From the Singletrack archive: this Grouptest first appeared in Singletrack Magazine Issue 111 (2017). Words & photography by Chipps. Prices and distributor details were correct at the time of publication.
Ten big capable tyre pumps designed to get you inflated and back on track as soon as possible.
Everyone carries a pump, don’t they? Racer-types might carry a CO2 canister to save weight and space, but even they will strap on a bigger pump for those long winter rides. Despite the reliability of tubeless systems these days, carrying an effective pump is still critical as it’s often possible to reinflate a plugged tubeless tyre.
The biggest reason for carrying a decent pump, though, is so you can get on with the rest of the ride. How many times have you watched one of your ride companions struggling with a teeny pump, while the rest of you stand around in the rain. It’s worth carrying a decent pump just for those ‘Oh, just give it here!’ occasions. You get to be the puncture-fixing hero of the day and you all get to be on your way.
There’s very little difference in weight and awkwardness between a small, ineffective pump and a capable one that’ll get you back on your way with the minimum of fuss, so that’s where we concentrated our efforts in sourcing our pumps.
Come with us as we imagine a puncture on a wet and windy day, with the feeble sun setting and the pub calling. Which pump would we reach for to save the day and get things back on track?
Blackburn Outpost High Volume Pump
Price: £32.99 | From: Zyro Fisher | Weight: 234g
The Outpost rivals many pumps here for the title of ‘biggest pump on test’ and at 33cm long, you need a big pack to fit it into (or a lot of room on your downtube). The Outpost is meant for big, plus and fat bike tyres although it also includes Blackburn’s ‘high volume/high pressure’ switch which will incongruously allow it to pump up to 85 psi.
With its rubber cap over the valve chuck and brushed black anodised finish, the Outpost gives little away. Opening the pump, it extends to twice that length and you can hear the air being sucked in to fill the pump. The central barrel is a brown anodised non-moving cylinder nearly the size of the outer barrel and that’s it. The chuck is tightened on the valve with a twist of this shaft, making it easy to do with gloves on.
Pumping efficiently does take some technique, though, as the small pump head is the only part that isn’t engulfed by the outer barrel when pumping, so you need to adopt a technique that holds the pump head from behind the spokes, without gripping so much that your fingers get in the way of the pump action. The Outpost certainly moves a lot of air and chunky knobbly tyres are inflated rapidly, provided you can keep the unorthodox grip on the pump head.
Overall: A hugely efficient pump that seems hobbled by being so awkward to grip when pumping.
Bontrager Mini Charger
Price: £29.99 | From: Trek UK | Weight: 222g
The Bontrager Mini Charger isn’t really that mini by the time you’ve factored in the long hose, integrated gauge, fold-out foot and comprehensive bottle boss mount that keeps it all secure on your bike, but all of that complexity is for a purpose.
Everything stays in place until called for. Deploying the pump involves unclipping the hose chuck from the fold-out foot. The foot slides securely into the base at 90° where it clicks into place and the reversible chuck head fits onto the valve with a pull-up lever to secure it.
The barrel and plunger are both slimmer than on many of the pumps here, but that doesn’t seem to affect the performance. In fact, the slim dimensions of the pump allow a certain amount of movement when you’re pumping, which is often needed on uneven ground, and the Goldilocks air volume makes it ideal for average mountain bike tyres.
There’s a certain amount of rigmarole involved in getting the pump out and ready, and then folding it all back into place, but this is made up for by its reliability of action and no-gimmick construction. The inclusion of an inline gauge on the pump head seems a little superfluous as it can only be read from directly above the pump and the distance between 20 psi and 40 psi is approximately 4mm, so is very hard to read. A squeeze of the tyre will probably suffice.
Overall: A complex looking pump that is surprisingly easy to use. It can be out and pumping in seconds with little fanfare, which means more time in the cake shop at the end of the trail.
Crank Brothers Sterling LG
Price: £49.99 | From: Extra UK | Weight: 170g
This slick pump from Crank Bros is high on features, fit and finish. It features a long mirror-polish barrel with a knurled grip and a gauge at the end. The pump features a dual Presta/Schrader head with a locking lever and, at the other end, there’s a twistable barrel switch to change between high pressure and high volume (0-40 psi and 40-100 psi).
