Our testers also rated it highly in both steadiness and usabilitythe wide wooden handle really helps with that. The Sterling struggled with the middle-of-the-road 40 PSI mark, oddly. It's simple and bright white with largish black letters. Clark is a mountain biker and fair weather bike commuter who's been lucky enough to land in four singletrack meccas Grand Junction and Durango, Colorado, Santa Cruz, and Lake Tahoe, California. Our head tester for this review is Clark Tate. Double-sided nozzle for Presta and Schrader, Settings for high volume and high pressure. During our testing, we used it to install 29-inch, 27.5-inch, plus, and fat tubeless tires. To find the best pump for every user, we focused on what we think are the five most important attributes of a high-quality bike pump how easy it is to attach to a tire, whether or not you can easily read the gauge, stability, inflation speed, and accuracy. halfords pressure volume pump advanced 2022 Wirecutter, Inc., A New York Times Company, A reliable option with better-than-most features, Our pick for a floor pump: Lezyne Classic Floor Drive, Budget floor-pump pick: Planet Bike ALX 2, Upgrade floor-pump pick: Specialized Air Tool Pro, Also-great hand pump: Lezyne Pressure Drive, Lennard Zinn, senior tech writer for VeloNews, Daimeon Shanks, a former pro race team mechanic, replacement head/hose combos and other parts, Specialized Air Tool Sport SwitchHitter II, Cheap Essentials for Getting Back on Your Bike. inflator airblast The other time, a set of Continental Trail King 27.5 x 2.4-inch tubeless tires with very sturdy sidewalls refused to snap into place. With sweat stinging your eyes, it's no fun to bend over and squint to check the gauge. Matthew Edwards has spent five years in the cycling industry as a salesperson, mechanic, and amateur bike racer, and Dave Yasuda is a road, mountain, and commuting cyclist with more than 30 years in the saddle. The Pista Plus remedies these issues but for more than twice the price of our top pick. Three inches in diameter, it has white numbers on a black background, plus a contrasting hi-vis yellow needle. If you want a high-quality road bike pump with excellent accuracy and the type of good looks and well-considered construction that makes it a joy to use, check out the Lezyne Sport Drive. The Silca Tattico Mini-Pump worked well with Presta valves but did not stay attached to Schrader valves when we pumped vigorously. Its a common flip model: You press it onto the tire tube valve and flip the handle up to secure it. We scrutinized the dial for legibility and placement. First, we get studious with online reviews, relying upon the expertise at Bicycling, Cycling Weekly, GearLab, BikeRadar, and MTBR to point us in the right direction. We tried the Vibrelli for due diligence, but with a shorter height and shorter hose than anything in the test pool, it felt like a toy in a giants hands. The pump hides a needle and a cone adapter. Material on GearLab is copyrighted. Its small enough to carry in a jersey pocket but also comes with a bracket that you can attach to your frame. The double-sided gauge is also finicky with flat tires. The gauge is 3 inches wide, base-mounted, and readable, with contrasting black-on-white text. But if you ride tubeless tires, this pump will save you a ton of frustration and keep you out of the shop and on your wheels. This is also the steadiest, sturdiest pump we tried, which made it a favorite among our testers. It hovered at 60 psi on the dial even while attached to an uninflated tire. All the pumps get you in the ballpark, but some will require more tweaking than others if you're particular about your pressures. It's a bit more finicky than the top two examples but only really gave us trouble when tires were flat. This one screws on, offering impeccable security once you've got it in place. And it comes with a limited lifetime warranty, the most robust of any pump we tested. Inflating a bike tire can feel like a high-intensity interval workout. None of the pumps we saw had any glow-in-the-dark markings on the gaugewhich would come in handy, say, for an early-morning ridebut this dial came the closest to providing that kind of visibility. Screw one end onto the pumps body. The first half of the gauge covers only 30 PSI, marking every pound of pressure. We ended up riding them with a tube for a while and leaving them in a hot car to get the pesky sidewalls to settle down. Read on to find out which pump will get you out the door and pedaling away as smoothly as possible. This article was edited by Ria Misra and Christine Ryan. Our Editors independently research, test, and rate the best products. The wooden handle is easy to use, and our testers all praised the pumps base. But most importantly, it fills tires quickly. The Lezyne Pressure Drive is a smartly designed handheld bike pump capable of filling the types of tires most frequently used by recreational riders. When used to install tubeless tires, using a big burst of air to set the bead of the tire against the rim of the wheel, it works wonderfully. There was less variation when we tested inflation on high-pressure road bike tires, and there's a much larger spread when it comes to inflating high-volume mountain bike tires. Their efficiency and accuracy vary greatly, and our side-by-side testing methods shake out the details. It also has a sliding yellow marker to keep track of your desired pressure, as do the other Topeak options and the Aergun. If you can keep your tires from getting fully flat or don't mind finagling a connection point every now and again, you'll really like this pump. The biggest ding to the Specialized Air Tool Sport was the illegible dial. Once youve screwed the pump head onto your tires valve, the Classic Floor Drive will never, ever release the valve until you want it to. Make sure you find the right one for you. We want to know that our tires are inflated correctly to the exact pressure that we want. We tested for quantifiable factors like inflation speed and gauge accuracy, measured weight and dimensions, and made user-based assessments of more subjective things like handle comfort and overall construction quality. Although you might encounter a few tires meant for velodrome use rated for pressures greater than 200 psi, thats overkill for most riders. It's efficient, too, inflating our road tires faster than all but one other pump in the test (the Bontrager Charager discussed below). The Planet Bike MicroPro Mini Bike Pump uses a thumb-lock valve in a fixed position on the end of the pump body. We also asked friends and fellow bicycle enthusiasts to join in our testing rounds to balance our experts' perspectives on the best features for all experience levels. As with all hand pumps, this is no substitute for a floor pump. If you want your pump to last, go for a wide and hefty base plate with a gauge mounted low enough to hold extra weight low to the ground. The valve on the ALX 2 is nothing specialand its one reason this pump isnt our main pickbut nothing in this price range is. The Topeak RaceRocket was also not able to pump a 700c road tire to 100 psi; with this pump, it took us 60 more strokes to get our mountain bike tire to 30 psi than it did with our top pick. For example, we're blown away by the Bontrager Charger, which earns the second-highest score with one of the lowest price tags in the test. That was an easy fix. