Thursday, April 3, 2008

Making use of nerdiness

It's been awhile since I've posted. I've been and will continue to be busy with finishing my thesis. But after reading all of Paul's happenings getting ready for TI, I thought, the least I could do would be to take a few minutes and make use of my extreme bike nerdiness.

Maybe it's the enginerd in me, maybe the personal bike mechanic, but I always have to do my research when getting new gear. After seeing Paul's appreciation for good advice about new gear, I thought I'd throw a couple pics of my latest purchases. Yes they are both guilt purchases for not getting out and riding enough!!!

The pump's a Crank bros., high and low pressure, and a little over 5". It is just about the right size for any under seat bag. The mult-tool is a Park IB-3. I love the tire lever and chain tool being on there along with the right allens and the T25. About 20 bucks for both.

5 comments:

Steve Fuller said...

Have you tested how long it takes to inflate a tire with your pump? I've looked at those smaller ones, and I've figured that the time to inflate a 29er tire to an acceptable level would border on months. The size, however, appears to be perfect.

bontrag said...

Hey Steve. You're a friend of Paul's right?

I haven't tested pumping up a 29er tube yet, but I had the same painful thoughts of waiting till the thing finally fills:) I'll have to go give it a try and let you know.

One reason I liked it was because it had the high pressure or high volume switch that Crank Bros. came up with. So I thought if that idea actually works, it might only take a couple days to fill up:)

mario said...

I have the same pump. It works decent for filling up, and the pressure switch is nice (although high pressure fills a lot slower).

It's nice to have a pump that doesn't stick out of the jersey pocket.

I did abandon the crank bros pump for commuting and replaced it with a Zefal frame-fit, but that was simply so I could get back on the road in less time.

bontrag said...

Hey Mario. Yeah I ended up giving it a try on a 2.1 29er. I'd agree with you Mario, it really wasn't bad with the volume switch on. It did take a good 4-5 minutes of pumping, so if I was in a hurry it'd suck, but if you have good luck against flats and/or like traveling lighter, this pump works pretty well.

Steve Fuller said...

Guys

Good to hear on the pump. 4 - 5 minutes to fill a 29er isn't too bad considering the volume of air. If I'm in a hurry (a race for instance) that would be what I'd use the CO2 for. If I'm out on a gravel road somewhere and it's not miserably cold, I'd probably opt for a pump.