Garage Chats with Shop Mum - Are You Pumping Correctly?
Hello everyone and welcome to Garage Chats. Some of you may know me as the well-dressed older lady in the Sales and Admin Department (S.A.D).
Today we are chatting about pumps: a topic near and dear to my own heart simply because it is my least favourite thing about working at Revolution Bikes. This may come as a surprise to some.
If like me you believe in prevention rather than cure (loving the lockdown) then get those tyres (our American friends may know this word as ‘tires’) pumped to the correct pressure and you minimise the risk of the pesky pinch flat puncture.
Look on your tyre for the information, here is mine- unreadable:
Not easy to see but what you are looking for is the min and max PSI numbers.
PSI stands for Pump S*@# In.
If your tyres are correctly inflated then you won’t get the irritating pinch flat. This is when the inner tube has a little dance party inside your tyre, things get out of hand and pop goes the weasel.
Pump Lowdown.
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The floor pump.
Every garage should have one. Handy gauge – easy to use and to get the pressure right.
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The travel pump.
Light and easy to carry with you on a ride. I’ve heard people use them to top up while out and about. I don’t know. I’ve used mine once years ago when out biking with the Kingfisher, and she got a puncture. It took quite a lot of time and energy to inflate the new tube. There must be a better way...
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A better way, the CO2 inflator.
This is a pump head and a CO2 canister. Fit them together, attach to the tube valve and it’s all over in seconds.
A little note for those who don’t know how to change a puncture:
This can be a worry and you may ask; what is the use of having a pump if I can’t change my tube when out and about? If you carry the right size tube, a CO2 inflator and a set of tyre levers with you then if the worst does happen you will have the right kit with you when someone stops to help.
I now check that the Kingfisher has pumped her tyres up with her floor pump at home before we go out and she hasn’t a puncture since.
Until next time – keep your distance
Shop Mum