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. The Specialized Air Tool Pro was a tester favorite. It works a lot like the Sterling does, but the barrel is much bigger, so it fills the tires much faster. Youll see that the connection is super-reliable, it will never release until you want it to, and we havent noticed any air leaks during testing. Pumps with bases that extend out to either side are less dependable. We the world's most carefully tested and objective gear reviews, Nozzle works with Presta and Schrader valves, accurate, well-placed pressure relief valve, Inexpensive, stable, comfortable, auto select nozzle for Presta and Schrader valves, Works great with high volume tires, stable, universal nozzle works with Presta and Schrader, Excellent performance, universal nozzle, long hose, air bleed valve, easy to read gauge, Relatively affordable, accurate, secure connection, valve core tool and pressure relief valve, Expensive, heavy, tippy in one direction, not great for high-volume tires, Nozzle can be tricky to use, no ball or bladder adapters, Not so great with high-pressure tires, gauge is harder to read than some, Expensive, heavy, hard work to fill chamber, gauge struggles at low pressures, Not meant for high volume tires, not the most precise or easiest gauge to read, With a bleeder valve in its handle and a nozzle that works with Schrader and Presta valves, this pump does its job well, A comfortable pump with an auto selecting nozzle and low price tag, This high-value pump works exceptionally well with high volume tires and features a universal nozzle, A high-quality and high priced model that replaces an air compressor to inflate tubeless tires, A thoughtfully constructed, accurate pump thats great for high pressure tires up to 220 PSI, This pump offers the best mix of accuracy and ease in the test, A simple pump with one of our favorite technological innovations, the auto-selecting nozzle, This light and little pump is optimized for high volume and high pressure and features a universal nozzle, An excellent choice for tubeless tire fans, An excellent choice for high volume tires that also works well with high-pressure tires, Built to last, this popular model brings a lot of performance per dollar to the table, This bike pump offers a combination of accuracy, excellent user-friendliness, and affordability, A less expensive option for roadies who dont need the latest and greatest, This is a good pump, but not the best at anything and there are more exciting options, This pump has some cool features but lacks stability making it hard to use. The Planet Bike Mini Versair Bike Pump has a hose thats much too short to be effective. Looking for the best bike computer on the market? vibrelli Also, as this is a serious cycling pump for a serious cyclist, it therefore doesnt come with any adaptors for anything other than bike tubes. The Air Tool Pro is just okay at inflating mountain bike tires (again beaten out by the Bontrager and the two MTB specialists listed below). The Birzman InfiniteApogee Road recorded a much higher number of strokes than average to fill the three test tires, and it just couldnt make it to 100 psi for the 700c tire. If you have a bike, you need a floor pump to keep it operating. The Max HP is a little smaller, the Lezyne Sport darker with smaller numbers, and the Crankbrother has smaller numbers and an eye-tiring blue and white color scheme. We looked for pumps that nontechnical folks could disassemble to replace parts like O-rings and gaskets. However, its larger and fits the hand more ergonomically than anything we tried, and its easy to secure and release. (There goes all your hard-earned air, in a rush!) To test the accuracy of these pumps, we cross-referenced their pressure readings with an independent gauge (a Jaco dial version, proven to be highly accurate in our gauge test). The Specialized Air Tool Pro costs nearly twice as much as the Lezyne Classic Floor Drive, but it doesnt offer twice as many features, nor perform twice as well, and thats why it isnt our top pick. The Crankbrothers Klic attempts a solution to an annoying storage problemthe floppy tube gets stored in the handle. In addition, if you ride a mountain bike or any kind of tire that has a very low psi rating, a high-volume, low-pressure pump may be a better choice to take on the trail with you. We love this concept. According to one pump designer we spoke to, yes. We look for the highest performers and then we check the price tags to help you find the best deals. Though not the least expensive pump we tested, our budget pick is the Planet Bike ALX 2, because the difference in quality between a $35 pump and a $60 pump is enormous. It's large, clear, and located at the top of the pump, making it very easy to read. While its a classic setup, we believe a pump with an extended tube design is an all-around superior design. If your biggest worry is cost, it will get the job done, but as we said before, the difference in quality between a $30 pump and a $50 pump is enormous. bell twinhead blackburn bicyclesi We like a lot of these pumps, but they're all good at different things. If you own a bike, you need a patch kit. The drawbacks: its plastic, wedge-on pump head and very short hose. We set them out in the sun and tried Windexing the tire bead and using a tube to seat one side. The SKS Rennkompressor prioritizes size over stability. They're oriented left to right with enough depth to create some front-to-back stability. Pumps with well-balanced tripod bases are among our favorites, like the Bontrager Charger, Crankbrothers Sterling, Lezyne Sport Drive. This is annoying, and it happens because the base plate doesn't extend very far toward you when you're pumping, pulling you in closer to the pump to hold it down and making things less comfortable than they could be. We independently review everything we recommend. In addition, not all the edges of the base are flush with the ground, just the foot contact points, and we noticed less stability with all pumps designed this way. Versatile and compact, this pump will fill the flat-fixing needs of any commuter while on the road. Simply flip a foot pedal on the Sterling or turn a knob on the 2Stage to flip back