The Sterling has a great feeling of quality with its slim but grippy barrel and chunky head. The smart head grips either valve without needing to swap gubbins around. The high pressure/volume switch is very positive and it’s easy to switch from one to the other while pumping. This won’t be of much interest to most mountain bikers though as it’s only really relevant for pressures above 50 psi. Likewise, the gauge goes up to 100 psi, so its accuracy and legibility below 30 psi isn’t going to be great. In addition, it’s easily obscured by your hand when holding the head, though at least there’s enough room for a decent grip when pumping.
Overall: It’s a solid, beautiful pump that will suit riders who ride both on and off road.
Fabric Z250
Price: £39.99 | From: Fabric | Weight: 311g
This beautiful beast will instantly appeal to lovers of design, city riders and mid-90s mountain bikers as it recalls the classic Mt Zefal frame pump. With a huge barrel, a wooden grip and a long metal braided hose, it’s about 1,000% times classier than that neon pump of old. A chunky plastic clip with a Velcro strap keeps it in place if you have the room and the polished logo on the metal barrel leaves no mistaking the brand. The fit of the components is impressive, with no gaps visible when the wooden handle is in place. The braided hose sits screwed into the handle and needs removing and screwing into the other end to use. There’s a clever dual head on the end of the hose that just needs a twist to change from Presta to Schrader and the ‘right way round’ arrangement of pump and handle ensures that your hands are kept pinch free.
Overall: It’s big, heavy and cumbersome, and yet it’s beautiful and works well. It’s probably best kept for the town bike or workshops, where you can expect compliments on its looks.
Fabric M200
Price: £32.99 | From: Fabric | Weight: 233g
Given that this is Fabric’s first year as a pump manufacturer the results are certainly impressive, with the Z250 above and the more pack and pocket-friendly M200. With a max pressure of 50 psi and a big 102cc of air moving with every stroke, this is definitely a mountain bike tyre inflator.
The fit and finish is lovely – all satin aluminium and polished logos. A small pullout hose helps the reach and reduces strain on the valve at the same time. A simple lever-tightened head with a reversible chuck keeps things fuss free and everything has a good feeling of durability. The pumping action is short, but moves a lot of air – unconventionally, the pumping components seem reversed, so the handle slides over the static shaft. This appears to add a lot of solidity to the motion and you can really get your weight behind the handle, while the front cylinder still allows a lot of grip without danger of hand pinching, especially as the hose position allows the front hand to fully support the pumping motion.
Overall: Small enough to fit in a bumbag or pocket, yet sturdy enough for some serious use and smart enough to bring home to meet the parents. One classy inflator.
Lezyne Micro Floor Drive XL
Price: £54.99 | From: Upgrade | Weight: 308g
The ‘XL’ is the biggest in the Lezyne Micro Floor Drive range and also blurs the boundaries of track pump and portable pump. The XL refers to the volume of air it can move and it sets itself out as being a pump for fat bike tyres, which helps explain the size and weight. It’s a very smart and solid-feeling thing, with polished anodised aluminium used throughout. The barrel is huge and topped with a sturdy feeling T-handle.
Lezyne’s ABS chuck is quickly reversible (and fat bikes seem to be one of the last bastions of the Schrader valve, so this is pretty handy). There’s also a press-on chuck included, but if you fit it, the valve assembly no longer fits neatly in the base.
In use, the MFD-XL works well. The screw-on valve is secure, especially with car-style Schrader valves and it quickly inflates fat and plus tyres. The fixed T-bar is a little harder to use than other firms’ fold-out handles, but it’s perfectly serviceable. We did find that the larger air volume makes pumping ‘normal’ 2.3in tyres to 25 psi pretty tough, so consider that if you’re going to use it for a group. If it’s just you and you have huge tyres though, this is one of the only pumps to consider, such is its pumping prowess.
Overall: Well made and efficient for big volume, lower pressure tyres. We’d like a bigger handle to match, though.
