[Closed] Bontrager TLR flash charger floor pump

I fancy one of these: I keep going thru CO2 containers, I don't have room for a compressor. Am still toying with ghetto coke bottle compressor. Just think the bonty will be hassle free.

Did it feel well built? Did you try the compression chamber?

You could build a very nice fire extinguisher inflator for less than that. It's a good idea though but seems extremely expensive for what it is- basically a bottle and a valve.

I'm surprised no one else has made one(or have they?). It is a good design; normal pump then flip the lever, fill the chamber, then pop!

my coke bottle inflator does the same job much cheaper

Someone is making a fire extinguisher type thing called Airshot for about £50, came up in a previous thread. A Joe blow mountain is almost good enough so i'd reckon a Joe blow fat should do it? (also apparently not out yet)

LBS demo'ed it on a wheel I'd taken in to get a new conti tubeless inflated as I'd given up. Worked first time. Cracking bit of kit.

It is a neat unit. Be great for road trips and races.

I have ordered one but there it's a delay until next month on it.

I've got the large volume Joe Blow pump… essential bit of kit.

No doubt this Bonty solution is even better.

[i](Don't forget to take your valve cores out when mounting tubeless tyres with high volume pumps)[/i]

Thing is many decent track pumps are £50, so to say it's £100 compared to an inflator is a bit unfair. Very decent track pump too!

Pedalon had them on sale for 85 quid - out of stock now - and I bought one. Turned up today and it seems very well thought out and a solid bit of kit - weighs 2.85kg... The barrels and base are metal, the handle's plastic, so is the release trigger thing for the air reservoir, but it's no big deal unless you're convinced that everything must be made of metal for it to work.

You inflate the pressurised reservoir with about 45 strokes of the pump, connect it to the tyre valve and pull up the red handle to release the air and whoosh.... I inflated three tubeless tyres earlier, just for the hell of it, and they all went up instantly, no problems seating the bead at all. It's like magic.

I bought it because I ride a fair bit. Change tyres quite regularly on several different bikes, all run tubeless and I simple get bored with the faff and effort of trying to seat various tyre and rim combinations.

I get that I could probably bodge a cut-priceI alternative using a pop bottle or the spare tyre from my car or a cunningly manipulated Space Hopper or an Aeropress, but I like the neatness of the concept and I'm a bit of a sucker for clever gadgetry. Mostly though I just like the idea of not wasting hours faffing with tubeless tyres.

So yeah, so far, I reckon it seems pretty good.

Oh, one of the reviews I read said that the base of the pump is cheap plastic rather than metal. Maybe that was the case on pre-production test pumps, but the one I have definitely has a metal base.

Nice one Dog. On my birthday wish list now.

"but the plastic lever on the pump head feels quite thin. (The head works well with both Presta and Schrader valves.) Likewise the plastic handle flexes on the downstroke. Neither feels robust, and we question the durability over many years."

bike radar review.

work in plastic it may .... last it will not.

the heads on our track pumps always die....

almost always the connection to the hose or the flip lever. if im spending 100 sheets on a track pump regardless of how fancy it is , if they cant get the basics of a robust head right then - fack em.

supercharger is still number 1 on my list - closely followed by the airmenius.

shame they changed the rennekompressor to be a piece of shite - the old shops one is edging 20 years old.

the heads on our track pumps always die....

... and can always be replaced for a few quid.

Drama Queen.

I had this idea a few years ago, shame I never patented it 🙁

I've always worked on the basis that changing track pump heads is easy enough. I guess if the plastic handle breaks I'll see how well Bontrager's 'Unconditional Guarantee' works.

Bear in mind that I'm a simple home user rather than a professional in a workshop using the pump multiple times per day and my intention mainly is simply to mainly use it for tubeless installation. I have a piece of shite Rennkompressor for everyday use.

Anyway, I'll report back when it all falls to pieces. 😐

A good idea IMO, one more dependency on your 'friendly' LBS broken (always a good thing in my experience). They should save a lot of faff with soapy water etc plus time too.

They'll get cheaper.

"... and can always be replaced for a few quid.

Drama Queen."

so its not reasonable to expect that a 100 pound track pump has a decent head from the off.

worlds going to hell in a hand cart i tell ya.

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ghetto-tubeless-inflator-mk-vii ]Ghetto Mk VII[/url] FTW 😉

so its not reasonable to expect that a 100 pound track pump has a decent head from the off.

worlds going to hell in a hand cart i tell ya.

I promise to come back and let you know when it breaks.

BDW - what rim tyres combos have you tried?