and forth. The JoeBlow Sport III is the best of this bunch, with a large gauge and PSI numbers printed clearly around the outside of the rim, free of the glare of the glass. Any old-school cyclist will recognize the Topeak Pocket Rocket, but its a below-average performer. Long story short, the JoeBlow Booster works great most of the time. The first had a maximum pressure rating of 260 psi, which added so many digits to the dial that it become hard to decipher; the second pumped 30 percent slower than virtually all other pumps and came with a plastic base. It does take more time, and you have to unscrew the bright red chuck and flip it over to switch between Schrader and Presta valves, but we think it's worth it. Mounted on top of the shaft, this gauge is much easier to read than the rest. It has a higher build quality than anything similar on Amazon, including the BV Pump, the Topeak Joe Blow III, and the Vibrelli pump. The Specialized Air Tool Pro was the most accurate gauge we tested, and, if you overshoot your target pressure, just press the button in the middle of the handle to bleed some out. It works best with high-pressure road tires, though. Only the Crankbrothers Sterling comes close to that efficiency with 16 compressions. Its nozzle is a bit more finicky than the best options, and it isn't as accurate at lower pressures, below 40 PSI or so. The Lezyne Sport Drive and Topeak JoeBlow Max HP are high-pressure specialists, so we think a more dedicated road cyclist would appreciate them most. A good pump makes it easy to build a habit of routine bike maintenance and pre-ride safety checks. We also prioritized pumps with other metal hardware, like levers and valve attachment points, which are more durable than the equivalent plastic parts. This is a proud pack of pumps, but they all have strengths and weaknesses. Hard-core bike commuters share seven itemsfrom storm-worthy gloves to rugged tiresthat keep them (and their stuff) safe and dry in the winter. It took 370 strokes to inflate the mountain bike tire and 260 strokes for the hybridsecond to worst of all the pumps in the test. The pump is comfortable and usable, and it even comes with a lifetime warranty, the best of anything we looked at, regardless of price. Topeak describes the Pocket Rocket as a pump for roadies, but we couldnt get our 700c tire up to the 100 psi mark. We tested some options that provide excellent performance at a stellar price point. What is kind of a bummer is the gauge design. This is the less expensive of the two. It really shines when your tires are totally dead. We also tested two pumps from Serfas, the FMP 500 and the TCPC. Pump bases can take a beating. Whether or not the pump can be serviced. Look for large gauges that are bright and clearly marked, with enough resolution to get the precision and accuracy you need. We also want an accurate gauge which is not as simple as it sounds when we take off on our ride. One of our primary goals during testing is to decide if a product's performance is worth its price tag. Unstable pumps topple over easily when you're pumping on a grassy hillside covered in sticks and leaves.
It has a steel base and barrelin fact, the only plastic part is the pump head, which you push onto the valve and lock with a lever. It has foldable feet and an easily removable handle for travel. If you like to use valves with removable coresyou know who you arethe Pressure Drive has an integrated valve core tool. Since we are sticklers for a good ride, we pump our tires to perfection almost every time we hit the road (or trail). Learn more. They're also the unsung hero of a truly great ride, helping you nail the balance between friction and efficiency. Both now appear to be discontinued. You can switch back and forth using a foot pedal at the base. After 96 hours of testing, here are our picks for the best levers, patches, hand pumps, and more for most bike owners. If you're a tubeless riding roadie, this will set you up perfectly (this is why it gets a lower inflation rating, despite performing beautifully as an air compressor.) Eve O'Neill is a senior staff writer reporting on travel and outdoors at Wirecutter. Youll know the head is going bad when it no longer seals reliably and you hear the sad sound of air hissing out, no matter what you do or what god you pray to. In our accuracy tests, it performed well, but we checked for round numbers: 30, 40, and 80 PSI. She ran GearLab's mountain bike program for a while, is currently getting used to the trails in coastal Maine, and is considering turning to fat biking this winter. The version on the Bontrager Charger doesn't work nearly as well and is the pump's one big weak point. Like all of our picks, it works with both Presta and Schrader valves, the two standard kinds of bike-tube valves in the US. Most of the pumps in this review do a pretty good job inflating high-pressure road tires. A good bike pump needs a base at least as strong as you are to hold up to the force of your pumping. We had to keep the pump uncomfortably close to the tires. It was the only way to properly evaluate the valve seal, how well the chuck operated, how stable the pump was, and in some cases, whether or not the pump even worked. Then we gave up and tried an air compressor and a few shop mechanics. If you can live with all that to get the efficiency this pump offers, we say go for it. sunsetmtb morph topeak pump mountain The good news is that a quality pump can be rebuilt; Lezyne sells replacement head/hose combos and other parts. The base of the Sport III provides a lot of lateral stability but not much front to back. Of these, the Charger is another easy one to read. It's marked every 5 PSI, but those small tick marks are harder to see, and it's a pretty rough measurement anyway. But those are strictly for adding to your on-the-go repair kit and using when you get a flat on the roada floor pump takes a lot less effort to use. Looking for the best bike trainer available today? When you click on links to buy products we may earn money to support. We think so. Though that isnt as good as the lifetime guarantee provided by Planet Bike, the Classic Floor Drive is well-made and should last. The Topeak JoeBlow Sport III and Sport 2Stage feature smaller versions of this baseplate. Though the AerGun struggles more with the lower pressures (under by about 3 PSI) and the Bontrager with the higher ones (under by around 4). Metal tends to be more sturdy and will last a while.. So we also highlighted the Crankbrothers Sterling, which does a better job of inflating high volume fat tires than all but one other, higher-priced option. And those marks are very close together. Though not the cheapest pump we tested, the difference in quality between a $30 pump and this one is astounding. There's no rubber or plastic protection under