portable air compressors

[C/W]

Here's a (somewhat dated) review of compressors:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/reso...ssor-test.html

I'd recommend the small Slime pump. Comes in a usable housing, gauge + fittings.

A wally world special would work as well, just a little bit of time to get it right.

Personally I have the Adventure Designs pump. It came down to convenience (I was at the their store) and an 'eh why not' attitude. The guys who run it are nice & I wanted to support the store, it's local. Beat's going to Wal-mart, however if I had gone to an Autozone before Adventure Designs I'd probably have a slime pump.

As far as I can tell, the various compressors are all different in some aspects. Some have plastic wrist pins, some don't. Some have plastic casings, some don't. Some have air cooling fins, some don't. Etc...

Are the high dollar pumps w/ same compressors worth the money? That's up to the buyer, but at least be cognizant that there are cheap solutions & expensive solutions, all of which will work.

[syzygy9]

Originally Posted by MikeMike

You got sucked in with marketing hype and paid a $100 for a cheap pump in a box. Now, how do I know this? Easy. The owner of the company you bought it from admitted the pump is supplied by Campbell- Hausfield. Now, instead of natering at me about this, why dont you see where they get there pumps from? Casting marks might be of assistance to you LOL!

Actually I didn't get sucked into anything, I'd read the debate on this well before I'd purchased the pump and frankly $50 is neither here nor there - YMMV. I also don't remember challenging the provenance of the pumps either.

I do challenge the endless regurgitation of the same 'facts' without actually adding anything new to the debate. So, if you have some actual facts based on your own experience or some real new information, I'm sure everyone would be love to hear it. However, endlessly requoting the same info adds no value so, unless you are trying to demonstrate to an anonymous online community how much smarter you are, why bother?

[MikeMike]

The fact is the pump is nothing special except in price. Also, until they were called out on it, the origin of the pump was not revealed. I spent $10 and you spent $100, and my pump works just as well as yours. That is the only fact I care about. For the most part, it is a relatively free world, we can all spend how we choose to spend. I don't have to defend my purchase but you seem compelled to continue to legitimize what you bought. Get over it, what you have is by no means something special. It is a cheap pump in a box. Mine is a cheap pump without a box. I paid $10 bucks you paid a $100, those are enough facts for me.
Fair is fair and I must commend you on your consumer sense because among the "designer" pumps, you scored the second cheapest. You could have really gotten suckered by Touratech and got a pump with a plastic connecting rod for even more money, but you didn't!

[empedrado]

Good to hear they are now putting warnings on the pump casing. I have had mine for awhile and it had no such warning. It was actually only used a few used for a number of years. I really liked the chuck on the pump and thier guage. Because of its size I only carried it on my 990 and not my other bikes.

This all being said I have to clarify a couple of things. I use the cheapo pumps on my smaller bikes -- 690 & 530, but still carry a small hand pump just in case.

The reason for going with the viar pump is for my 990. It takes quite a bit of pressure to seat the bead on that bike and I have room for the additional space the pump takes over the cheapo ones. A buddy of mine and I each purchased these pumps after a long ride that included a number of 990's and a lot of flats. The cheapo pumps did thier job, but it would take us longer to inflate and seat beads that to actually fix the flat. In addition because of the heat generated by the small pumps we had to rotate them to not over heat them. The viar pump accomplishes the task in mere minutes vs the up to 15 to 25 minutes it would take with the smaller pumps.

Originally Posted by kevinj

In all fairness:

Don't know when you bought your bestrest pump, but the ones they're selling now have warnings all over them, not only in the manual but also a huge sticker on the pump itself, to not put it down anywhere it can suck in sand or dust. I'm not saying a dustproof solution wouldn't be better, but nobody could rightfully claim, for the pumps they're selling today, that there isn't ample warning. You really can't miss it.

This may be a recent thing based on customer feedback (I have no idea).


As for whether it's worth gutting it yourself, whether the tough casing is useful or not, probably depends on where you're taking it and how much your time is worth. I'm not that handy for a start; plus I like being able to just toss the pump in a pannier and not worry about it getting damaged. I also bought it on sale when shipping, their gauge (which I like) and an instructional DVD were all included free of charge, making it a better deal. Also, it comes with multiple connectors, one of which plugs into an outlet already present on my bike, saving a couple $ extra and making it real easy to use (plug and play).

When I looked at cheapo's online, I always noticed the number of negative reviews on most of the cheap pumps. Perhaps there are 100 happy customers for every negative review; it just made me hesitant. And yes, I know the components inside the cyclepump are largely the same or similar.

Not trying to restart the discussion. Just explaining how I got to my decision (and pointing out the ample warning labels on the product).


Enjoy the ride.

[Craneguy]

I use a hollowed-out roadkill cat. If you work the tail hard enough you can fill a child's arm floaty in 6 weeks.