Topeak Mountain Morph
Price: £31.99 | From: Extra UK | Weight: 235g
Judging by the number of these we see out in the wilds, this is still one of the top trail pumps to beat and certainly was one of the first of the floor pump-action pumps that would (just) fit in a pack. With bottle boss mounting an option, it also keeps together well in a pack thanks to a hose chuck clip and lock-together handle. The fold-out foot is held fast by a simple clip and folds out when pulled – unlike the other stirrup-style pumps here, there’s no detent to keep it at 90°, which we’ve actually found handy as it still holds the pump to the ground, but means you don’t need to be exactly perpendicular to use the pump effectively. Deploying is a simple unfold of the foot and a twist and unfold of the T-handle, though there’s plenty of grip if you want to hold it conventionally. The reversible chuck is positive, with metal threaded parts for durability and there’s even a Schrader valve depressor on the chuck handle if you’ve overdone it on the pumping.
Overall: There’s a reason that this pump is so prevalent. It’s well made, folds down compactly, yet extends in use without fuss and inflates as well as any other.
Truflo T10 Mountain CO2
Price: £29.99 | From: Madison | Weight: 126g (+64g for CO2 cartridge)
Truflo is Madison’s house pump brand and there’s a wide range of pumps from big to tiny. We’ve previously reviewed the Truflo Minitrack, which is an extending stirrup pump, so this time we chose to look at the T10. It’s a much smaller pump than any here, coming in at a mere 23cm long. Where it wins in the ‘get you going again’ trail pump stakes is that it features a second valve head just for a CO2 cartridge (included, with an insulated cover).
The T10 is all metal with a plastic head and there’s a rubber seal to keep the weather out of the pump shaft and another on the CO2 threads (though not the pump chucks). The hand pumping head is a push-on affair, reversible for Presta or Schrader and though there’s not the huge volumes of the other pumps, it’ll get you inflated. If time is tight, or weather is against you, you can screw in the CO2 cartridge at the end of the pump and (importantly), using the second chuck, you can inflate the tyre from there.
It’s a little awkward that the CO2 can’t use the same chuck as the hand pump as that would let you easily top off the pressure, but it’s no hassle really to swap between the two.
Overall: A neat way of combining a hand pump with a CO2 dispenser, though we’d have liked to have seen a way of carrying the cartridge and a shared valve.
Blackburn Wayside Hybrid Pump
Price: £64.99 | From: Zyro Fisher | Weight: 408g
At nearly 40cm long, this thing is MASSIVE and it’s at the top end of the size that you’d want to carry in a pack (or could even fit in one). However, if you’re more concerned with getting back on the road after a puncture, you’ll be glad you packed it. The main barrel is anodised aluminium, with a shocking red inner barrel. A large sprung-loaded handle folds out from the end and that provides a home for the two-sided valve head.
To deploy it, you detach the hose head from its home in the handle, unfold the handle and unfold the stirrup, which clicks into place at 90°. This also brings the gauge into view and you’re ready to save the day. Rather pointlessly for mountain bikers, the gauge goes up to 120 psi. While we don’t doubt the pump can reach that, it makes adjustments at mountain bike pressures a little more guesswork – especially when the dial’s resting point is apparently about 6psi already. The dual-sided head screws onto the valve using the unused portion of the head (so to attach the red Presta head, you twist the silver side of the chuck, which also spins the Presta chuck onto the valve head).
Like any screw-on chuck, there are upsides and downsides. It can attach securely to the skimpiest of inner tube valves poking through the valve hole, but it can also unscrew valve cores if you’re not careful, or valve lock rings if they’re not done up tightly. You soon learn the foibles though.
In use, this pump can move a huge amount of air, and with your foot on the stirrup and one or both hands on the handle, nothing can resist. Blackburn’s signature low/high switch is present underneath the plastic handle, so you can use the pump for your ‘cross bike or town bike when you’re at home. We can see this finding favour with those riders who don’t have a track pump in the car too.
We did have an issue with the pump where the fold-out foot is so secure when stood on that any off-axis pumping can put a strain on the base and managed to crack the base after slipping sideways when overenthusiastically pumping, but Blackburn quickly replaced it under its lifetime warranty.
