Shock pump reccomendations please

I have a Rock Shox and a Halfords one - might as well be the same pump. Both been good.

The Lifeline one is the same one that Fox sell for over £100. Mine works fine.

I got the rockshox digital one for £50 off amazon which was the cheapest digital one I could find a few months ago. Seems fine.

My Topeak analogue has been fine but I do wish I'd managed to pick up one of the Lifeline digit ones.

I have analogue and digital - both read very close to identical, however, a mate's analogue pump reads differently. So whichever one you go for, just make sure you keep using it so you have consistent readings.

I had an SKS one that was excellent in that it had a valve attachment that would prevent any air loss when disengaging as well as a dial (as opposed to a button) for controlled bleeding  air.  Can’t vouch for gauge accuracy as nothing to compare it to.

Lifeline digital for accuracy.

I got a giant digital one recently. Works really well. Much better to use than the cheapy beto one that snapped.

Paid about £45 I think. Goes up to 400psi.

Lots of suggestions for the Lifeline, but do they still exist after the demise of Wiggle?

Onzadog
Free Member
Lots of suggestions for the Lifeline, but do they still exist after the demise of Wiggle?

Nope. A, now dead, in-house brand unfortunately.

Basic Beto. Or, you know, you can pay more for one of the 20 or so brands that Beto make the pump for. Or occasionally less, one of mine is an RRP I got from Halfords, exact same pump.

oceanskipper
Full Member

I had an SKS one that was excellent in that it had a valve attachment that would prevent any air loss when disengaging

OK but, this is completely standard on shock pumps, only absolute unfit-for-purpose pieces of crap don't have it. Literally every cheap one I've ever used does, it's super easy to do with schrader valves. Inexplicably you can get some much more expensive "trail pumps" that don't though, can't remember who it was but someone tried to make a selling point of it a while back. "Our pumps suck so that they can be 3g lighter".

People get confused by the "pssh" when you remove the pump, but on any decent shock pump the shock is already sealed and there's no air loss- you're just hearing the air that was in the <pump>. Some companies know that a lot of people misunderstand this, and so they market to that misunderstanding, it's pretty shitty.

I came to say Lifeline and then remembered that it's probably no longer available.

It's the same as the Rockshox branded one and several other brands sold at various prices.

Outside the box option... If you've already got a shock pump, Topeak digital tyre gauge does shraeder and presta valves. Can use it on your suspension and tyres (combined with the corresponding pump). Worked fine for me on Rockshox forks and Fox rear shocks for several years. Only reason I got a digital pump was because of the way the Dorado air spring works on my Mezzer.

I have fitted a digital gauge to my rockshock pump and it works fine.

About £8 from eBay. Slightly different thread, but a bit of PTFE tape sorted it.

I have a Topeak shock pump with an analogue gauge and it’s been fine over several years. I was looking at floor and hand pumps over the weekend and noticed that Topeak also do a 2 stage digital hand pump that can be used for both tyres and shocks (but is probably to large to mount on a frame). If you don’t need a gauge there’s an offer at Tweeks at the moment for a micro shock pump (£15) (sorry can’t link as I don’t see any of the editing buttons on my tablet).

The Lifeline one is just a rebranded generic one. Find one that looks the same and you're good.

I really like my shiny Lezyne pump. Seems well made and easy to use. It’s replaced a very old RS pump.

I've had loads over the years, including fox/halfords generic/beto/rockshock, they are all very much of a muchness, & I have a broken examples of most, as they tend to split on the hoses (replacements are available, but cost almost as much as a new pump). I currently have a RS high pressure version as I need over 300psi, but I've a broken example of that too, so I simply wouldn't get too over excited buying a expensive one, and I definitely wouldn't waste a lot of extra cash for a digital gauge.

Based on my sample size of one, I will never buy a Fox pump again.

Very good pump, virtually no air loss. But the head has failed to work on a couple of different Rockshox shocks now.

Topeak digital I replaced it will has been great, zero air loss on disconnect.

Topeak analogue Pocket Shox DXG has been fine for me.

Lines on the gauge every 5psi, so I reckon you can repeatably set pressures to within 2psi.

seriousrikk
Full Member

Very good pump, virtually no air loss

All the Fox pumps are zero air loss.

I know I said it already and I don't want to seem rude but it bears repeating, essentially every shock pump (with just a tiny number of weird and terrible exceptions) is zero loss. The air you hear escape is from the pump not the shock- the shock valve is already closed before you release the chuck, but the air in the pump and hose was at the same pressure as the shock.

The lower value you see when reconnecting is because the pump repressurises from the shock when the valve opens, not because air's been lost when you disconnected.

Topeak analogue Pocket Shox DXG has been fine for me.

Lines on the gauge every 5psi, so I reckon you can repeatably set pressures to within 2psi.

Same as me.

I think I'd go digital if I had a Manitou Mezzer and/or low volume air shock where a few PSI can make a noticeable difference!

zerocool
Full Member
I really like my shiny Lezyne pump. Seems well made and easy to use. It’s replaced a very old RS pump

That’s the exact opposite of my experience. Felt like they’d made it look lovely but forgotten that you had to actually hold onto it somehow to use it. Then it fell apart. Then I got a replacement and it also fell apart. Gave up at that point