Mini pump - am I a weakling?

[Dogtrousers]

I made the mistake of only taking CO2 with me. Got a puncture. Changed the inner tube then completely wasted the cartridges I had with me due to a faulty valve on the replacement inner tube. Saved by a passing cyclist

I've saved more than one cyclist who has run out of co2 with a loan of my pump.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Doesn’t it burn your hands getting the air that hot?

It’s a reason I wear welders gloves when hot air ballooning on my bike

 

[Ajax Bay]

Can we not morph this thread into a 'show us an image of your pumps'? Would run and run (and pump). Rules would include zero mention of CO2, electric and other environmentally unfriendly modes of inflation.
I bought one of these (a Cannondale branded 'Airspeed LX', below) for a fiver in ?2016 and after brief ownership, quickly bought two more. Straps neatly beside the down tube bottle. 340mm LOA with a 250mm x 16mm barrel.

I know, from trial, that 120 pumps will give me 80psi which is a useful 'target' by the side of the road (without a gauge).
If you don't carry a pump, a risk mitigation is to carry a presta to schrader adaptor as the general populace/good samaritan will be much more likely to have one that fits that.

with the mini-pump I carry I just got it to 48psi . . . I really couldn't get any higher than that. Is this usual for mini-pumps, or am I a pathetic weakling?
I was considering a frame pump, but does that still get as hard to pump as the pressure goes up, or is it just faster?

My teeny-weeny one is shown below (Barbieri, which I think was from PlanetX but way not £11, selling on the bay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195569143139? shared for illustrative purposes only) and is a man(pocket)-sized 150mm long. Finish is carbon weave (so it's carbon as well ). The pumped volume is 92mm x 17mm and (just tested) I can easily (with patience) get a 25-622 tyre up to 70psi, pumping only with my right hand which did get a bit (@presta ) warm

 

[presta]

It’s a reason I wear welders gloves when hot air ballooning on my bike

Take the piss all you like, the fact remains that the brass insert came out of my Zefal plastic pump because the plastic was hot enough to soften it.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Take the piss all you like, the fact remains that the brass insert came out of my Zefal plastic pump because the plastic was hot enough to soften it.

Mine is the metal version, I will scoff at your use of plastic

 

[Ajax Bay]

I was considering a frame pump, but does that still get as hard to pump as the pressure goes up, or is it just faster?

My old frame pump is 510mm long (to fit under/on a 560mm top tube or seat tube). But its swept volume is only 260mm x 19mm - about the same as the 340mm long Airspeed LX in image above.
The energy needed to pump a specified size tyre from grade to (say) 70psi (to compress the air) is the same whatever linear pump is used. The larger the calibre the more force is required for those final strokes (I think).
But the ergonomics of a 'frame' pump (even though of larger calibre) mean it is easier and faster. The number of cycles for a mini-pump means significant reciprocating losses, so less efficient overall.

 

[gbb]

The no longer manufactured Zefal HPX range do a great job.
I have one on each of my bikes.

Having tried several mini pumps (I still have them virtually unused in the shed) I never got on with them, I have a trusty HPX and love it, far far quicker to pump up a tyre at the side of the road.