Joe Blow Sport II track pump – knackered after less than a year

Bought a Joe Blow track pump under a year ago thinking “That’ll be an excellent replacement for the crappy old no-brand plastic one. Should last me a good while that”

Tried inflating some Presta tyres with it the other day and the “revolutionary” TwinHead™ is leaking air out of the Schrader side so fast that I have to keep pumping to stop the tyre going down.

Worse still there doesn’t seem to be any way to service the internals of the valve (you can unscrew the end bits and get to the first rubber bits, but not to the actual mechanism that the lever operates).

Not impressed.

Is that pretty typical for those pumps?

Would say not Graham — I revitalised my Joe Blow (Sport possibly) – somewhat similar to yours but silver barrel – last year, which was after purchase 8-10 years ago..

It has a twin head system – lever to direct flow – and TBH I’ve never had problems, works well for me.

Form LBS? they may be able to contact distributors (Madison? my LBS got me a new gauge assembly when mine threw a wobbly for a while) (or you could contact Toepeak directly).

Edit: Mine’s a Joe Blow PX, but functionally the same. Gauge is at the top of the barrel, but it has a twin head system as yours does.

And… it’s not needing the cap on the twin head to be tightened, is it?

You can buy the heads separately for a few quid (I have just replaced mine after six years of use) but I would say you should get a new head/pump under warranty.

Edit: Just a quick thought. Is the air definitely escaping from the head? It just occurred to me that I had a similar problem last week or so I thought until I realized the little cap just above the base of the pump wasn’t tight. A quick tighten and voila!

I had one lasted for 3-4 years in very regular use before it died. I bought a new one, same model and its barely lasted 6 months.

Seems to be a bit hit and miss

I’m pretty sure you can take the entire head apart if you need to. I’ve certainly done it on an old one. Unscrew the end bits, get a big scewdriver on the side opposite the lever … (something like that anyway, can’t really remember).

That said, I’ve had two that have knackered in under a year. I won’t buy another.

Mine has melted some plastic parts inside the non return valve Gubbins after some spirited and frantic tubeless inflation attempts and now leaks. I think its about 6 years old.

My 15 year old one works (not the gauge tho).

Warranty or replace the head.

HEads last no time these days. I remember a Silca would last years then you just needed the wee rubber part.

LBS? they may be able to contact distributors

Got it from Evans (store not online) if I recall correctly.
Might be worth a shot.

Is the air definitely escaping from the head?

Yep. If I put my thumb over the Schrader bit then I can lessen the amount of air escaping.

Unscrew the end bits, get a big scewdriver on the side opposite the lever …

Opposite side of the lever is a flat disc with two little holes in it.
Sort of like this but with no big hole in the middle:

Ah, that’s different to the one I had. Will it unscrew with a pin spanner/needle nose pliers or something?

IMO joe blows are let down by the head (no pun intended…), and vastly improved by buying the Decathlon own brand head, about 4 quid or something.

Didn’t have a proper tool the right size, holes are too small for my needle-node pliers, but I did bend a couple of dinner forks trying to get it undone and failed.

but I did bend a couple of dinner forks trying to get it undone

😆

I recall in the early days on MTBing, we crossed the Pentlands, pint or two in the Allan Ramsay, (Carlops) in the beer garden, Gary found he had a puncture and no tyre levers.

“Barman, can I borrow a couple of spoons please?”

tap the head off the floor. they get sticky if used on one side all the time , dont rate them though , find the blackburn tp-1 to be much better or the bontrager airforce thing has been brilliant for 19.99 on sale in alpine.

I have had mine for what must be 9/10 years, still works perfectly.

I have had mine for over 8 years with no problems. The blackburn before it lasted less than 12 months. Swore I would never buy a blackburn again. Seems perhaps it is all hit and miss.

Head on mine is fine, but the non-return valve at the base … well it does return.

Is there a definitive answer on who the distributors are so I can ask at the LBS, or pick the right LBS to ask? (SJS Cycles do have the part I need listed, but their postage more than doubles the cost).

I got a rebuild kit (might have been from SJS Cycles) which had the gubbins for the non-return valve, spring, and head replacements..

It was difficult to work out which kit was for which pump though.

Aracer have you tried cleaning and reassembling the nr valve with a smear of vaseline? Cured my sticky valve after havimg been left out in the rain.

Yes – that worked when I first got a problem, but not any more.

I suspect using the pump to fire bottle rockets and getting some “return” from that probably didn’t help!

i’ve got a 15 year old joe blow…the metal base plate is scuffed up and showing signs of surface rust but other than that it still works perfectly….the gauge too. i did have to replace the hose a few years ago as i’d somehow managed to cut it…

Topeak are as good as Hope for spares. Just ring them.

Mine screwed up within a couple of months having never worked properly. Whilst trying to sort it I lost the valve ball (think it was that) and then looked for ages for parts but couldn’t work out what from internet descriptions whether they were the parts I needed. Probably needed everything but the main body. Still mean to sort it out but the cheaper replacement Pedros I got has worked flawlessly for the last 2 years.

Ring Topeak direct in the USA?

Though I answered my own question by using one of the lesser known features of the internet to search for it and it seems most of my LBSs are dealers.

http://www.extrauk.co.uk/product/cats/Topeak/all/

My one the same as OP’s one has been blowing strong for the past ten years but the gauge has always been woefully inaccurate! I’m going to ask as my mate borrowed mine and was cussing as it was leaking air faster than he could pump until I pointed out that the levervhad to be locked out in the opposite direction ie away from the rim for the correct air flow through the correct valve in the head!

Yeah, I’m using it right. It’s not user error, honest! 😀

It does inflate the tube, it just leaks continuously as it does it. Renders the pressure gauge useless too.

I’m going to pop into Evans tomorrow and see what they say.

😆 had to raise the issue just in case to save any unnecessary purchases like a nice shiny Lezyne track pump!

Got one of the Topeak Joe Blow Mountain Track Pump with super size barrel, awesome power, ideal for tubeless

Had one in use for the last 15 years with no issues…

In summary, the old ones are great, the new ones are woeful, all I need is a time machine 🙂

With one of those you don’t need a track pump – you just go back and get your wheels when the tyres were pumped up.

Took it to Evans.

They said they couldn’t do anything, but could order in the parts for me to fix it.

Then called me today and said the parts would be £17 and they’d be special order so I’d be better off getting them from Wiggle or Chain Reaction.

😕

Think I’ll just buy a Lezyne one.

Evans tried this one on me too for something else – they divert all blame onto manufacturer despite contract of sale being with the retailer. It’s under warranty and not working so they have to deal with it.

I’ve had a Joe Blow for about 10 years. I knackered the dual head by accidentally sucking sealant into it. So I bought a new single type head and carried on. I use it to pump 4×4 tyres up. Will go from 20 psi to 40 psi without too much effort.