95 and it took about 100 extra strokes over the Lezyne.

Thankfully with the common thought that wider tires at the 25 to 28 range are better I no longer have to blow veins out of the side of my neck to get to 100! But knowing that, I still want a pump that will take less strokes and less effort.

CO2 is an option, but there are cons to using it, one is you have to buy carts, and you have to recycle them, I don't happen to like paying for air when I can get it for free, nor wasting my time recycling and buy stuff. The other con is the air bleeds through tubes fast, you will lose about 50% of the PSI in a 24-hour period, this means when you get home you have to drain all the air out and refill, I don't like wasting time. Finally, you can only carry so many CO2 carts, most carry 2, but if you for some reason blow through those carts and need another one, now what? Now if you're racing, then that erases all the cons, you need air now and you need it fast, but if you're not racing who cares how fast you are? There is a way of handling the con of using all your carts and needing more air, there are hybrid CO2/pumps on the market, they are a pump combination CO2 inflator head, Lezyne makes one as does a few others, I think Lezyne has the better pump over other hybrids.

Another kind of pump is a mini electric pump, these can get to 100 psi, but they're only good for one flat, not ideal, they are rechargeable too. Right now these are just interesting techy gadgets, someday they could become a real consideration if they can do several tires before needing recharging and stay small and lightweight.

 

[Peter Salt]

For me, it was a matter of component serendipity. Topeak Micro Rocket fits perfectly and securely into the cutout of the SLR saddle. It's a good pump too - battle tested and did well.

 

[ColinJ]

For me, it was a matter of component serendipity. Topeak Micro Rocket fits perfectly and securely into the cutout of the SLR saddle. It's a good pump too - battle tested and did well.

View attachment 720679

That is surprising (and useful), but...

... surely the idea of a cutout in a saddle is to improve comfort by replacing something over-firm (that area of the saddle) with something less firm (empty space!) rather than something much firmer (a pump!)?

 

[Peter Salt]

That is surprising (and useful), but...

... surely the idea of a cutout in a saddle is to improve comfort by replacing something over-firm (that area of the saddle) with something less firm (empty space!) rather than something much firmer (a pump!)?

Naturally. You can't quite see it in that shot, but the pump is well sunk in there - so no rubby-rubby

 

[froze]

For me, it was a matter of component serendipity. Topeak Micro Rocket fits perfectly and securely into the cutout of the SLR saddle. It's a good pump too - battle tested and did well.

View attachment 720679

But taking 400 strokes to get to 90, and the last 20 psi becomes a huge effort, doesn't really seem that good...BUT, at least it will get to 90, god forbid something happened and you had to pump the tire all over again. I guess if weight and size were your primary goal then this pump would fit that bill, I prefer less effort over weight and size.

 

[ColinJ]

Naturally. You can't quite see it in that shot, but the pump is well sunk in there - so no rubby-rubby

A good discovery then!