I will defo get one of these as I can for the life of me not get tyres to seat on my sram rail wheels

I think its a great idea and saves the stress (which it is when you fail getting them seated!), and petrol and scrounging the lbs to use their compressor

im defo in, a decent pump is circa 50quid so 100 is not bad at rrp (but youll get it with 10% off somewhere once they are in stock I bet)

Er, a TR Racing Ralph on a an early Stan's rim, a Bontrager TR XR4 on a Mavic UST and an EXO Ardent on a Flow. None of them are particularly problematic combinations anyway, but they all went straight up.

Supposedly the Airshot is being released next month. Might hang off till I hear a few reports on that before I decide myself, Airshot is half the price, and while the Bontrager is a handy 2 in 1, I've already got a nice track pump that's probably got another 10 years life left in it!

'45 pumps'

Not sure if I could manage that

I'm getting one.
But I'm going to rig it up to some 15mm copper piping, some ball bearings, and some vaseline, and use it planetary defense for when the aliens attack....

DrP

Having just made one....

[i]Sparkling mineral water bottle compressor FTW[/i]

I'll be getting one, Ghetto pop bottle hasn't worked that well for me at all and it'll make a nice change to not have to release a valve with eyes closed holding my breath.

I'm sure these will be pretty common place in a year and probably half the price

bonesetter - Member

'45 pumps'

Not sure if I could manage that
Posted 2 hours ago #

Takes 3-4 strokes with a Joe Blow Mountain to seat a tyre and around another 20 or so to bring it up to pressure.

So, Joe Blow wins?

Or should I get into training?

If only ever failed once with a Joe Blow Mountain (that was an HD on a Flow) but some of the other combos have needed a lot of time and bloody-mindedness.

I'm in for a sloshy thing when they get cheaper.

Blimey, Trail_Rat that's "glass half full" cherry picking of the bad bits from that bike radar review. In just about every other paragraph they can't heap enough praise on it!!! Yeah, it's £100 but I can certainly see the appeal!

Bike Radar give it 4.5 stars - that's pretty much the most they give anything

Shame about the gauge range being too wide - most mtb tyres don't go much above 30 psi

[img] [/img]

Bontrager are big into road tubeless though so the gauge needs to do both.

So, Joe Blow wins?

no - it works sometimes, and other times you need to resort to co/2 cartridges.

Plus the stock head isn't that good, have to be quite careful not to drop too much pressure when you take it off.

Takes 3-4 strokes with a Joe Blow Mountain to seat a tyre

Lol.. yeah.. if you have a good tubeless ready tyre, the right rim and a good rimstrip. But then, so does any other track pump.

If you don't have those things it's CO2 or a compressor. Or one of these new inventions.

I wonder how the pump would fair with fat tyres?

bonesetter - theres a video on youtube with the fat tyres being inflated, it works!

im defo getting one that's for sure, may consider the air shot thing too, but not sure yet

I got one for rather less than the RRP, slightly used by LBS, as I was after a new track pump anyway. I have tried it on several different tyres and wheel combinations and all have worked first go. Really good bit of kit that makes setting up tubeless less of a faff.

To get a fat tyre up first go is batter than a compressor

Air shot posted in their Facebook page they are expecting to ship in April (I think) with a retail around the £50 mark. It you are needing a pump anyway the bonteger might work out cheaper.

Air shot posted in their Facebook page they are expecting to ship in April (I think

how come it is taking so long - surely it has been prototyped in all those ghetto versions?

Or are there issues and that guy on here that was moaning about a bust tyre was actually correct ?

Emailed airshot before Christmas. Their response then was the design was being modified, and they were hoping to start selling at the end of January. If thats April now the Bontrager is looking more interesting all the time.

And let's be honest "around £50", will probably be £65 or something!

I'm sorely tempted by the Bontrager one, I like the idea that you just chuck it in the car (as I'd be doing with a track pump anyway) and can then change tyres at races on a whim. Not that I own enough 29er tyres for this to really be an issue 😕

They've specifically said £50-£55, and given they are saying shipping within a month, I'd expect they have a pretty firm idea of their pricing by now/

Very good, I take it back.

The Bontrager appeals to me as it's just one thing, rather than having a separate pump, but I can see merit in both.

Does seem pretty expensive but think I may end up with a bonty flash thingy. Been meaning to sort out a ghetto pop bottle one but my lethargy plus my lack of confidence in my bodging abilities, multiplied by the potential for injury means I haven't bothered yet. Hopefully price will have come down before riding season starts again and I want to change some tyres (lookslike I'll be sticking with mud tyres in the foreseeable)

Lol.. yeah.. if you have a good tubeless ready tyre, the right rim and a good rimstrip. But then, so does any other track pump.

Up to now have tried Speed Kings, Nobby Nics, Minions and Ardents, all non tubeless (on stans rims) and inflate with a couple of strokes.

Ive also got a high pressure Bontrager pump (Charger) and whilst it does inflate all the above it does takes about twice as many strokes as it doesn't have the volume of the Joe Blow, only ever use the Mountain now.