the metal base plate, so be careful when using this hefty pump on delicate surfaces. It does come with a mounting bracket, but the pump is so big that its hard to find an out-of-the-way place for it on smaller bike frames. The Vibrelli chuck didn't work very well at all, and the SKS Rennkompressor has a longer nozzle face with a Schrader and a Presta opening stacked on top of one another. She has always been drawn to ideas about how to relate to, and play in, the wilderness. It takes a long time to fill up a mountain bike tire with this thing. Our testers also rated it highly in both steadiness and usabilitythe wide wooden handle really helps with that. The Sterling struggled with the middle-of-the-road 40 PSI mark, oddly. It's simple and bright white with largish black letters. Clark is a mountain biker and fair weather bike commuter who's been lucky enough to land in four singletrack meccas Grand Junction and Durango, Colorado, Santa Cruz, and Lake Tahoe, California. Our head tester for this review is Clark Tate. Double-sided nozzle for Presta and Schrader, Settings for high volume and high pressure. During our testing, we used it to install 29-inch, 27.5-inch, plus, and fat tubeless tires. To find the best pump for every user, we focused on what we think are the five most important attributes of a high-quality bike pump how easy it is to attach to a tire, whether or not you can easily read the gauge, stability, inflation speed, and accuracy. halfords pressure volume pump advanced 2022 Wirecutter, Inc., A New York Times Company, A reliable option with better-than-most features, Our pick for a floor pump: Lezyne Classic Floor Drive, Budget floor-pump pick: Planet Bike ALX 2, Upgrade floor-pump pick: Specialized Air Tool Pro, Also-great hand pump: Lezyne Pressure Drive, Lennard Zinn, senior tech writer for VeloNews, Daimeon Shanks, a former pro race team mechanic, replacement head/hose combos and other parts, Specialized Air Tool Sport SwitchHitter II, Cheap Essentials for Getting Back on Your Bike. inflator airblast The other time, a set of Continental Trail King 27.5 x 2.4-inch tubeless tires with very sturdy sidewalls refused to snap into place. With sweat stinging your eyes, it's no fun to bend over and squint to check the gauge. Matthew Edwards has spent five years in the cycling industry as a salesperson, mechanic, and amateur bike racer, and Dave Yasuda is a road, mountain, and commuting cyclist with more than 30 years in the saddle. The Pista Plus remedies these issues but for more than twice the price of our top pick. Three inches in diameter, it has white numbers on a black background, plus a contrasting hi-vis yellow needle. If you want a high-quality road bike pump with excellent accuracy and the type of good looks and well-considered construction that makes it a joy to use, check out the Lezyne Sport Drive. The Silca Tattico Mini-Pump worked well with Presta valves but did not stay attached to Schrader valves when we pumped vigorously. Its a common flip model: You press it onto the tire tube valve and flip the handle up to secure it. We scrutinized the dial for legibility and placement. First, we get studious with online reviews, relying upon the expertise at Bicycling, Cycling Weekly, GearLab, BikeRadar, and MTBR to point us in the right direction. We tried the Vibrelli for due diligence, but with a shorter height and shorter hose than anything in the test pool, it felt like a toy in a giants hands. The pump hides a needle and a cone adapter. Material on GearLab is copyrighted. Its small enough to carry in a jersey pocket but also comes with a bracket that you can attach to your frame. The double-sided gauge is also finicky with flat tires. The gauge is 3 inches wide, base-mounted, and readable, with contrasting black-on-white text. But if you ride tubeless tires, this pump will save you a ton of frustration and keep you out of the shop and on your wheels. This is also the steadiest, sturdiest pump we tried, which made it a favorite among our testers. It hovered at 60 psi on the dial even while attached to an uninflated tire. All the pumps get you in the ballpark, but some will require more tweaking than others if you're particular about your pressures. It's a bit more finicky than the top two examples but only really gave us trouble when tires were flat. This one screws on, offering impeccable security once you've got it in place. And it comes with a limited lifetime warranty, the most robust of any pump we tested. Inflating a bike tire can feel like a high-intensity interval workout. None of the pumps we saw had any glow-in-the-dark markings on the gaugewhich would come in handy, say, for an early-morning ridebut this dial came the closest to providing that kind of visibility. Screw one end onto the pumps body. The first half of the gauge covers only 30 PSI, marking every pound of pressure. We ended up riding them with a tube for a while and leaving them in a hot car to get the pesky sidewalls to settle down. Read on to find out which pump will get you out the door and pedaling away as smoothly as possible. This article was edited by Ria Misra and Christine Ryan. Our Editors independently research, test, and rate the best products. The wooden handle is easy to use, and our testers all praised the pumps base. But most importantly, it fills tires quickly. The Lezyne Pressure Drive is a smartly designed handheld bike pump capable of filling the types of tires most frequently used by recreational riders. When used to install tubeless tires, using a big burst of air to set the bead of the tire against the rim of the wheel, it works wonderfully. There was less variation when we tested inflation on high-pressure road bike tires, and there's a much larger spread when it comes to inflating high-volume mountain bike tires. Their efficiency and accuracy vary greatly, and our side-by-side testing methods shake out the details. It also has a sliding yellow marker to keep track of your desired pressure, as do the other Topeak options and the Aergun. If you can keep your tires from getting fully flat or don't mind finagling a connection point every now and again, you'll really like this pump. The biggest ding to the Specialized Air Tool Sport was the illegible dial. Once youve screwed the pump head onto your tires valve, the Classic Floor Drive will never, ever release the valve until you want it to. Make sure you find the right one for you. We want to know that our tires are inflated correctly to the exact pressure that we want. We tested for quantifiable factors like inflation speed and gauge accuracy, measured weight and dimensions, and made user-based assessments of more subjective things like handle comfort and overall construction quality. Although you might encounter a few tires meant for velodrome use rated for pressures greater