Lack of inflation

[Pale Rider]

Had a puncture today followed by a spot of bother pumping up the tyre.

I have a new Blackburn air stick, but it was reluctant to put the required 55psi into the tyre.

Could be it's the wrong pump for the job, the tyres are 20" Schwalbe balloon Big Apples.

Perhaps my little Balckburn is better for roadie tyres.

I like it because it's compact and stows easily in my triangle bag.

Is there a similarly compact pump which will do a better job?

 

[fossyant]

I have 3 Airsticks and tend to use them on the road bikes, but it will just about pump up an MTB tyre, but I've not tried more than 40PSI. Goes to 100 with effort on a road bike.

 

[screenman]

Is that not a LVHP as opposed to a HVLP pump, the latter being more suited, can you even buy them?

 

[zacklaws]

I've had too Blackburn Airsticks, the first one broke eventually after a lot of problems with it and as they are guaranteed for life I got a replacement but I found that they are useless. The pump is designed to inflate on the forward and backward stroke, my first pump I discovered only inflated on the forward stroke so it was hard work with it. When I stripped it down, their are a couple of tiny valves held in place with just as tiny springs and one of them had come unseated, the pump worked for a short time and stopped working all together eventually. The other thing I find with them is they fill with water easily which emulsifies the grease on the piston rubber seal and you loose pressure, a quick strip down, tip the water out and dry the cyclinder and regrease can improve things. I also fitted a couple of inches off a 23mm inner tube on the pumps body to cover the gap between the body and the handle to help prevent water getting in and also to stop the handle coming out of the pump as I rode as I found it best to carry it handle downwards, once again to stop water ingressing.

Put your finger over the pump and see if you get pressure on both forward and backwards strokes, if not then one of the valves is misplaced so it will need a strip down. And as you say it could be the wrong pump for a MTB type tyre, they do need a lot of "wind" in them, but if you could only get to 55lb, then I suspect, the piston on your pump needs a grease as you cannot build the pressure up to open the valve in the innertube to force air in and instead the air is forced past the seals inside the pump to take the easy route.

My ultimate solution to solve the problem as I deemed them unreliable, was buy a couple of Leyzne HP pumps and never looked back.

 

[Pale Rider]

I have 3 Airsticks and tend to use them on the road bikes, but it will just about pump up an MTB tyre, but I've not tried more than 40PSI. Goes to 100 with effort on a road bike.

That's about the strength of it.

A member of the group had a bigger pump with a gauge and we reckoned there was about 40psi in the tyre with the airstick.

Would have got me home, but there was a quite a bit of squirming/rear wheel steer and running that low I would be risking another puncture.

 

[Pale Rider]

I've had too Blackburn Airsticks, the first one broke eventually after a lot of problems with it and as they are guaranteed for life I got a replacement but I found that they are useless. The pump is designed to inflate on the forward and backward stroke, my first pump I discovered only inflated on the forward stroke so it was hard work with it. When I stripped it down, their are a couple of tiny valves held in place with just as tiny springs and one of them had come unseated, the pump worked for a short time and stopped working all together eventually. The other thing I find with them is they fill with water easily which emulsifies the grease on the piston rubber seal and you loose pressure, a quick strip down, tip the water out and dry the cyclinder and regrease can improve things. I also fitted a couple of inches off a 23mm inner tube on the pumps body to cover the gap between the body and the handle to help prevent water getting in and also to stop the handle coming out of the pump as I rode as I found it best to carry it handle downwards, once again to stop water ingressing.

Put your finger over the pump and see if you get pressure on both forward and backwards strokes, if not then one of the valves is misplaced so it will need a strip down. And as you say it could be the wrong pump for a MTB type tyre, they do need a lot of "wind" in them, but if you could only get to 55lb, then I suspect, the piston on your pump needs a grease as you cannot build the pressure up to open the valve in the innertube to force air in and instead the air is forced past the seals inside the pump to take the easy route.

My ultimate solution to solve the problem as I deemed them unreliable, was buy a couple of Leyzne HP pumps and never looked back.

Mine only inflates one way.

Something now rings a bell when I bought it about the dearer ones featuring dual inflation.

Mine is marked '160psi', 'road' and '30cm (cubed) volume'.

I suspect it is performing correctly, but is the wrong tool for the job.

Pity, because it's nicely finished.

I think it might be going free to a good home.

 

[screenman]

CO2 is your friend.

 

[Pale Rider]

This is the one I have.

It's marked 'dual chamber', but I think in Blackburn-speak the better ones which inflate both ways are marked 'two stage'.

http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk/...archPage=Yes&gclid=CPD09t2Q88ICFcTnwgodAFYAbg

 

[raleighnut]

It'd give your right arm a good workout though, or did you change hands at 99.

 

[Pale Rider]

Can't recall how many repeats I did, but I seemed to have reached the stage where no more air was going into the tyre.

 

[zacklaws]

Thats not the one I have, mine where black ones for road bikes.

Unless your prepared to carry a lot of CO2 canisters to hopefully cover X amount of puntures on a ride, then CO2 cannot replace a pump at the end of the day. I carry both and on very long rides 200+ I can carry 5 cannisters and it has not been enough on a bad day. Thank God for pumps. Only a fool ventures out with just CO2, the trend seems to be 2 cannisters, but I have seen riders on club rides etc having to beg other riders for cannisters or use their pump.

A pumps your friend.

 

[Pale Rider]

A pumps your friend.

Absolutely, no CO2 for me.

This one should do the job, it's described as 'high volume' and has some stars from mountain bike magazines, so really ought to do podgy tyres.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/too...air/lezyne-alloy-drive-small-v2-abs-hand-pump

 

[turbopercy]

I have a lezyne pump for out on the road and a cheap aldi track pump with guage at home and never had a problem with either

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I'm a big fan of the Topeak pocket rocket. Switchable for Presta & Schrader, thumblock and easily puts 100psi in a road tyre or 50 in a knobbly