Here is my funny story…
Hey, you know, talking about motorcycle tools, probably one of the tools that never comes into mind, is the one that finishes off the work!
Think about it, when you think about tire changes, what comes into mind? A spanner to undo your axle, perhaps spoons to remove the tire, maybe some spanners to adjust the chain, rarely anyone ever mentions a pump though!
So since we are talking about air pumps, let me share a bit of my experience… Back in 2019, when I went to Italy to do my First Stella Alpina rally (it is not a rally rally by the way, it’s a gathering up in the mountains, most importantly, it’s for less experienced off road riders – like I was! No judgement!) I thought I’ll be smart (and cheap) packing my stuff, and I’ll pack a small bicycle air pump! And so I did…
The idea was to keep it as a plan b, if i get a puncture so I could inflate the tire wherever i was. Obviously before I set off – I tested it a bit at home – it worked great to inflate the tire! It worked really well to top it up at least, when I was rested…not in a rush.. and not in the sun with all my gear…
It did not even clicked in my mind that it’s going to be one of the most annoying things I have ever packed! You know why? Well… let me give you an example..
When I finally came back down from the mountain, I had half inflated tires because it was just impossible to keep going with fully inflated tires (it was the very first time I have ever deliberately deflated them for that reason – and it made a massive difference, if you have never tried!) Problem was, that once at the valley, and with all my gear back on the bike, the tires were way too low for me to keep going like that on the tarmac, and so I stuck in to inflate them with that little hand pump… 30 pumps! 30 pumps per 1 psi it took!
Imagine if your tire is at 10 or 15 psi, and to inflate it back to 30 or 35 would be around 600 pumps! F-that… tired, hot and doing all that.. yeah… I did it back then because I was tough and stupid and still it put me off from using it for a while, as you can imagine…
It took me 2 or 3 years to pick that hand pump up again and actually test it if, in the event of the puncture, I could inflate the tire back up to the point where it pops back on the rim properly, and you know what – I couldn’t! I lost my count at around 1200 pumps or so, and the tire was still off the bead, and it didn’t want to get back on it… Multiple breaks, horrible sore on the palm, all swear words known to mankind used twice and tire still off the bead…
Imagine how desperate someone would feel in a situation like that somewhere out on the remote trail…
And as I just finished writing this post, I stumbled across this video (down below) – Hats off to the Author of the video – he managed to inflate his tire several times with a hand pump…! I just had to share it as overall very entertaining and educational video about tires, pumps and struggles while trail riding! Much like all this blog is all about!
Anyway… And the alternative to that… well.. maybe about it next time!
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