Recommended air pump to carry on bike

[jabberwocky]

Drawback is they absorb energy to deform so add to rolling resistance. On a normal bike means you'll expend more energy for the same speed/distance. On an ebike will mainly mean a slight increase to battery consumption. Also make the bike feel a bit more "dead" handling wise for the same reason (tire takes more energy to deform which means it absorbs road unevenness and bumps slightly less readily). How much it really matters depends a lot on how sensitive you are to such things, speeds you usually ride at, how much assist you tend to use and the tires themselves (flat resistant tires/liners vary a ton, from very minimal to quite robust).

Personally I just go tubeless with sealant. Preserves tire feel a lot better. Only flat I've had in several years was when I let the sealant dry up (It needs refreshing every 3-4 months).

 

[Robspace1]

Tire liners, sounds like a good Idea. Due to several Factors, this Summer saw me much less on my eBike then last year and will be the same till October. However I will put Tire liners on the List. Is there a particular Brand you recommend and are there are any drawbacks using Tire liners ?
Cheers

I tried liners on the original tires but still got a flat when the liner shifted. I threw out those tires and went with Schwalbe tires with Green gaurd. These tires are so worth the $50.00 price. No more flats and they wear so little. Still have lots of tread. Great tires. I carry Slime and co2 but have never needed it. I help others with it on the trail. Highly recommend these super lined tires to people. Just a couple extra ounces in extra weight but tire stress gone!

 

[m@Robertson]

Why not buy lined tires and the flat problem becomes a very minor problem. I've had Schwalbe Big Bens on for 3 years. Not one flat!

Because its not a minor problem. Its a major problem that doesn't happen often but still happens. I already do the better tires thing, and a thicker tube, and a tire liner. AND sealant. If you ride enough miles, you learn the hard way that going to extremes only works most of the time.

A couple of years ago I was coming home from Costco, after dark with the temp hovering around freezing, my front tire - a Big Ben Plus - hit some kind of metal shard (I never did go back and look to see what it was) and the tire flattened to 0 psi in about 50 feet. It turned out the Big Ben had a 3/4" cut in its casing, and no supercalifragilistic sealant is going to recover from that. I wasn't able to repair the tube roadside, but I was able to replace it (again, learned from experience to have redundant backups), reinflate the repaired wheel and get home. It was dark so I didn't realize how big the cut was in the tire casing until I looked it over the next day. That Big Ben Plus tire went into the trash (not worth the risk of a tire boot) and a Super Moto X with a Greenguard belt went on in its place.

If you can do it, the Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Marathon Plus Tour are far better at flat protection than any variation on the Big Ben. Also the Schwalbe Pickup doesn't use belts under the tread, but has a double-thick casing that ends up providing the same flat resistance. The Continental Urban Contact is just as flat-resistant as the Marathon Plus. The drawback to these heavy duty tires is they ride like rocks thanks to their beefed up construction.

 

[m@Robertson]

Personally I just go tubeless with sealant. Preserves tire feel a lot better. Only flat I've had in several years was when I let the sealant dry up (It needs refreshing every 3-4 months).

Try Flatout as a tubeless sealant. It needs refreshing never, and its ability to seal holes up to 1/2" wide make it better at sealing up big stuff than Stans or Orange Seal (which is what I used before) could ever hope to. I use it on all my tubeless setups. Last November I wore out my Snowshoe XLs on my Big Fat Dummy and needed to replace the tires after something like 3 years on the rims. Same Flatout was inside and it looked pretty awful, but it was the same stuff I put in when the tires were new.

 

[Robspace1]

Try Flatout as a tubeless sealant. It needs refreshing never, and its ability to seal holes up to 1/2" wide make it better at sealing up big stuff than Stans or Orange Seal (which is what I used before) could ever hope to. I use it on all my tubeless setups. Last November I wore out my Snowshoe XLs on my Big Fat Dummy and needed to replace the tires after something like 3 years on the rims. Same Flatout was inside and it looked pretty awful, but it was the same stuff I put in when the tires were new.

The Schwalbe Pickup will be my next set. I don't ride year around, just during Spring and Summer. I also don't ride off road. These Big Ben Plus have made it 3 years now with no flats but time to upgrade. Option 2, if Slime won't seal it, get to the closest street and call Triple A. They tow bikes. Last I looked it was $100.00 a year for car and bike service.

