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manual air pump

badgertom

New member
Has anyone tried using a munaual air pump (in an emergency). I am looking at the Aerostich floor drive pump which seems to be able to provide sufficient pressure ( and volume?) to fill a tire. The idea of pushing down is much better than the bicycle type pump.
 
I have tried a pushing down type bicycle pump, the type where you hold the air cylinder on the ground with your feet and push down on the plunger with your arms. I reached the pressure eventually, but it took a lot of effort.
Twisted Throttle sells this "foot pump MFP.O", which is smaller, but is claimed to work. I have seen a similar pump as a BMW accessory. For $7.32 it may be worth a shot. The Aerostich you are referencing looks like a similar idea but different construction and ++$$. I have not tried either.
 
Tom (assuming your name is Tom.. not Badger..)

I'm moving this to the gear forum since it most definately applies to a lot of models besides the hexheads..

hang on..
 
Has anyone tried using a munaual air pump (in an emergency). I am looking at the Aerostich floor drive pump which seems to be able to provide sufficient pressure ( and volume?) to fill a tire. The idea of pushing down is much better than the bicycle type pump.

I tried a manual pump with my R12RT. It worked OK to top the tires off or if you can get a plug in quick enough where you haven't lost much air. Starting from scratch on an almost empty tire is a lot (no, really, I mean a lot) of work.

I carry one of these from Harbor Freight now.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-100-psi-high-volume-air-compressor-96068.html
Doesn't take up much room. Fills the tire fast. Cheap enough. Won't set a bead, but a hand pump won't either.
 
Occasionally before putting a new tire on I go through the exercise to drill a whole into the old tire, put a plug in and pump it up. I have a small but very efficient bicycle pump which I always carry in my tank bag.

Yes, it takes a LOOOOOOT of pushes. Even though my pump is quite short it works nicely because it pumps in both directions. If I remember right it took 600 pushes/pulls last time to bring the tire up to 25psi.

I also carry 4 CO2 bottles which fill the rear to ca. 32psi. However, if you turn a CO2 bottle into its adapter and it breaks the seal it is less than a second and the pressure is gone. If the adapter wasn't screwed on tightly you just added a bottle of CO2 to the fresh air before you complete your "dam...".

That's why I carry the hand pump with me as a last chance.

/Guenther
 
Bicyce Pumps

Has anyone tried using a munaual air pump (in an emergency).

I use my home bike pump all the time on MC, scooter and trailer tires. I've even used it on a car tire a time or two. It's a Silca with a steel barrel, too big and heavy to carry.

I'm an avid cyclist where flats are a way of life and have found that portable floor style bike pumps work really well for high pressure bicycle tires. The Topeak Road Morph G (G for built in pressure gauge) is popular with the folks I ride with. It's the one most of the local shops carry and I have no problem using it to pump a bicycle tire to 130 psi.

For a MC tire, where volume is more important than high pressure, I'd go with a MTB pump like the Turbo Morph G

-- Justin
 
Why?

With an M/C, most have the mini electric pumps along nowadays! I have seen all the hand pumps at my REI store and they look high tech and neat, but my plug in electric pump is best and takes almost no room to carry it in my bags or tankbag. I have done plenty of hand pump tires in the 60's, 70s and so on, but won't have that anymore in my life:). The CO2s and electric pumps rule this day. Randy
 
An electric pump....eeegitt! Takes all the fun out of the exercise when you have a flat on a busy road in a thunderstorm. You have no idea about the satisfaction after having successfully pumped up the tire by your own muscles and now taking a deep breath riding on. :eat

Seriously, I agree that a small electric pump is the way to go these days. :thumb

/Guenther
 
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