What do tornadoes and floor pumps have in common? They both create a lot of wind. But while a tornado often leaves a trail of destruction in its wake, the floor pump gets things rolling again. A flat tyre is filled with air again in no time at all. The hand compressor is practically part of a mountain biker's basic equipment. 16 manufacturers sent in wind machines for just under 30 to 100 euros for testing. We wanted to know how quickly and effectively the models inflate and, above all, whether the investment in an expensive pump is really worth it.
Special pumps for voluminous MTB tyres
The first question that arises is: Which pump should it actually be? Six models in the test are specially designed for mountain bike tyres with their large-volume cylinders. In some cases, they push twice as much air into the tyre per stroke as a standard pump. However, the larger the cylinder, the greater the force that needs to be applied.
If you want to supply your city or racing bike with air as well as your mountain bike, you should go for an all-rounder. None of the special pumps can manage more than six bar pressure. We tested how many strokes the test models actually need to inflate a 2.3-inch wide 29-inch tyre from 0.5 to 2.5 bar on a specially prepared rim. It has two valves. The pump head is connected to one of them. A precision pressure gauge on the other valve shows the correct pressure. You only have to push the piston of the Topeak JoeBlow Mountain through the cylinder 16 times and the tyre is full. The last pumping stroke, however, requires a full 350 Newtons to be applied to the handle. The other extreme is Pedro's Super Prestige. It takes 38 strokes at a maximum of 160 newtons to fill the tyre with the bright yellow pump.
Generally speaking, the fewer strokes, the greater the force to be applied and vice versa. If the pump is stable, you can still pump safely even when applying a lot of force. Lezyne, Rose and Specialized are particularly reliable. But Airace, BBB, Pedro's and Pro are also difficult to shake. The PFP-7 from Park Tool wobbles a little on its folding feet, even if you stand on the pump with both feet. The flexible plastic plate of the SKS can also only stabilise the large cylinder moderately.
Valve head: clamp or screw?
The second important decision is the type of valve head: Do you want to clamp or screw? Ten models have a classic clamp head, which is simply and quickly attached to the valve using a lever. One or two openings then supply the different valve types with air. With Rose and Zéfal, the valve head has to be screwed on when changing from Sclaverand to auto valves. This is quick and easy in the case of Rose, but rather awkward with Zéfal.
If you prefer screwing, use one of the four pumps with a threaded head. Although this takes a little longer to attach to the valve, the screw heads sit extremely securely and tightly on the valve. Birzman has come up with an extremely practical interim solution. The pump head of the Zacoo has a snap lock that is simply clipped onto the valve. Pedro's and Specialized offer the best clamp heads in the test. With both, the pressure in the tyre can also be meticulously reduced via a release valve. However, the most important prerequisite for precisely set tyre pressure is an accurate pressure gauge. Just 0.2 bar less or more pressure in the tyre can make a big difference off-road. As is so often the case, it's not just the size of the tyre that matters. The best example: The pressure gauge on the Zéfal may be huge, but it is insufficiently scaled. This means that values after the decimal point can only be estimated. To BBB,
Lezyne, Rose and Specialized can read pressures very precisely. Pedro's cleverly places its pressure gauge at the top of the pump. Airace plays it safe and installs a digital version. Incidentally, inaccuracies are largely kept within limits. Only Birzman and Lezyne show the pressure to the nearest decimal point. However, we could only detect a deviation of more than ten per cent with Blackburn, Procraft and SKS.
You can find these MTB floor pumps in the test:
- Airace Hercules DG
- BBB AirExact
- Birzman Zacoo IV
- Blackburn Airtower 3
- Con-Tec Air Support Mtn
- Lezyne Alloy Dirt Floor Drive (BIKE-Tip test winner)
- Park Tool PFP-7
- Pedro's Super Prestige
- Pro Team Floorpump
- Procraft floor pump
- Rose Druckmacher AL180 (BIKE tip price/performance)
- SKS Twentyniner
- Specialised Air Tool MTB (BIKE tip test winner)
- Syncros FP 2.5
- Topeak JoeBlow Mountain
- Zéfal Profil Max FP70
The PDF with all test results for the floor pumps can be downloaded free of charge below.
Downloads:
Stefan Frey
Editor
