How to protect your fingers from cold CO2 inflators?!

buckmulligan

I'm currently sporting a nice blister on my finger from using my CO2 inflator at the weekend. It's not the first time it's happened either. I was wearing standard fingerless gloves, but the 'Lezyne Trigger Drive' inflator that I have requires you to squeeze the trigger quite forcefully to inflate the tube, whilst it plunges to subzero temperatures and freezes my poor fingertips to it in the process. It hurt quite a lot at the time, but I figured it was a price worth paying rather than ending up with a half-inflated tube!

Do you guys use anything to protect your fingers from the cold?

Also, I was acutely aware that I was inflating a freshly installed tube extremely rapidly to ~120psi about 4 inches from my face :shock: Has anyone ever had a tyre come unseated whilst they were using CO2?! I would wager that I'd soil my shorts if it did happen.

monkimark

I got some foam things that slide over the cartridge when I bought a job lot of the cartridges
http://www.co2cartridges.co.uk/index.ph ... tegory=944

I guess you could use cut up old inner tubes for a quick solution.

rob21

i wrap my cartridges with elastic grip bandage..a wee bit crude but does the job.

reformedfatty

Use a traditional pump that gets warmer due to the compressed air? granted use of arms may lead to increased upper body muscle mass which will undoubtedly ruin your climbing ability

slowbike

Similar problem - except with a toepeak CO2 unit it's all encased in plastic - doesn't stop everything getting freezing though! As valve was a little short (doh!) I couldn't fit the pump on properly so had to just blast through and hope that the tyre inflated - it did, but i did it in short blasts so I didn't freeze my fingers off whilst trying to push the valve down into the pump.

slowbike

reformedfatty wrote:

Use a traditional pump that gets warmer due to the compressed air? granted use of arms may lead to increased upper body muscle mass which will undoubtedly ruin your climbing ability

Usually do, but a CO2 pump is less weight/gubbins to carry on a TT ...

Flâneur

Take your mitt off and wrap it around the contact points?

jibberjim

Do you not have a convenient approximately 2m length of rubber to hand that you just removed from the tyre? I just wrap that around the CO2 cartridge.

DiscoBoy

reformedfatty wrote:

Use a traditional pump that gets warmer due to the compressed air? granted use of arms may lead to increased upper body muscle mass which will undoubtedly ruin your climbing ability

Other side effects may include:
not getting enough pressure in your tyres
taking bloody ages

BrandonA

DiscoBoy wrote:

reformedfatty wrote:

Use a traditional pump that gets warmer due to the compressed air? granted use of arms may lead to increased upper body muscle mass which will undoubtedly ruin your climbing ability

Other side effects may include:
not getting enough pressure in your tyres
taking bloody ages

Also the extra muscle increases weight and increases my exposure to the wind.

adr82

I have one of these: http://genuineinnovations.itwgbx.com/products/inflators/12-volt-tire-inflator, which works really well and has a nice solid case around the cylinder like this. Doesn't help with the valve of course, but it's a lot easier to avoid touching that when it's cold (or just use gloves or whatever else you have to hand).

BuckMulligan wrote:

Has anyone ever had a tyre come unseated whilst they were using CO2?!

Not quite, but I did manage to overinflate and burst a tube the first or second time I tried CO2 inflating :P That was annoying considering I'd just fixed one burst tube, but luckily I had 2 spares with me!

cougie

Eeeh when I were a lad we all used traditional pumps and the countryside isn't littered with the long lost corpses of punctured riders...

Co2 just seems so wasteful ?

Decent minipump like the Lezyne or an old school frame pump will get you through multiple flats. And no risk of blisters.

NeXXus

Some of the more compact ones come with a sponge boot thing to cover it, google is your mate. My ultraflate plus gets round this by being all plastic

slowbike

cougie wrote:

Eeeh when I were a lad we all used traditional pumps and the countryside isn't littered with the long lost corpses of punctured riders...

Co2 just seems so wasteful ?

Decent minipump like the Lezyne or an old school frame pump will get you through multiple flats. And no risk of blisters.

Time ... that and pressure.

CO2 saves minutes getting the tyre pumped up and (usually) gets it back up to a good pressure.