than 200 psi, thats overkill for most riders. It's efficient, too, inflating our road tires faster than all but one other pump in the test (the Bontrager Charager discussed below). The Planet Bike MicroPro Mini Bike Pump uses a thumb-lock valve in a fixed position on the end of the pump body. We also asked friends and fellow bicycle enthusiasts to join in our testing rounds to balance our experts' perspectives on the best features for all experience levels. As with all hand pumps, this is no substitute for a floor pump. If you want your pump to last, go for a wide and hefty base plate with a gauge mounted low enough to hold extra weight low to the ground. The valve on the ALX 2 is nothing specialand its one reason this pump isnt our main pickbut nothing in this price range is. The Topeak RaceRocket was also not able to pump a 700c road tire to 100 psi; with this pump, it took us 60 more strokes to get our mountain bike tire to 30 psi than it did with our top pick. For example, we're blown away by the Bontrager Charger, which earns the second-highest score with one of the lowest price tags in the test. That was an easy fix. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. The Specialized Air Tool Pro was a tester favorite. It works a lot like the Sterling does, but the barrel is much bigger, so it fills the tires much faster. Youll see that the connection is super-reliable, it will never release until you want it to, and we havent noticed any air leaks during testing. Pumps with bases that extend out to either side are less dependable. We the world's most carefully tested and objective gear reviews, Nozzle works with Presta and Schrader valves, accurate, well-placed pressure relief valve, Inexpensive, stable, comfortable, auto select nozzle for Presta and Schrader valves, Works great with high volume tires, stable, universal nozzle works with Presta and Schrader, Excellent performance, universal nozzle, long hose, air bleed valve, easy to read gauge, Relatively affordable, accurate, secure connection, valve core tool and pressure relief valve, Expensive, heavy, tippy in one direction, not great for high-volume tires, Nozzle can be tricky to use, no ball or bladder adapters, Not so great with high-pressure tires, gauge is harder to read than some, Expensive, heavy, hard work to fill chamber, gauge struggles at low pressures, Not meant for high volume tires, not the most precise or easiest gauge to read, With a bleeder valve in its handle and a nozzle that works with Schrader and Presta valves, this pump does its job well, A comfortable pump with an auto selecting nozzle and low price tag, This high-value pump works exceptionally well with high volume tires and features a universal nozzle, A high-quality and high priced model that replaces an air compressor to inflate tubeless tires, A thoughtfully constructed, accurate pump thats great for high pressure tires up to 220 PSI, This pump offers the best mix of accuracy and ease in the test, A simple pump with one of our favorite technological innovations, the auto-selecting nozzle, This light and little pump is optimized for high volume and high pressure and features a universal nozzle, An excellent choice for tubeless tire fans, An excellent choice for high volume tires that also works well with high-pressure tires, Built to last, this popular model brings a lot of performance per dollar to the table, This bike pump offers a combination of accuracy, excellent user-friendliness, and affordability, A less expensive option for roadies who dont need the latest and greatest, This is a good pump, but not the best at anything and there are more exciting options, This pump has some cool features but lacks stability making it hard to use. The Planet Bike Mini Versair Bike Pump has a hose thats much too short to be effective. Looking for the best bike computer on the market? vibrelli Also, as this is a serious cycling pump for a serious cyclist, it therefore doesnt come with any adaptors for anything other than bike tubes. The Air Tool Pro is just okay at inflating mountain bike tires (again beaten out by the Bontrager and the two MTB specialists listed below). The Birzman InfiniteApogee Road recorded a much higher number of strokes than average to fill the three test tires, and it just couldnt make it to 100 psi for the 700c tire. If you have a bike, you need a floor pump to keep it operating. The Max HP is a little smaller, the Lezyne Sport darker with smaller numbers, and the Crankbrother has smaller numbers and an eye-tiring blue and white color scheme. We looked for pumps that nontechnical folks could disassemble to replace parts like O-rings and gaskets. However, its larger and fits the hand more ergonomically than anything we tried, and its easy to secure and release. (There goes all your hard-earned air, in a rush!) To test the accuracy of these pumps, we cross-referenced their pressure readings with an independent gauge (a Jaco dial version, proven to be highly accurate in our gauge test). The Specialized Air Tool Pro costs nearly twice as much as the Lezyne Classic Floor Drive, but it doesnt offer twice as many features, nor perform twice as well, and thats why it isnt our top pick. The Crankbrothers Klic attempts a solution to an annoying storage problemthe floppy tube gets stored in the handle. In addition, if you ride a mountain bike or any kind of tire that has a very low psi rating, a high-volume, low-pressure pump may be a better choice to take on the trail with you. We love this concept. According to one pump designer we spoke to, yes. We look for the highest performers and then we check the price tags to help you find the best deals. Though not the least expensive pump we tested, our budget pick is the Planet Bike ALX 2, because the difference in quality between a $35 pump and a $60 pump is enormous. It's large, clear, and located at the top of the pump, making it very easy to read. While its a classic setup, we believe a pump with an extended tube design is an all-around superior design. If your biggest worry is cost, it will get the job done, but as we said before, the difference in quality between a $30 pump and a $50 pump is enormous. bell twinhead blackburn bicyclesi We like a lot of these pumps, but they're all good at different things. If you own a bike, you need a patch kit. The drawbacks: its plastic, wedge-on pump head and very short hose. We set them out in the sun and tried Windexing the tire bead and using a tube to seat one side. The SKS Rennkompressor prioritizes size over stability. They're oriented left to right with enough depth to create some front-to-back stability. Pumps with well-balanced tripod bases are among our favorites, like the Bontrager Charger, Crankbrothers Sterling, Lezyne Sport Drive. This is annoying, and it happens because the base plate doesn't