Review: Lezyne Tech Drive HV Pumps

Reviewing a product for Singletrack comes with a certain level of responsibility. In turn, this responsibility is associated with a degree of anxiety: Have I captured enough details and described their pros and cons? Is my critique fair and honest? Have I balanced my personal opinion against an objective view? And most critically, have I used it enough to have identified these strengths and weaknesses? After all, how much testing is enough?

It is safe to say that for this review the latter concerns do not apply. In the first week after I got these Lezyne pumps I had two punctures and by the end of the second week the total had reached five. Week three brought punctures six to nine and after four weeks I was on 13. As a resultant I’m fairly confident I’ve given these pumps a good go and I’m hoping by writing up this review my puncture run will finally come to an end.

Is This The Worst Pumptrack In The UK?

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The Lezyne Drive HV (high volume) small and medium pumps are identical in their features except, surprise surprise, one is bigger than the other; the small measures 170mm in length compared to 220mm of the medium (not including hose and end caps). There’s little weight difference between the pair – the medium is 127g versus 115g of the small – and the diameter is the same too, 27mm in the shaft and 31mm at the handle. The difference in length is enough that whilst the small slips easily in a jersey or pack pocket, the medium requires a bit more thought (it’s too long for the tool pocket in my pack and protrudes further than I’d like out my jersey pocket). The pump comes with a frame mount which attaches to bottle cage bosses. The mount does make the pump it easy to carry but it also means it’s subjected to collecting mud, grit and grime so I haven’t bothered using it.

Whilst the medium is not so convenient to pack away, the size does make a big difference when it comes to using, verified by my ‘scientific’ testing. Inflating a 29 x 2.20 tubeless Maxxis Ikon on an American Classic 28mm rim from ‘atmospheric pressure flat’ (I let all the air out without compressing the tyre / unseating) it took 120 full stokes with the medium pump to inflate to 21psi. After the same number the small reached 17psi and it took another 40 (total 160) to get it to 21psi. The choice between carrying convenience and pumping speed is yours.

Both pumps have a maximum pressure of 90psi. Although this is plenty for a mtb tyre it meant when I fixing one of my many commuter flats a fair amount of welly was required on the final few strokes. Personally I still prefer a high volume, low pressure mini-pump than the other way round (a low-volume, high-pressure version is available if not).

The Drive is very sleek and simple in its design and has a reassuringly chunky feel. It’s thick enough to be easy to grip – even with wet and muddy gloves – and nicely sturdy without any noticeable play during use. It features a flexible hose with both Schrader and Presta fittings which screws into the pump body for storage.

Using the pump is straight forward enough: screw the hose onto the pump then onto the valve and pump away. I quite like a screwed hose fitting rather than clamping straight onto the valve as I’m less concerned about damaging the valve or getting a poor fit even if it is a bit more of a faff. In the past I’ve had problems unscrewing Presta valves when detaching hoses. The Drive has a little bleed valve which is designed to prevent this happening by releasing the pressure in the hose before unscrewing and certainly I’ve not experienced any problems with this one so far. If you use the Schrader fitting this valve can be used to bleed pressure from the tyre if you’ve over inflated which is surely an unlikely occurrence mini-pump.

Overall: a sleek, robust mini-pump which does the job with minimal fuss. Can I stop getting punctures now please?

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Review Info

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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