I can see that CO2 has it's place - there's no way I would've changed a tube quickly without it, getting the pump to pump up to 100psi takes at least a minute, probably more (never timed it) and that's with a decent mini floor pump - with the mini-pump it takes even longer.
If you're "in a rush" then CO2 gets you back up and running within a few seconds - if you're doing a timed event then that makes a difference.

drlodge

Leyzene pressure drive to get the tyre up to around 60psi, then a little bit of CO2 to top it up. Squeeze gently and it doesn't really get that cold. Also use a foam or rubber cover as mentioned above.

You do carry a pump as well as CO2 don't you?

simon_masterson

DiscoBoy wrote:

reformedfatty wrote:

Use a traditional pump that gets warmer due to the compressed air? granted use of arms may lead to increased upper body muscle mass which will undoubtedly ruin your climbing ability

Other side effects may include:
not getting enough pressure in your tyres
taking bloody ages

You've not used an HPX, have you?

Anonymous

Do you 'traditional pump' guys do everything in an old fashioned way, or just for inflating bike tyres? :roll:
Guessing you do loads of things that are far more wasteful but that are just too convenient for you to give up.

How exactly do you measure the wastefulness of CO2 in the grand scheme of things
Is having two bikes wasteful?
Is going on long haul holidays wasteful?
Is using deodorant wasteful?

Wastefulness is a red herring

sungod

"red hearing" suggests synesthesia, or perhaps confusion from excessive co2 exposure, presumably you meant herring

the main reason to use a pump is that it's lighter to carry unless you like to risk riding with just a single cartridge

if you travel much, there's also the fact that some at airport they will x-ray your stuff and confiscate co2 cartridges, yes it's stupid as they'll happily allow aerosols with flammable propellant, but airport security is not logic based

unless it's a race, there's no significant benefit to using co2

jibberjim

sungod wrote:

unless it's a race, there's no significant benefit to using co2

A race, or you ride with other people who are stuck standing beside you on the road for 25% longer as you pump.

Anonymous

Error corrected :oops: Damn spellcheck 8)

I do not race but find CO2 a significant benefit.

Agree it would be good if they could make carbon canisters to save weight though

adr82

sungod wrote:

unless it's a race, there's no significant benefit to using co2

I'd call spending a few less minutes stopped at the roadside freezing your arse off in the middle of a Scottish winter a "significant benefit" :shock:

Anonymous

jibberjim wrote:

sungod wrote:

unless it's a race, there's no significant benefit to using co2

A race, or you ride with other people who are stuck standing beside you on the road for 25% longer as you pump.

Or 150% longer if you break the valve and have to change another tube.
Have had a pump fail, but never a CO2 fail.

Have all the people knocking CO2 actually used it?

simon_masterson

Carbonator wrote:

Do you 'traditional pump' guys do everything in an old fashioned way, or just for inflating bike tyres? :roll:
Guessing you do loads of things that are far more wasteful but that are just too convenient for you to give up.

How exactly do you measure the wastefulness of CO2 in the grand scheme of things
Is having two bikes wasteful?
Is going on long haul holidays wasteful?
Is using deodorant wasteful?

Wastefulness is a red hearing

Denial is a powerful thing, isn't it? If you use a consumable where you really don't need to, that's wasteful; easy. You only use CO2 for convenience; a pump does the same job.

But that's not what this is about: carrying only CO2 isn't a great idea, so you really need to have a pump of some sort anyway, even if you go for a combination unit. Mini pumps may be rubbish, but my HPX is not; the time I would save by using CO2 would be negligible.

nweststeyn

I used CO2 today. It took me under 10 seconds to inflate my rear wheel up to 100psi. Later in the same ride I got a front wheel puncture. I used my Lezyne mini pump for that one. It took me 6 minutes to inflate my tyre to 60psi, and I then had to ride 18km/h home. Claiming 'convenience is wasteful' is perhaps noble, but not many people are willing to give up everything in life that can be classed as convenient. Do you use electricity in your home, because the sun provides plenty of light during the day and at night you could just go to sleep.

littledove44

Simon Masterson wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Do you 'traditional pump' guys do everything in an old fashioned way, or just for inflating bike tyres? :roll:
Guessing you do loads of things that are far more wasteful but that are just too convenient for you to give up.

How exactly do you measure the wastefulness of CO2 in the grand scheme of things
Is having two bikes wasteful?
Is going on long haul holidays wasteful?
Is using deodorant wasteful?

Wastefulness is a red hearing

Denial is a powerful thing, isn't it? If you use a consumable where you really don't need to, that's wasteful; easy. You only use CO2 for convenience; a pump does the same job.