extend very far toward you when you're pumping, pulling you in closer to the pump to hold it down and making things less comfortable than they could be. We independently review everything we recommend. In addition, not all the edges of the base are flush with the ground, just the foot contact points, and we noticed less stability with all pumps designed this way. Versatile and compact, this pump will fill the flat-fixing needs of any commuter while on the road. Simply flip a foot pedal on the Sterling or turn a knob on the 2Stage to flip back and forth. The JoeBlow Sport III is the best of this bunch, with a large gauge and PSI numbers printed clearly around the outside of the rim, free of the glare of the glass. Any old-school cyclist will recognize the Topeak Pocket Rocket, but its a below-average performer. Long story short, the JoeBlow Booster works great most of the time. The first had a maximum pressure rating of 260 psi, which added so many digits to the dial that it become hard to decipher; the second pumped 30 percent slower than virtually all other pumps and came with a plastic base. It does take more time, and you have to unscrew the bright red chuck and flip it over to switch between Schrader and Presta valves, but we think it's worth it. Mounted on top of the shaft, this gauge is much easier to read than the rest. It has a higher build quality than anything similar on Amazon, including the BV Pump, the Topeak Joe Blow III, and the Vibrelli pump. The Specialized Air Tool Pro was the most accurate gauge we tested, and, if you overshoot your target pressure, just press the button in the middle of the handle to bleed some out. It works best with high-pressure road tires, though. Only the Crankbrothers Sterling comes close to that efficiency with 16 compressions. Its nozzle is a bit more finicky than the best options, and it isn't as accurate at lower pressures, below 40 PSI or so. The Lezyne Sport Drive and Topeak JoeBlow Max HP are high-pressure specialists, so we think a more dedicated road cyclist would appreciate them most. A good pump makes it easy to build a habit of routine bike maintenance and pre-ride safety checks. We also prioritized pumps with other metal hardware, like levers and valve attachment points, which are more durable than the equivalent plastic parts. This is a proud pack of pumps, but they all have strengths and weaknesses. Hard-core bike commuters share seven itemsfrom storm-worthy gloves to rugged tiresthat keep them (and their stuff) safe and dry in the winter. It took 370 strokes to inflate the mountain bike tire and 260 strokes for the hybridsecond to worst of all the pumps in the test. The pump is comfortable and usable, and it even comes with a lifetime warranty, the best of anything we looked at, regardless of price. Topeak describes the Pocket Rocket as a pump for roadies, but we couldnt get our 700c tire up to the 100 psi mark. We tested some options that provide excellent performance at a stellar price point. What is kind of a bummer is the gauge design. This is the less expensive of the two. It really shines when your tires are totally dead. We also tested two pumps from Serfas, the FMP 500 and the TCPC. Pump bases can take a beating. Whether or not the pump can be serviced. Look for large gauges that are bright and clearly marked, with enough resolution to get the precision and accuracy you need. We also want an accurate gauge which is not as simple as it sounds when we take off on our ride. One of our primary goals during testing is to decide if a product's performance is worth its price tag. Unstable pumps topple over easily when you're pumping on a grassy hillside covered in sticks and leaves.
Our testers also rated it highly in both steadiness and usabilitythe wide wooden handle really helps with that. The Sterling struggled with the middle-of-the-road 40 PSI mark, oddly. It's simple and bright white with largish black letters. Clark is a mountain biker and fair weather bike commuter who's been lucky enough to land in four singletrack meccas Grand Junction and Durango, Colorado, Santa Cruz, and Lake Tahoe, California. Our head tester for this review is Clark Tate. Double-sided nozzle for Presta and Schrader, Settings for high volume and high pressure. During our testing, we used it to install 29-inch, 27.5-inch, plus, and fat tubeless tires. To find the best pump for every user, we focused on what we think are the five most important attributes of a high-quality bike pump how easy it is to attach to a tire, whether or not you can easily read the gauge, stability, inflation speed, and accuracy. halfords pressure volume pump advanced 2022 Wirecutter, Inc., A New York Times Company, A reliable option with better-than-most features, Our pick for a floor pump: Lezyne Classic Floor Drive, Budget floor-pump pick: Planet Bike ALX 2, Upgrade floor-pump pick: Specialized Air Tool Pro, Also-great hand pump: Lezyne Pressure Drive, Lennard Zinn, senior tech writer for VeloNews, Daimeon Shanks, a former pro race team mechanic, replacement head/hose combos and other parts, Specialized Air Tool Sport SwitchHitter II, Cheap Essentials for Getting Back on Your Bike. inflator airblast The other time, a set of Continental Trail King 27.5 x 2.4-inch tubeless tires with very sturdy sidewalls refused to snap into place. With sweat stinging your eyes, it's no fun to bend over and squint to check the gauge. Matthew Edwards has spent five years in the cycling industry as a salesperson, mechanic, and amateur bike racer, and Dave Yasuda is a road, mountain, and commuting cyclist with more than 30 years in the saddle. The Pista Plus remedies these issues but for more than twice the price of our top pick. Three inches in diameter, it has white numbers on a black background, plus a contrasting hi-vis yellow needle. If you want a high-quality road bike pump with excellent accuracy and the type of good looks and well-considered construction that makes it a joy to use, check out the Lezyne Sport Drive. The Silca Tattico Mini-Pump worked well with Presta valves but did not stay attached to Schrader valves when we pumped vigorously. Its a common flip model: You press it onto the tire tube valve and flip the handle up to secure it. We scrutinized the dial for legibility and placement. First, we get studious with online reviews, relying upon the expertise at Bicycling, Cycling Weekly, GearLab, BikeRadar, and MTBR to point us in the right direction. We tried the Vibrelli for due diligence, but with a shorter height and shorter hose than anything in the test pool, it felt like a toy in a giants hands. The pump hides a needle and a cone adapter. Material on GearLab is copyrighted. Its small enough to carry in a jersey pocket but also comes with a bracket that you can attach to your frame. The double-sided gauge is also finicky with