Not sure any track pump would work, perhaps they would, if they did then there shirley there wouldn't be a market for the Flash and Mountain?

It's not just about volume though, it's about rate of flow.

The Joe Blow Mountain has a higher volume than your average pump - so each stroke pumps more air, so yes, if a tyre is marginal a Joe Blow Mountain may well work. The Flash Charger though can release a vast amount more air in one go, which will be significantly more effective on really stubborn tyres.

Up to now have tried Speed Kings, Nobby Nics, Minions and Ardents, all non tubeless (on stans rims) and inflate with a couple of strokes.

Yep, I've got Stan's rims and strips and I've always been able to do them with a trackpump.

Mavic 317s and Sunn Singletrack though - different story.

it just depends on tyre/rims combo

crossmax st - went up with every tyre brand instantly on a crap cheap Halfords own brand track pump

stans flow - as above mostly, very occasionally I couldn't get contis rubber queens on the initial time so had to use a compressor (but always worked with a track pump after theyd been on a few rides

mavic xm819s - hit and miss, never got any schwalbes on without a compressor, but maxxis flew on with any track pump

current sram rail 50's - not a chance with absolutely any tyre brand, with a track pump but go on easily with a compressor, have used maxxis and schwalbe and conti and never even with a joe blow mountain track pump got the buggers on! and whats more even after been on 3 months use you'd expect they'd go right on again when ive needed to take it off for sealant/puncture right?! well nope will not seat without a compressor

so as it stands as they are my current wheelset either the airshot or the bontrager flash charger would be a brilliant addition to me!

if I was on stans flows or spesh rims etc I prob wouldn't bother as a mountain joe blow gets a lot of volume in and seats them first time from my experience with a bit of soapy water and a joe blow track pump

but some rims just don't play ball, so a track pump no matter how high volume doesn't cut it

theres a video on youtube with the fat tyres being inflated, it works!

Any link to that please?

I bet it was a Bonty tyre and Bonty tubeless rim?
Looking at the size of the storage cylinder on the Bonty pump I'd say it'd have f'all chance of getting a Nate onto a Rolling D.
Takes a bit of effort with a large compressor so i really don't think there's a long enough blast of air for it to work.

Like me Stu, looks like we've been inflating tyres the longwinded way 😆

It is a bonty rim and tyre yes but it's a fat bike like the chap asked, it's not seated when he uses it and pops straight on

No doubt it won't work on a uber niche :rolleyes: fat bike wheel but it certainly works on that one

I think you're missing my point but never mind.
Nates and rolling d's are as un niche as it gets. 🙂 (hence asking the question as loads of people have this setup)
I hear that you could get the Bonty setup to work with a mini pump though. So no great reflection of the ability of this new pump to seat a fat setup. 😉

fair enough, don't know anything about fat bikes tbh, just thought id tell him it was possible given the video id seen

sure it will work on pretty much any tyre/rim combo on normal sized wheels though

ill probably buy whichever ones available first out of the bontrager or airshot

So..I picked up a bonty flash pump up yesterday, and immediately (well, got home first) used it to seat tow tubeless 29er tyres.
I say I did it - my 5 year old son did it for me.

This thing is BRILLIANT!

My wife even commented I didn't need to swear or take off my glasses to get the tyres seated!

Cracking bit of kit, nice and simple - yes, it does the job of the DIY models (of which I had one, that eventually exploded...!) but it's nice to have nice stuff that just works.

DrP

drp - nice one, tyre / rim combo???

I just want clarification its gonna work on my sram rails otherwise its a wasted 100 squids!

also where did you get it? I cant see anywhere online that stocks them

I got a full size fire extinguisher in Aldi for a fiver at chistmas - their roof was leaking and the box was wet 😀 - Just need to empty it, remove gauge and fit a drilled plug with a presta valve in it, and fire one of those topeak brass QD numbers on the end of the hose. Reckon on it costing me 15-20 quid all in.

I'll post up some pics when I'm done.

I may even spray it a nice endoorocolourway....

And let's be honest "around £50", will probably be £65 or something!

Good call, available for pre order £59.99+ £3.99 p/p.

Good call, available for pre order £59.99+ £3.99 p/p.

Disappointed with the price. At £50 I was thinking OK, it's steep for a cylinder with a hose but it's a start-up business so they gotta get a return. I was also expecting the price to include shipping as it's an online business. Another 15% on top including shipping is pushing me to the flash charger for around £90 as it's a good track pump as well as a cylinder. With the airshot I think there will be several copies coming from china later this year if people think the margins are that good.

I've got a Flash Charger on order - due next week. I'll update!

Shame my cynicism on the Airshot pricing proved accurate, not a surprise though.