Pro Performance Two-Way

Length: 29.5cm
Weight: 147g

The Pro Performance Two-Way is perhaps the slimmest pump on test – it’s a foot of slim black aluminium elegance, with a plastic handle and valve adapter. It can get away with being so slim – and hence delivering a smaller volume of air with each pump – by containing cunning internal trickery which means it pushes air out with both up and down strokes, so the amount of total air moved per pump is almost doubled.

There’s a magnetic catch on the handle to prevent unwanted expansion in your backpack, and the handle swivels out into a T-bone to help with vigorous pumping. The mechanism to change from Presta to Schrader valves is the usual one involving swapping bits of plastic around, but it was fairly straightforward to do. In the unlikely event that you’re going to do this in the field (as it were) you’ve got to take care not to drop anything, as the whole pump is rendered inoperable if you do. But so far, so good.

In use, the pump fits over the valve perfectly well; the plastic lever locks everything down just so, and then you can start pumping. As with other two-way pumps, pulling is slightly disconcerting initially, with the resistance at the end as the air is compressed into the tyre, but the tyre is soon inflated. It’s not the very best ergonomically, as a lack of hose limits the number of positions you can use with a Presta valve without bending your valve stem, but it’s perfectly good in every other respect. A well made, sturdy pump.

Review Info

Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

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