I tried to sell the concept to Touratech, but they said they would only stock it if the cat had been annointed by Cleopatra.

[Cal]

Originally Posted by Craneguy

I use a hollowed-out roadkill cat. If you work the tail hard enough you can fill a child's arm floaty in 6 weeks.

I tried to sell the concept to Touratech, but they said they would only stock it if the cat had been annointed by Cleopatra.

Too funny! a few Mescal's were in that post

[MikeMike]

No, I know him and he is normally like that.
Wait 'till he starts drinking.

[Craneguy]

Originally Posted by MikeMike

No, I know him and he is normally like that.
Wait 'till he starts drinking.

Yeah, you really don't want to see me lube a chain... lets just say the hamster generally doesn't enjoy it much.

[Stan_R80/7]

Here are two more subjective data points to add:

I bought the StopNGo foot air pump back in 10/2012 and was disappointed. The pump appears OK, but the hose is difficult to use - which makes the pump near useless. Maybe others had better luck or they recently changed the hose end.
http://www.stopngo.com/categories/Inflation-Devices/

A second pump purchased (via Amazon) was the airman tour high performance air compressor. I have only tested the pump in the garage, but it works as advertised with the hose attachment simple and effective - it screws onto the valve stem. The pump raises the pressure quickly, but no times were recorded for the motorcycle tire.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...GSAF3FC2FTKTGE

[duck]

My .02:

The Best Rest can fail. Not worth a C-note.

I've had two Slime pumps. One failed after not too much use but the other one still works. It's a crap shoot but, hey, its only $10.

My favorite is the Airman Tour and that's what I rely on now. The built in gauge is out of whack and worthless but I trust the pump part of it and have used it lots.

[MiteyF]

After doing some reading here, and some additional reading, I went ahead and made my way to Wally World (I fucking hate that place, but about 2 times a year, it has to happen) and picked up a Slime.

First I pulled it all apart (naturally).

Next I plugged the outlet to the pressure gauge, as I carry a higher quality one and don't need the POS one.

Took some measurements and made a small(ish) aluminum housing on my lunch break at work. 30 minutes with some tin snips, a shear, a brake, and a 1 1/4" punch and viola! A new housing.

I made one hole near the top on the side for airflow, one on the top for the air outlet, and soldered in a heavy duty toggle switch. I used zip ties to keep the wire in place so it doesn't chafe against the housing. There is one M3x0.5 bolt with a few nuts for spacing. It does not move around in the housing. There is a small amount of stress on the wires which actually helps hold the unit in place.

Small enough to fit under the seat of my Wee with my other tools.







Lighter for size comparison

[BillMoore]

After a year of hauling (and using) the slime pump, I recently switched to this bicycle hand pump: http://www.amazon.com/Topeak-Road-Mo...ds=topeak+pump Works great. Believe it or not, it is actually faster to use than the slime pump, when you factor in the time to hook up the cables, screw all the lines into the pump etc. Plus it is lighter and takes up less space. The built in pressure gauge, while not as accurate as a separate tire gauge, is great for getting you close in pressure.

[JayhawkGSA]

Does anyone know of a pump that is cylindrical and about the same size as the gas overflow can on a GS Adv? I would lioke to remove that and mount a pump in its place.

[Stan_R80/7]

Originally Posted by BillMoore

After a year of hauling (and using) the slime pump, I recently switched to this bicycle hand pump: http://www.amazon.com/Topeak-Road-Mo...ds=topeak+pump Works great. Believe it or not, it is actually faster to use than the slime pump, when you factor in the time to hook up the cables, screw all the lines into the pump etc. Plus it is lighter and takes up less space. The built in pressure gauge, while not as accurate as a separate tire gauge, is great for getting you close in pressure.

I have that same pump on my road bicycle. The hose head assembly came loose and was lost somewhere. I contacted the company and they sent me another - no interrogation - no whinng - just new parts.

Not sure how it would hold up with the larger volume of a motorcycle tire since it seems to be make for 80 psi low volume bicycle tires. I will be paying attention if people report the pump holds up for motorcycle tire use. I am impressed with the pump after using it a couple of times for (bicycle tire) repairs - it worked great.

[BillMoore]

Originally Posted by Stan_R80/7

I have that same pump on my road bicycle. The hose head assembly came loose and was lost somewhere. I contacted the company and they sent me another - no interrogation - no whinng - just new parts.

Not sure how it would hold up with the larger volume of a motorcycle tire since it seems to be make for 80 psi low volume bicycle tires. I will be paying attention if people report the pump holds up for motorcycle tire use. I am impressed with the pump after using it a couple of times for (bicycle tire) repairs - it worked great.

I only run around 18 PSI on the highway, and at that low pressure, it is pretty fast pumping up from totally flat on the skinny tires on my KLX. Not sure how it would be on a bigger bike running 30+ PSI...