Overall: It’s big and it’s heavy, but it’s the ultimate ‘Oh, just give it here!’ pump for riders who want to get the tyre pumped and back on with the ride. It’s also enormously tactile and actually fun to use. We imagine it will appeal most to mountain bike guides, gear junkies, scout leaders and dislikers of trail-faff.
Specialized Air Tool Big Bore
Price: £30 | From: Specialized | Weight: 156g
This short and stumpy inflation device from Specialized is unashamedly a mountain bike pump. It’s the shortest on test and among the lightest too. The 20cm overall length makes it ideal for stashing in a pack, bumbag or jersey pocket (and it comes with a bottle cage mount too). There’s good knurling on both halves of the pump giving a good, girthy handful delivering a claimed 90cc per stroke – ideal for fatter tyres. There’s a clever dual head which automatically snaps around the valve when you press it on and which has been designed for use with winter gloves. There’s also an extending hose that can help the pump’s reach and which stops any sideways pressure on the valve, but the pump will work with the hose retracted if needed. Either way, there’s a lot to grip here, even in the wet, with the ‘more than just token’ diamond knurled pattern for grip. Pleasingly, there’s a hidden twist-lock feature that keeps the two sections of pump handle from extending in your bag or pocket.
In use there’s a good diameter and length on both halves of the pump for a good grip and the fixed portion of the pump is big enough that you can grasp it without fear of palm pinching. There’s no concession to being able to pump road tyres up to high pressure, and we admire the single-mindedness of that. The dual-sided head has a push-through chuck which just needs to be introduced to the valve and pressed on in place. This ‘snaps’ the head onto the valve as it presses through the head. Pulling the head off the valve reverses that procedure and the head is ‘armed’ again for that valve type. To swap from Presta to Schrader, you just need to snap the chuck into the other position with your thumb and it’s ready to receive. Because no one wants to swap valve washers in the rain.
Overall: A truly compact mountain bike pump that will fit into a pocket, yet still get you back on your way. Its sturdiness and portability should ensure that it’s still in use a long time down the line.
Verdict
Punctures affect us all, whether you’re a downhiller, commuter or fixed-wheel tandem rider and, unlike many other cycling problems, they’re something that you can’t bodge your way out of. If you don’t have a workable pump, you’re walking home (and we don’t need to tell you that ‘stuff it with grass’ thing never did work, do we?). So the importance of having a reliable pump is paramount, and the efficiency of that pump needs to increase in proportion with the weather conditions. If every ride was a lazy, sunny Sunday, then we’d probably all be happy to take in the view while slowly inflating that 2.5in tyre with a pump the size of a Smartie tube. However, when the wind is wailing, the sleet is biting and the sun is setting (which is when most punctures seem to happen), the need for a reliable, simple and high-volume pump is very obvious.
Of all of the pumps here, we’d be happy to have any of them with us in a pinch. All of them will cheerfully inflate a tyre and get you on your way.
We’re going to single out a couple of pumps for extra love, though. Firstly, the Blackburn Wayside blurs the line between trail pump and home pump such is its size and heft, but having used it in some horrible conditions where the rest of the group was getting cold and wet, its speed of deployment and inflation was impressive.
The Lezyne Micro Floor Drive XL shifts so much air from such a solid pump that it’s a natural choice for fat bike riders, especially those who don’t need to inflate anything smaller. If you have ‘normal’ tyres, whatever that is these days, then check out Lezyne’s other pumps though, as this is really for fatties only. Can we have a larger handle though please?
At the teeny tiny end, we’re going to give the nod to the Specialized Air Tool Big Bore. It’s the shortest pump on test when retracted, yet offers a good amount of air with each stroke in an easy-to-use package. While the Fabric M200 is close in quality and design, we preferred the instant-swapping pump chuck over the more fiddly ‘unscrew and swap’ version on the Fabric – and it’s likely that the finish on the Specialized will age better than the polished designer look of the Fabric.
So, whether in a back pocket, bottle mount, or stashed safely in a pack, we reckon the Air Tool Big Bore is a winner.
