How to reach 90psi

[aclivity]

I realise I am now spending more time in the Pedal Powered forum than anywhere else on Pistonheads, this cycling lark (even if I am only doig 5 miles a day on my little Brompton) is quite addictive, and on days when the sun is shining like today I am doubly glad not to be commuting by car!

Anyway, I digress, the reason for the post is that I need to get my tyres harder. Brompton recommend 90psi, with the supplied frame pump thing I can't seem to get any air in at all, with my twin barrel car foot pump I can get about 45psi before it seems to give up.

I suspect a floor standing track pump is the solution, what's the best (read: cheapest, without being rubbish) way to get me 90psi? There is a bewildering array from about a tenner to over a hundred on Amazon, so looking for a bit of advice really. The tyres on the Brompton have schraeder valves, rather than presta, if that makes a difference for the choice of pump?

[Accelebrate]

I've been using this to pump mine up to 120psi for the last couple of years without any problems...

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/topeak-joe-blow-max-ii-tra...

£22

[pedantlewis]

Track pump is the answer, I got one a few weeks back from Lidl for £5.99 and it works perfectly. I run 110psi on my road bike. It has both presta and schraeder options without having to use an adaptor.

You probably won't be able to get the same one from Lidl now, but expect another cheap option will work just as well.

[Trevelyan]

I've just bought a Topeak Joe Blow Max II pump and have no complaints. It's good for well over 100psi and cost me about 20 quid. The only thing is that it might be slight overkill for a Brompton tyre - I use it for a mountain bike. It's fitted with both Schraeder and Presta valve connections.

[hullbilly]

Tesco do a cheapy one, can be got hold of in the Tesco Extra stores...

[MadDad]

Joe Blow Sport (yellow one) - job done!!

Don't bother buying a track pump for a tenner, I did it then ended up spending £30 on a Joe Blow a couple of weeks later when the £10 fell apart!

[P-Jay]

hullbilly said:

Tesco do a cheapy one, can be got hold of in the Tesco Extra stores...

They're really good, OK I'm on my second, but the first one lasted a few years.

Can't comment on 65psi though, 40 is as much as I use on a MTB.

[anonymous-user]

as others have said, a track pump like the joe blow max is great for home and i can recommend a topeak master blaster for on the bike. you should be able to pick up both for around £25 from the online regulars. dont bother with the models that have a pressure gauge, at that sort of psi its unlikely to be that accurate. you are better just using your thumb.

if you want to get high pressure you need a quality pump. otherwise you wont get anywhere near the right pressure and you are likely to get pinch flats.

[DrMekon]

I use a track pump at home (yellow Joe Blow), but out and about, I use a Lezyne mini track pump. No stress about buggering the valve, the guage lets you know how you are doing, and it gets the pressure up effortlessly. Brilliant piece of kit.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-micro-floor-drive-h...

You can see how small it is here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36lrvK7V75w&fea...

Edited by DrMekon on Thursday 29th September 14:46

[nammynake]

pedantlewis said:

Track pump is the answer, I got one a few weeks back from Lidl for £5.99 and it works perfectly. I run 110psi on my road bike. It has both presta and schraeder options without having to use an adaptor.

You probably won't be able to get the same one from Lidl now, but expect another cheap option will work just as well.

I bought one of these but can't seem to get my road tyres beyond 85-90psi, either the gauge is faulty, the pump is faulty or I am too weak. I think the gauge is OK as it says about 35 when connect to my fat mountain bike tyres.

Could it be that I am not connecting it correctly to the Presta valve?

[WeirdNeville]

It should be trivial to get 90 Psi into a brompton tyre with a track pump. You are unscrewing the presta nubbin bit right? And using the seal lever on the track pump? Does the handle go down smoothly or does it feel very hard at the end of the stroke? When you disconnect the valve ,it there a big 'pop' and a rush of air?

Could be down to positioning of the valve etc. A brompton tyre should go to 70+ Psi with 20 strokes of a good track pump.

[shouldbworking]

nammynake said:

pedantlewis said:

Track pump is the answer, I got one a few weeks back from Lidl for £5.99 and it works perfectly. I run 110psi on my road bike. It has both presta and schraeder options without having to use an adaptor.

You probably won't be able to get the same one from Lidl now, but expect another cheap option will work just as well.

I bought one of these but can't seem to get my road tyres beyond 85-90psi, either the gauge is faulty, the pump is faulty or I am too weak. I think the gauge is OK as it says about 35 when connect to my fat mountain bike tyres.

Could it be that I am not connecting it correctly to the Presta valve?

Not unless you are doing something crazy like forgetting to undo the valve head when you've taken the dust cap off

I have one of the lidl track pumps and its fine on presta valves but the schraeder adaptor is useless, the gauge has the face pop off every so often and reads incorrectly on schraeder valves. I intend to replace it with one of the joe blow ones when it dies.

[aclivity]

WeirdNeville said:

It should be trivial to get 90 Psi into a brompton tyre with a track pump. You are unscrewing the presta nubbin bit right? And using the seal lever on the track pump? Does the handle go down smoothly or does it feel very hard at the end of the stroke? When you disconnect the valve ,it there a big 'pop' and a rush of air?

Could be down to positioning of the valve etc. A brompton tyre should go to 70+ Psi with 20 strokes of a good track pump.

I haven't got a track pump yet, but will be buying one in the next few days. It's a Schraeder valve rather than a presta, so nothing to unscrew; so far all I have used is an old twin barrel foot pump that was more used to car tyres, and all that seemed to do was get hot whenever I get over about 45psi or so.

I'm toying with visiting Tesco tonight to see what's there, otherwise may wait to the weekend.

[okgo]

Got a Bontrager one to get my road tyres to 120 psi.

[Burrow01]

Got a Joe Blow jooby - works great on the Brompton

Its worth keeping the pressures up on a Brompton - you really notice the increased effort when the pressure starts to drop

[Mars]

11 quid, steel barrel, both valves and has lasted me a while now. It gets used often because I look after the after-school bikes as well as my own, which I tend to pump to ~110psi.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0010VTQ9O/ref=red...

[Chicken Chaser]

Joe Blow Sport pump is brilliantly designed, superbly made and inflates with ease. When I fancy a bit of a workout, I take to it to pump my car tyres up with it too!

I've got one of those Topeak Pocket Rockets for when out and about but I've not been able to get more than 60-70 psi max in the tyre. Its a bit of lottery with Presta's too as I've ripped the valve off before.

[BalhamBadger]

DrMekon said:

I use a track pump at home (yellow Joe Blow), but out and about, I use a Lezyne mini track pump. No stress about buggering the valve, the guage lets you know how you are doing, and it gets the pressure up effortlessly. Brilliant piece of kit.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-micro-floor-drive-h...

You can see how small it is here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36lrvK7V75w&fea...

Edited by DrMekon on Thursday 29th September 14:46

I use a Park Tools track pump at home (but any of the ones mentioned here sound fine) but must recommend the Lezyne mini track pump for excursions - it really is excellent.

[aclivity]

nipped out to the supermarket tonight and picked up a track pump for £13, got my tyres up to 90psi with just a few pumps. As I said, my bike only has little wheels and (hopefully) won't need to pump too often, so I am risking the cheapy for the time being.

As an aside, does anyone use those CO2 cartridge powered pumps whilst out and about?

[XitUp]

And added to that, can you get a little CO2 pump with a pressure gauge.