flat tires. The gauge is 3 inches wide, base-mounted, and readable, with contrasting black-on-white text. But if you ride tubeless tires, this pump will save you a ton of frustration and keep you out of the shop and on your wheels. This is also the steadiest, sturdiest pump we tried, which made it a favorite among our testers. It hovered at 60 psi on the dial even while attached to an uninflated tire. All the pumps get you in the ballpark, but some will require more tweaking than others if you're particular about your pressures. It's a bit more finicky than the top two examples but only really gave us trouble when tires were flat. This one screws on, offering impeccable security once you've got it in place. And it comes with a limited lifetime warranty, the most robust of any pump we tested. Inflating a bike tire can feel like a high-intensity interval workout. None of the pumps we saw had any glow-in-the-dark markings on the gaugewhich would come in handy, say, for an early-morning ridebut this dial came the closest to providing that kind of visibility. Screw one end onto the pumps body. The first half of the gauge covers only 30 PSI, marking every pound of pressure. We ended up riding them with a tube for a while and leaving them in a hot car to get the pesky sidewalls to settle down. Read on to find out which pump will get you out the door and pedaling away as smoothly as possible. This article was edited by Ria Misra and Christine Ryan. Our Editors independently research, test, and rate the best products. The wooden handle is easy to use, and our testers all praised the pumps base. But most importantly, it fills tires quickly. The Lezyne Pressure Drive is a smartly designed handheld bike pump capable of filling the types of tires most frequently used by recreational riders. When used to install tubeless tires, using a big burst of air to set the bead of the tire against the rim of the wheel, it works wonderfully. There was less variation when we tested inflation on high-pressure road bike tires, and there's a much larger spread when it comes to inflating high-volume mountain bike tires. Their efficiency and accuracy vary greatly, and our side-by-side testing methods shake out the details. It also has a sliding yellow marker to keep track of your desired pressure, as do the other Topeak options and the Aergun. If you can keep your tires from getting fully flat or don't mind finagling a connection point every now and again, you'll really like this pump. The biggest ding to the Specialized Air Tool Sport was the illegible dial. Once youve screwed the pump head onto your tires valve, the Classic Floor Drive will never, ever release the valve until you want it to. Make sure you find the right one for you. We want to know that our tires are inflated correctly to the exact pressure that we want. We tested for quantifiable factors like inflation speed and gauge accuracy, measured weight and dimensions, and made user-based assessments of more subjective things like handle comfort and overall construction quality. Although you might encounter a few tires meant for velodrome use rated for pressures greater than 200 psi, thats overkill for most riders. It's efficient, too, inflating our road tires faster than all but one other pump in the test (the Bontrager Charager discussed below). The Planet Bike MicroPro Mini Bike Pump uses a thumb-lock valve in a fixed position on the end of the pump body. We also asked friends and fellow bicycle enthusiasts to join in our testing rounds to balance our experts' perspectives on the best features for all experience levels. As with all hand pumps, this is no substitute for a floor pump. If you want your pump to last, go for a wide and hefty base plate with a gauge mounted low enough to hold extra weight low to the ground. The valve on the ALX 2 is nothing specialand its one reason this pump isnt our main pickbut nothing in this price range is. The Topeak RaceRocket was also not able to pump a 700c road tire to 100 psi; with this pump, it took us 60 more strokes to get our mountain bike tire to 30 psi than it did with our top pick. For example, we're blown away by the Bontrager Charger, which earns the second-highest score with one of the lowest price tags in the test. That was an easy fix. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. The Specialized Air Tool Pro was a tester favorite. It works a lot like the Sterling does, but the barrel is much bigger, so it fills the tires much faster. Youll see that the connection is super-reliable, it will never release until you want it to, and we havent noticed any air leaks during testing. Pumps with bases that extend out to either side are less dependable. We the world's most carefully tested and objective gear reviews, Nozzle works with Presta and Schrader valves, accurate, well-placed pressure relief valve, Inexpensive, stable, comfortable, auto select nozzle for Presta and Schrader valves, Works great with high volume tires, stable, universal nozzle works with Presta and Schrader, Excellent performance, universal nozzle, long hose, air bleed valve, easy to read gauge, Relatively affordable, accurate, secure connection, valve core tool and pressure relief valve, Expensive, heavy, tippy in one direction, not great for high-volume tires, Nozzle can be tricky to use, no ball or bladder adapters, Not so great with high-pressure tires, gauge is harder to read than some, Expensive, heavy, hard work to fill chamber, gauge struggles at low pressures, Not meant for high volume tires, not the most precise or easiest gauge to read, With a bleeder valve in its handle and a nozzle that works with Schrader and Presta valves, this pump does its job well, A comfortable pump with an auto selecting nozzle and low price tag, This high-value pump works exceptionally well with high volume tires and features a universal nozzle, A high-quality and high priced model that replaces an air compressor to inflate tubeless tires, A thoughtfully constructed, accurate pump thats great for high pressure tires up to 220 PSI, This pump offers the best mix of accuracy and ease in the test, A simple pump with one of our favorite technological innovations, the auto-selecting nozzle, This light and little pump is optimized for high volume and high pressure and features a universal nozzle, An excellent choice for tubeless tire fans, An excellent choice for high volume tires that also works well with high-pressure tires, Built to last, this popular model brings a lot of performance per dollar to the table, This bike pump offers a combination of accuracy, excellent user-friendliness, and affordability, A less expensive option for roadies who dont need the latest and greatest, This is a good pump, but not the best at anything and there are more exciting options, This pump has some cool features but