But that's not what this is about: carrying only CO2 isn't a great idea, so you really need to have a pump of some sort anyway, even if you go for a combination unit. Mini pumps may be rubbish, but my HPX is not; the time I would save by using CO2 would be negligible.

The same job? Please, give me a break.

I carry a small pump in my pocket. 300 strokes of the darn thing and I get my 25mm tyres up to at least 60psi. Of course I could buy a bigger pump, but they aren't much better. See previous threads about real life tests.

On the other hand a CO2 cartridge pumps the same tyre to 100psi in less than a second. Carry two and you are safe. Carry three and you still have less bulk and effort than a pump.

If you need more than three then perhaps Someone upstairs is telling you something.

Anonymous

Simon Masterson wrote:

Denial is a powerful thing, isn't it? If you use a consumable where you really don't need to, that's wasteful; easy. You only use CO2 for convenience; a pump does the same job.

"Really don't need to"? The need is up to the individual isn't it?
Do you need to use a washing machine or any one of hundreds of other things?

What's being wasted anyway? Peoples money or the earths resources?

If its the earths resources then surely you need to look at everyones individual total consumption of them before you moan about a couple of CO2's per year.

adr82

Simon Masterson wrote:

Denial is a powerful thing, isn't it? If you use a consumable where you really don't need to, that's wasteful; easy. You only use CO2 for convenience; a pump does the same job.

You don't really need to have a bike, that's wasteful. Your feet do the same job.

:roll:

Anonymous

Not sure that feet do the same job as a bike, but having two bikes must be wasteful, although I cannot recall anyone ever trolling a thread where someone mentions a second, third, or forth bike, yet it always happens when CO2 are asked about.

NeXXus

Carbonator wrote:

Not sure that feet do the same job as a bike, but having two bikes must be wasteful, although I cannot recall anyone ever trolling a thread where someone mentions a second, third, or forth bike, yet it always happens when CO2 are asked about.

I find pumps wasteful of time and energy that is better used to be 5 miles up the road

LONG LIVE CO2

simon_masterson

littledove44 wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Do you 'traditional pump' guys do everything in an old fashioned way, or just for inflating bike tyres? :roll:
Guessing you do loads of things that are far more wasteful but that are just too convenient for you to give up.

How exactly do you measure the wastefulness of CO2 in the grand scheme of things
Is having two bikes wasteful?
Is going on long haul holidays wasteful?
Is using deodorant wasteful?

Wastefulness is a red hearing

Denial is a powerful thing, isn't it? If you use a consumable where you really don't need to, that's wasteful; easy. You only use CO2 for convenience; a pump does the same job.

But that's not what this is about: carrying only CO2 isn't a great idea, so you really need to have a pump of some sort anyway, even if you go for a combination unit. Mini pumps may be rubbish, but my HPX is not; the time I would save by using CO2 would be negligible.

The same job? Please, give me a break.

I carry a small pump in my pocket. 300 strokes of the darn thing and I get my 25mm tyres up to at least 60psi. Of course I could buy a bigger pump, but they aren't much better. See previous threads about real life tests.

On the other hand a CO2 cartridge pumps the same tyre to 100psi in less than a second. Carry two and you are safe. Carry three and you still have less bulk and effort than a pump.

If you need more than three then perhaps Someone upstairs is telling you something.

Use a rubbish pump and you will get rubbish results. Mini pumps are useless; why anyone uses them is a mystery to me. It has thankfully been a very long time since I have needed to use it, but my HPX gets the job done in short order.

buckmulligan

Haha, thanks for the replies. For the record, although I can see why the traditionalists prefer a pump, I've been firmly in the CO2 camp since I first tried it. The 50p (or whatever it is) for a cartridge far outweighs the 5 mins of freezing my ass off and knackering my arms trying to get a tyre up to a decent pressure, not to mention the inconvenience to everyone else you're riding with. As someone else alluded to as to wastefulness, I'd rather forego a cafe stop flackjack once in a while, that's hardly a necessity but I usually have one anyway!

As for my poor blisters (because I know you're all concerned) I've now got a second one coming on the inside of my middle finger. It's not from the cannister itself (although though those sleeve things do look nice) it's from trying to operate the damn Lezyne Trigger Drive trigger bit, to actually release the CO2. I guess I could try wrapping something round it next time, but I reckon it'd be pretty fiddly to operate then. IMO it's a bit of a design flaw that you have to knowingly risk self-mutilation to use their product!