Co2 inflators

funkyg

I've had one of these in my saddle bag for about 12 months and never had to use it until this afternoon.
Even now I'm amazed by how quickly and easily it inflates the tyre to full pressure. (About a second)
From one relative newbie here to any others that cares to listen, get a Co2 inflator they're awesome!

Man Of Lard

But now you're home, deflate your tyre and reinflate conventionally.

chopchopchop

Just bought one today. How do you know the Preassure in your tyre once inflated?

Sutton_Rider

Why deflate and then re-inflate?

crikey

CO2 is heavier than air, so you'll go slower if you leave it in.

MiddleRinger

chopchopchop wrote:

Just bought one today. How do you know the Preassure in your tyre once inflated?

You don't unless you carry a gauge and check afterwards. Generally a single cartridge will inflate a tube to 90-110psi depending on what size road tyre you run.

Sutton Rider wrote:

Why deflate and then re-inflate?

Because the CO2 leaks out of the inner tube much faster than normal air, so next time you go to ride your bike you will find you've lost most of the pressure. As much as half overnight. It's best to totally deflate and re-inflate with a track pump once you get home.

crankycrank

CO2 is certainly nice for it's speed and ease of use but I recommend getting one of the CO2/pump combo's. I have lost track of how many times I've come across a rider stranded because they have run out of CO2 and have no backup. It happens. You install a repaired tube and it leaks, you may not find the tiny sharp object that caused the original puncture and the replacement tube also gets a puncture, attaching the cartridge to the presta valve is flubbed and you lose half the air, etc., etc. The worst was a guy with 4 empty cartridges and three leaking tubes whom I loaned out my bombproof Zefal HPX pump to and while I wasn't looking he proceeded to use a tree as an anchor for the pump head which he broke of while ripping the presta valve out of his tube at the same time. (Yes I'm bitter about that one :evil: )

Sutton_Rider

crikey wrote:

CO2 is heavier than air, so you'll go slower if you leave it in.

1 Cubic foot of CO2 = 0.1144 lbs
1 Cubic foot of Air = 0.0807 lbs
Difference 0.033 lbs or 0.072 kg

Sutton_Rider

MiddleRinger wrote:

Because the CO2 leaks out of the inner tube much faster than normal air, so next time you go to ride your bike you will find you've lost most of the pressure. As much as half overnight. It's best to totally deflate and re-inflate with a track pump once you get home.

Where did you get this info from?

iron-clover

Sutton Rider wrote:

MiddleRinger wrote:

Because the CO2 leaks out of the inner tube much faster than normal air, so next time you go to ride your bike you will find you've lost most of the pressure. As much as half overnight. It's best to totally deflate and re-inflate with a track pump once you get home.

Where did you get this info from?

It's fairly common knowledge, but a good article is here:
http://kybikerides.org/articles/bad_air.html

I tested using mine for the first time a couple of weeks ago to make sure I could actually use it when I need to and the tyre lost pressure surprisingly quickly, by the evening it was far too soft to ride on- admittedly it was a latex tubular rather than butyl so is more leaky.

Sutton_Rider

iron-clover wrote:

It's fairly common knowledge, but a good article is here:
http://kybikerides.org/articles/bad_air.html

Interesting article, as the density of CO2 is about 1.6 greater than air you would think the leakage would be the other way round.

Man Of Lard

One of the theories is that the rubber of the tyre/tube is more permeable to CO2 than oxygen or nitrogen (regular air is ~99% Nitrogen/Oxygen, 1% 'other'. 0.04% CO2)

Molecule shape & size will have far more to do with it than the weight of the molecules though.

drlodge

Sutton Rider wrote:

crikey wrote:

CO2 is heavier than air, so you'll go slower if you leave it in.

1 Cubic foot of CO2 = 0.1144 lbs
1 Cubic foot of Air = 0.0807 lbs
Difference 0.033 lbs or 0.072 kg

At what pressure are those figures for? :?

Late Starter

Molecule shape & size will have far more to do with it than the weight of the molecules though.

+1

;-)

BrandonA

crikey wrote:

CO2 is heavier than air, so you'll go slower if you leave it in.

You only need a very small pump though so this will off set some of the weight.

Also it takes energy to pump a tyre. This is energy you will not have for the remainder of the ride.

Finally, if you stop too long your body can call down which may affect your power and speed.

Sutton_Rider

The figures are for a standard international atmosphere 1013.25mb @ 15'c not that it makes much difference in this case.

stevie63

Sutton Rider wrote:

MiddleRinger wrote:

Because the CO2 leaks out of the inner tube much faster than normal air, so next time you go to ride your bike you will find you've lost most of the pressure. As much as half overnight. It's best to totally deflate and re-inflate with a track pump once you get home.

Where did you get this info from?

I learnt from experience, popped bike back in shed after ride, 2 days later go to work and thought I had another puncture. Pumped tube back up and it was fine, did a quick google search and found what was said above.

Man Of Lard

stevie63 wrote:

Sutton Rider wrote:

MiddleRinger wrote:

Because the CO2 leaks out of the inner tube much faster than normal air, so next time you go to ride your bike you will find you've lost most of the pressure. As much as half overnight. It's best to totally deflate and re-inflate with a track pump once you get home.

Where did you get this info from?

I learnt from experience, popped bike back in shed after ride, 2 days later go to work and thought I had another puncture. Pumped tube back up and it was fine, did a quick google search and found what was said above.

That.

MiddleRinger

Sutton Rider wrote:

MiddleRinger wrote:

Because the CO2 leaks out of the inner tube much faster than normal air, so next time you go to ride your bike you will find you've lost most of the pressure. As much as half overnight. It's best to totally deflate and re-inflate with a track pump once you get home.

Where did you get this info from?

From using CO2 to inflate my tyres by the roadside on numerous occasions, then riding the next day.

funkyg

Thanks for the heads up guys, I had no idea. I stand by my recommendation tho, great for getting you up to pressure and getting you home.
I'll be sure to reinflate for tomorrow's ride.

roux_guy

CO2 dissolves in rubber that's why your tyres go down. Weird fact of the day regarding air being very light: A cubic mile of air weighs approximately 1,000,000 tons!

Pituophis

Don't forget to simply toss your used CO2 cartridges into the gutter like everyone else!
Far from being wanton littering, it is actually providing a service as this will give other riders something to count as they try to take their mind off their aching legs.