Jack's Electric Bicycle

Pump it up

Ever since getting a flat tire a few weeks ago on Murray Road I’ve been concerned about the inadequacy of my mini bike pump. It just doesn’t put enough pressure in a tire.

If I got a flat in town, I might be able to pump the tire up just enough to ride to a gas station – maybe. If the flat occurred in the Arcata Bottoms or Scenic Drive near Trinidad, I would be royally screwed.

So on Monday, after dropping newspapers at the Arcata Post Office, I stopped by two bike shops in search of a solution. (I have to shop in Arcata because my town – McKinleyville – doesn’t have a bike store.)

The first stop was Adventure’s Edge. It’s a really nice store. On one side they stock all sorts of cool camping gear, kayaks and paddle accessories. (This is where I bought my kayak. You can visit my other blog and check out the archives to learn about crabbing on a kayak.) On the other side of Adventure’s Edge are bikes and related doo-dads.

The staff was extremely helpful, but most of their pumps were out of stock. I drove past Revolution Bicycles. It’s a nice store, but I made my last purchase there and felt that I owed the staff up the street at Life Cycle some money after asking a lot of stupid questions a month ago without making a purchase.

I perused the selection of bicycle pumps and found one that would probably do the job. It was bigger than my pump and had a flexible “hose” that could be pulled out and connected to the tire valve. It also featured a metal piece that could be folded down to make it a mini floor pump. It was pretty fancy, but I didn’t like the price – $39.

I then picked up a little valve/CO2 cartridge package that allows you to automatically fill your tire without a pump. I had seen these before and always felt a visceral reaction against them, as if there is something inherently wrong with using a pre-filled metal cartridge of air to pump up a tire.

But that’s a really stupid way to think, so I decided to pepper the clerk with questions. He was extremely helpful, knowledgeable and darn-right enthusiastic about the topic.

He whole heartedly recommended the product. That’s what he uses and it works great, he basically said. He told me how to use it, explained the pros and cons and sold me on the whole idea. I paid about $12 for the contraption and had them toss in an extra CO2 cartridge. The owner also gave me a smaller cartridge that I could use for “practice.”

The device is light weight and tiny. Now I’ll carry a mini bike pump, CO2 cartridge doo-dad, extra cartridge, extra tube, patch kit and assorted tools. I just hope I don’t need to test them out anytime soon.

While at the shop, I also purchased new handlebar tape for the road bike. This evening I wrapped the handlebars with an old bicycle tube for cushion and then applied the new tape. Looks nice.

posted by Jack Durham @ 9:01 PM