|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Disappointing (was Recommended high-volume floor-type bicycle pumps?)
Everyone,
When I started this thread asking about floor-type bicycle pumps, I was hoping to get good consumer-related information so I know what's out there, and which floor-type air pumps are rated the best by actual comparison with one another (the only way to know the better ones from the worse ones is by actual comparison between them!) Considering how ubiquitous floor-type bicycle pumps are, and the importance they are to the bicycle enthusaist, it surprises me that no recent article in a bicycle magazine (or Consumer Reports as a matter of fact) has appeared doing an *exhaustive* comparison of floor-type bicycle pumps. In fact, I find this lack of information outright strange. Here's are some of the things the comparison would assess: 1) Number of pumps and the force needed to fill up a lower pressure tire (e.g., mountain bike, automobile), and number of pumps and overall effort to fill a tire up to very high pressure. 2) Overall assessment of durability and reliability (e.g., does it use cheap, flimsy plastic parts, or high quality parts?) 3) Assessment of ergonomics. 4) Quality, accuracy and precision of built-in pressure gauge. 5) Cost 6) Warranty, parts availability, and repairability. Considering how inexpensive these pumps are (in the cosmic scheme of things), a bicycle magazine could certainly do this comparitive study quite easily and inexpensively. In so doing, it will accelerate the improvement of these air pumps by forcing companies to try to outdo one another to build a better air pump. Now, with what little information I could find, the bicycle pump that seems to be the "current reference standard" for floor-type air pumps is the Blackburn TP-5: http://www.blackburndesign.com/WEBREADY/03teampump.html It is a clever design in that it has two settings: very high volume for low pressure filling (such as automobile and mountain bike tires), and a low volume, high pressure setting. Thus, when filling up a tire, one can start out at high volume and put a lot of air in to start out with, and then once the pressure builds up where pumping gets difficult, one switches to the high pressure setting -- it fills up much more slowly, but it takes a lot less force to achieve very high pressures. Quite clever, actually. Comments? Criticisms? Jon Noring |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
published helmet research - not troll | Frank Krygowski | General | 1927 | October 24th 04 06:39 AM |
Recommended high-volume floor-type bicycle pumps? | Jon Noring | General | 34 | August 16th 03 05:28 AM |
Disappointing (was Recommended high-volume floor-type bicycle pumps?) | Jon Noring | General | 10 | August 11th 03 01:08 AM |