Portable Track Pump

ben_250

Hi all,

I am a Product Design student, currently designing my final project.
For a few months i have been developing a pump that is compact enough to carry in your bag but has the capacity of a track pump.

Does this interest anyone?
Would you carry it?
What is the max weight you would be prepared to carry in a pump?
What is the max sizer you would carry?

I am great full for all feedback positive or negative,

Thanks

Ben

DavidTQ

hmm I am only just about prepared to carry a mini pump for dire need back up and to pre inflate a tube when refitting it. I wouldnt carry anything much bigger as CO2 inflators are far more efficient when it comes to time \ size \ weight for full tyre inflation on the go.

I would far rather carry a couple of spare co2 cartridges than even a half normal size track pump which worked as well as a standard one.

georgee

Mamouth Mountain air, take a look, I use one on training rides and commute, sportif/races are a deffo for CO2, all real mini pumps I have had break/are as much use as a chocolate fire guard

Adamskii

I still carry a frame pump which although old is still pretty good. Mini pumps are really only for emergency use and not really intended to inflate your tire to maximum pressure. I would imagine most (like myself) after a puncture would top the pressure with the track pump once they get home.

dennisn

When you say "track pump" just exactly what do you mean? People who race on
the track(velodrome) have their tires pumped to very high pressures (180-220 PSI).
Road riders and road racers usually pump their tires to between 100-140 PSI give
or take a bit. Right now I only know of one manufacturer (Silca) who makes a pump
capable of 220 PSI and it's what we here in the states call a floor pump. It's not what
you carry on a bike. Most pumps that you can carry on a bike are usually to small
to generate pressures of much over 110 PSI unless you have arms like Arnold. Good
thing about them is that 100 or so PSI is good enough in an emergency. Good luck in
your quest to make a small, high pressure pump. Mabe if you include a set of Arnold
biceps and pecs you'll have something.

Dennis Noward

snooks

You mean like one of these

It works for me, clips to my top tube, ao I don't need to carry it...don't notice it at all.

I have a track pump for home, this is just in case on my way to work and back

dennisn

snooks wrote:

You mean like one of these

It works for me, clips to my top tube, ao I don't need to carry it...don't notice it at all.

I have a track pump for home, this is just in case on my way to work and back

I have one of those. Works pretty good, although the "pumps to 120 PSI with ease"
is a little suspect. Just what do these pump makers mean by "with ease"?????

Dennis Noward

ben_250

Hey,

yeah a floor pump is what i mean by track pump.

dennisn

ben_250 wrote:

Hey,

yeah a floor pump is what i mean by track pump.

That's what I thought. Pressures that come out of a floor / track pump have, so far,
not been achievable in smaller "carry on" mimi pumps. Still, I wish you the best of luck.
There is money in it if you can pull it off.

Dennis Noward

buddha

Has anybody thought of using pedal power for this?
Maybe something that clips over the chain (like Park chain cleaner) and powers a compressor (as in the cyclaire). Obviously you'd have to pedal backwards - and it wouldn't work for a fixie
... okay, stupid idea

edit: you could modify a cyclaire pump quite easily to do this, as a prototype.

Brains

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... rph%20Pump

Here is another picture of the same model - claims up to 160 PSI !

I have one of these that I use for touring, however my version has a pressure gage, which I would consider essential.

So in short, if there was such a thing as a portable track pump then I'd be interested, but only for touring use.

For commuting and even long day rides I can put up with a basic "get you home" pump, even if home is 40 miles away.

So I think the product would only be of interest for long distance touring people, or people who lead group rides where a decent pump would be a godsend. Having led a group of 10 bikes for 2 weeks across Denmark I lost count of the number of punctures, but we had at least 2-3 a day and a decent track size pump would have been great.

So the spec is:

Length - Can not be more than the length of the longest place you can store it, so either the top tube, the down tube or even the rear triangle. Maybe telescopic is the route to take ?

Weight - Less is best

Handle - Needs to be 'tap' cross bar type, so you can use both arms to pull up and down (maybe a detachable screw on handle ?)

Needs a foot rest or stirrup of some sort to keep it on the ground

Needs a pressure gauge that can be read whilst pumping

Needs a long hose (at least 30cms, and longer if possible)

And finally cost - needs to be able to be sold at about £20-25 and still make a profit.

dennisn

buddha wrote:

Has anybody thought of using pedal power for this?
Maybe something that clips over the chain (like Park chain cleaner) and powers a compressor (as in the cyclaire). Obviously you'd have to pedal backwards - and it wouldn't work for a fixie
... okay, stupid idea

edit: you could modify a cyclaire pump quite easily to do this, as a prototype.