 

[jabberwocky]

If you can do it, the Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Marathon Plus Tour are far better at flat protection than any variation on the Big Ben. Also the Schwalbe Pickup doesn't use belts under the tread, but has a double-thick casing that ends up providing the same flat resistance. The Continental Urban Contact is just as flat-resistant as the Marathon Plus. The drawback to these heavy duty tires is they ride like rocks thanks to their beefed up construction.

I've run Marathons a few times. Certainly very durable but thats really the only positive thing I can say. Rolled like crap, felt like crap, mediocre traction. They last forever though, and are available in every tire size imaginable.

Try Flatout as a tubeless sealant. It needs refreshing never, and its ability to seal holes up to 1/2" wide make it better at sealing up big stuff than Stans or Orange Seal (which is what I used before) could ever hope to. I use it on all my tubeless setups. Last November I wore out my Snowshoe XLs on my Big Fat Dummy and needed to replace the tires after something like 3 years on the rims. Same Flatout was inside and it looked pretty awful, but it was the same stuff I put in when the tires were new.

I may give it a try! I've used Stans for years, but have been trying Orange Seal at a few friends recommendation and don't like it as much as Stans. I'd resolved to go back to Stans when I use up the container of Orange Seal I have.

 

[6zfshdb]

I've been using Marathon's for 5 years now with good results. I also use heavy duty tubes with sealant and, for added protection, Tannus Armour inserts. Yeah, they ride like a tank but I compensate by lowering the pressure to just above the recommended minimum. That, plus a suspension seat post and a shock stop stem make the ride tolerable.

Personally, I prefer added flat protection over a comfortable ride.

 

[Robspace1]

To me, the Big Ben Plus balloon tires are a comfy ride. I do have front suspension, good seat post suspension, and a Cloud 9 seat, which all makes for long rides with very little ass pain.

 

[jabberwocky]

I've been using Marathon's for 5 years now with good results. I also use heavy duty tubes with sealant and, for added protection, Tannus Armour inserts. Yeah, they ride like a tank but I compensate by lowering the pressure to just above the recommended minimum. That, plus a suspension seat post and a shock stop stem make the ride tolerable.

Personally, I prefer added flat protection over a comfortable ride.

It does really depend on where you ride. If you ride on the shoulder of busier roads or places with a lot of debris where flats will be a semi regular occurrence without extreme measures, sure. Or if changing a flat on your bike is a huge pain. Or I guess if you just really hate handling flats.

I simply don't get flats often with my standard setup. Over the past several years and probably 10k miles of riding, the only two I've gotten were on the e-gravel because I let the sealant dry out, and on my trike which runs super light road tires and tubes. I would get them more often back in my commuting days on 23mm road tires, but on my road bike I could change a tube and have enough air in it to finish the ride to/from work in probably 3 minutes.

I just hate that dead, slow feeling that super flat resistant tires like Marathons give. Its like dragging an anchor around constantly.

 

[Nvreloader]

I have followed in Matt's footsteps, Thanks Matt,
I have converted to this air pump for both of my bikes by using this type of air pumps that runs on the bikes battery's, regardless of the voltage.

Amazon.com

It has the goofy plug on it, so I made a couple of brass prongs that fit the plug and pressed them into the slots, I also split the OEM plug to fit the spacing for my Hailong 4 and 5 pin batteries.
All I need to do is figure out which side of the plug is the Hot and Neg sides.

Here is a couple of photo's on how I converted the OEM plug to a standard type US plug to fit my Hailong bike battery's, and the OEM plug fits inside the pump case.

https://forums.electricbikereview.com/threads/which-is-the-hot-side.56380/ Post #13

I also carry a backup with co2 jugs, 2 different sizes 12 and 20 gr,
will all fit this co2 pump, and you can control the flow and store the unused portion, for the next use, the 12 gr air gun size is just about perfect to top off my 26" x 4.5" tires when needed.

Just by adding several nickles inside the main holder (to make up the length distance of the shorter 12/16/ gm co2 jugs), this co2 air pumps will work for either length of co2 jugs, or these other sizes of co2 jugs, compatible with non-threaded 20 gram CO2 cartridges and threaded 16 gram, 20 gram and 25 gram CO2 cartridges

Ultraflate

Comfortable, durable and reliable, the Ultraflate CO2 bicycle tire inflator is our most tried and true cupped inflator. The Ultraflate features fully controllable, trigger-controlled CO2 inflation technology and a built-in trigger lock. Throw out the hand pump for fast, easy CO2 inflation...

www.genuineinnovations.com