lacks stability making it hard to use. The Planet Bike Mini Versair Bike Pump has a hose thats much too short to be effective. Looking for the best bike computer on the market? vibrelli Also, as this is a serious cycling pump for a serious cyclist, it therefore doesnt come with any adaptors for anything other than bike tubes. The Air Tool Pro is just okay at inflating mountain bike tires (again beaten out by the Bontrager and the two MTB specialists listed below). The Birzman InfiniteApogee Road recorded a much higher number of strokes than average to fill the three test tires, and it just couldnt make it to 100 psi for the 700c tire. If you have a bike, you need a floor pump to keep it operating. The Max HP is a little smaller, the Lezyne Sport darker with smaller numbers, and the Crankbrother has smaller numbers and an eye-tiring blue and white color scheme. We looked for pumps that nontechnical folks could disassemble to replace parts like O-rings and gaskets. However, its larger and fits the hand more ergonomically than anything we tried, and its easy to secure and release. (There goes all your hard-earned air, in a rush!) To test the accuracy of these pumps, we cross-referenced their pressure readings with an independent gauge (a Jaco dial version, proven to be highly accurate in our gauge test). The Specialized Air Tool Pro costs nearly twice as much as the Lezyne Classic Floor Drive, but it doesnt offer twice as many features, nor perform twice as well, and thats why it isnt our top pick. The Crankbrothers Klic attempts a solution to an annoying storage problemthe floppy tube gets stored in the handle. In addition, if you ride a mountain bike or any kind of tire that has a very low psi rating, a high-volume, low-pressure pump may be a better choice to take on the trail with you. We love this concept. According to one pump designer we spoke to, yes. We look for the highest performers and then we check the price tags to help you find the best deals. Though not the least expensive pump we tested, our budget pick is the Planet Bike ALX 2, because the difference in quality between a $35 pump and a $60 pump is enormous. It's large, clear, and located at the top of the pump, making it very easy to read. While its a classic setup, we believe a pump with an extended tube design is an all-around superior design. If your biggest worry is cost, it will get the job done, but as we said before, the difference in quality between a $30 pump and a $50 pump is enormous. bell twinhead blackburn bicyclesi We like a lot of these pumps, but they're all good at different things. If you own a bike, you need a patch kit. The drawbacks: its plastic, wedge-on pump head and very short hose. We set them out in the sun and tried Windexing the tire bead and using a tube to seat one side. The SKS Rennkompressor prioritizes size over stability. They're oriented left to right with enough depth to create some front-to-back stability. Pumps with well-balanced tripod bases are among our favorites, like the Bontrager Charger, Crankbrothers Sterling, Lezyne Sport Drive. This is annoying, and it happens because the base plate doesn't extend very far toward you when you're pumping, pulling you in closer to the pump to hold it down and making things less comfortable than they could be. We independently review everything we recommend. In addition, not all the edges of the base are flush with the ground, just the foot contact points, and we noticed less stability with all pumps designed this way. Versatile and compact, this pump will fill the flat-fixing needs of any commuter while on the road. Simply flip a foot pedal on the Sterling or turn a knob on the 2Stage to flip back and forth. The JoeBlow Sport III is the best of this bunch, with a large gauge and PSI numbers printed clearly around the outside of the rim, free of the glare of the glass. Any old-school cyclist will recognize the Topeak Pocket Rocket, but its a below-average performer. Long story short, the JoeBlow Booster works great most of the time. The first had a maximum pressure rating of 260 psi, which added so many digits to the dial that it become hard to decipher; the second pumped 30 percent slower than virtually all other pumps and came with a plastic base. It does take more time, and you have to unscrew the bright red chuck and flip it over to switch between Schrader and Presta valves, but we think it's worth it. Mounted on top of the shaft, this gauge is much easier to read than the rest. It has a higher build quality than anything similar on Amazon, including the BV Pump, the Topeak Joe Blow III, and the Vibrelli pump. The Specialized Air Tool Pro was the most accurate gauge we tested, and, if you overshoot your target pressure, just press the button in the middle of the handle to bleed some out. It works best with high-pressure road tires, though. Only the Crankbrothers Sterling comes close to that efficiency with 16 compressions. Its nozzle is a bit more finicky than the best options, and it isn't as accurate at lower pressures, below 40 PSI or so. The Lezyne Sport Drive and Topeak JoeBlow Max HP are high-pressure specialists, so we think a more dedicated road cyclist would appreciate them most. A good pump makes it easy to build a habit of routine bike maintenance and pre-ride safety checks. We also prioritized pumps with other metal hardware, like levers and valve attachment points, which are more durable than the equivalent plastic parts. This is a proud pack of pumps, but they all have strengths and weaknesses. Hard-core bike commuters share seven itemsfrom storm-worthy gloves to rugged tiresthat keep them (and their stuff) safe and dry in the winter. It took 370 strokes to inflate the mountain bike tire and 260 strokes for the hybridsecond to worst of all the pumps in the test. The pump is comfortable and usable, and it even comes with a lifetime warranty, the best of anything we looked at, regardless of price. Topeak describes the Pocket Rocket as a pump for roadies, but we couldnt get our 700c tire up to the 100 psi mark. We tested some options that provide excellent performance at a stellar price point. What is kind of a bummer is the gauge design. This is the less expensive of the two. It really shines when your tires are totally dead. We also tested two pumps from Serfas, the FMP 500 and the TCPC. Pump bases can take a beating. Whether or not the pump can be serviced. Look for large gauges that are bright and clearly marked, with enough resolution to get the precision and accuracy you need. We also want an accurate gauge which is not as simple as it sounds when we take off on our ride. One of our primary goals during testing is to decide if a product's performance is worth its price tag. Unstable pumps topple over easily when you're pumping on a grassy hillside covered in sticks and leaves.
