FAQ Bicycle Pumps
When considering Tire inflation with bicycles there are two main categories inflation at home before you ride and inflation on the go or during a ride.
Let's start off with inflation at home it, in our opinion, is the most important. It is most important because properly inflated tires are the best defense to flats while on the road. Bicycle tires and tubes are very thin and most are designed to operate at high air pressure. Due to this, it is common for them to lose significant air pressure over as little as a day or two, so we recommend checking your tires and adding air regularly. The best way to do this is with a bicycle floor pump. They are designed to operate with the proper volume of air (air compressors operate at a much higher volume than recommended for bicycles and can blowout your tire) and will likely have an integrated pressure gauge. Most current floor pumps will also accept both schrader (standard, like a car) and presta (the "skinny" ones) valve stems.
For inflation on the go there are mini air pumps and CO2 Inflators. Both of these options will get you going (along with a patch kit or extra tube) if you have a flat on the road or trail. The CO2 inflater uses a very small container filled with highly compressed CO2 and an attachment for the container to deliver the compressed CO2 to inflate your tires. Normally one CO2 cartridge will get you operational. The advantage to this style of inflator is that it is very small and very fast, the negative is that replacement cartridges cost between $3 and $4 and are one time use products. The mini pump is a compact hand pump that can be stowed on your bike for use on the road. The advantage of mini pumps is that you are not relying on single use CO2 cartridges, the negative is it can take longer to fill your tire back up with a lot of pumping. Mini pumps are small versions of floor pump and put in less air per stroke meaning it will take much more pumping.
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