I think that's a great idea.

Dennis Noward

ben_250

Brains wrote:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360022931&N=Topeak Mini Morph Pump

Here is another picture of the same model - claims up to 160 PSI !

I have one of these that I use for touring, however my version has a pressure gage, which I would consider essential.

So in short, if there was such a thing as a portable track pump then I'd be interested, but only for touring use.

For commuting and even long day rides I can put up with a basic "get you home" pump, even if home is 40 miles away.

So I think the product would only be of interest for long distance touring people, or people who lead group rides where a decent pump would be a godsend. Having led a group of 10 bikes for 2 weeks across Denmark I lost count of the number of punctures, but we had at least 2-3 a day and a decent track size pump would have been great.

So the spec is:

Length - Can not be more than the length of the longest place you can store it, so either the top tube, the down tube or even the rear triangle. Maybe telescopic is the route to take ?

Weight - Less is best

Handle - Needs to be 'tap' cross bar type, so you can use both arms to pull up and down (maybe a detachable screw on handle ?)

Needs a foot rest or stirrup of some sort to keep it on the ground

Needs a pressure gauge that can be read whilst pumping

Needs a long hose (at least 30cms, and longer if possible)

And finally cost - needs to be able to be sold at about £20-25 and still make a profit.

Thanks for the reply, there is some really useful info there.
The design I am currently working on fits your specification perfectly! It is indeed a telescopic design as well.

Thanks

Ben

DavidTQ

buddha wrote:

Has anybody thought of using pedal power for this?
Maybe something that clips over the chain (like Park chain cleaner) and powers a compressor (as in the cyclaire). Obviously you'd have to pedal backwards - and it wouldn't work for a fixie
... okay, stupid idea

edit: you could modify a cyclaire pump quite easily to do this, as a prototype.

Thats not a bad idea at all you could have something like a hub with a stand built in and a 11t cog, Ive seen air pumps that use a motor to spin a shaft with rotor blades inside, couldnt take much to apply the same principle inside a hub casing and use the cyclist to power it, wonder what sort of pressure you could get out of someting like that... Legs are for more powerful than arms after all... something the size of a dynamo hub would be transportable.

Belv

My own thoughts...

Storage - remember cables can run along any of the main frame tubes, so this could be tricky and my feet always catch on the cage mounting brackets that come with some pumps. Personally, i keep my mini pump in my rucksack so length would be the most important dimension.

Pump action - definitely needs to be two hands or foot powered.

A hose would be very useful.

Agree with needing a pressure gauge - something discrete like on the Jet Graph XL: http://www.zefal.com/AAA/page.php?nom=p ... &langue=an
would be fine (gauge is on the extra piece at the bottom - a wheel of numbers that moves round, relative to a line on the small perspex viewing square, as the pressure increases).

Regarding a telescopic design, my own mini-pump opens out to twice its length, but is very flimsy for it. I have broken the handles of several pumps in the past because they hit the barrel on the way back down.

It needs to pump to at least 120psi, since i've yet to be able to get within 25% of the maximum pressure claimed with any minipump and i don't like to ride on less than 90psi on the road bike (alternatively, you could just say what a normal person could inflate it to but that doesn't seem to be popular!)

As far as competition goes, have you seen the seat post pump? http://www.zorinpump.com/zorinpump.htm

I'd be prepared to pay up to £30 if the solution reduced roadside hassle enough.


BUDDHA - Your idea is genius!!!

Adamskii

Could somebody invent an inner tube that doesn't puncture instead please. That way you wouldn't need to carry a pump!

DavidTQ

Adamskii wrote:

Could somebody invent an inner tube that doesn't puncture instead please. That way you wouldn't need to carry a pump!

Pucture proof tyres were invented before the pneumatic tyres existed. Ive had completely puncture proof tyres before on a single speed fixed gear bike, I can absolutely guarantee that type of tyre will never puncture. Theres a price to pay though for the puncture free existance they're bloomin heavy and very poor to ride on.

Those solid rubber tyres on my first bike how I hated them. Luckily my parents were only using it as a tester for whether or not I would learn to ride, I did and christmas brought me a beautiful BMX with white mag wheels in a fetching black and white colour scheme that was my pride and joy for many years. Of course from then on punctures were a part of cycling...