[retmotor]

No luck with a search on this forum and limited luck with the rest of the web...



For those who ride on pavement, then air down when you get to the trail, is there a tire pump or air compressor you favor for airing up for the ride back? I'm searching the web as I type, but I had the thought one or more of you may have already traveled this road recently. I have a compact manual bicycle pump and a small, inexpensive 12 volt compressor at home (I'm not at home) so I can't just run out to the garage and test them out.

 

[rm_hm]

Ignore the in site search here and use google



Just search google for site:tw200forum.com and whatever you are looking for



Example site:tw200forum.com tire refill





Here's the last time we talked on the subject



http://tw200forum.co...refill-options/





And the same discussion over at advrider



http://www.advrider....ad.php?t=439866



http://advrider.com/...ad.php?t=533585





Even more ideas



Link 1



Link

 

[Rainman]

I use this Slime compressor. It has worked very well. You can either use alligator clips and hook it to your battery temporarily, or mount wires off the battery permanently and tuck them under your right side cover. The permanent wires are the same as the Battery Tender. I've had good luck with it.

 

[Gerry]

I have carried this for a few years now. For comfort, when off pavement I would air down to 12 psi. With a Sharpie, I wrote on the rim how many pumps it took to get back up to street pressure. The transition from pavement to dirt and back again was pretty fast and only required pressure readings on the way down. The pump is nothing fancy, a plastic unit branded as "Bell". Since my suspension upgrades, comfort is not an issue so pressure generally remains high unless the dirt is very extreme. Gerry

 

[retmotor]

Thanks guys very much. Rich, thanks for the searching. I specifically searched for some of those title terms on ADVrider and I still was unable to find those threads. I didn't think to search for "refill" either. Thanks.



I know guys like those Slime compressors. I even have one as a backup to my larger compressor for my Jeep. I only used it once but it did work, although it didn't inspire confidence.



A full size bike pump and count the pumps to street pressure, huh? That's a good idea. Some of your posts remind me of a friend who is chock full of good practical ideas like that. I'd still probably have to check air pressure with a gauge though. Chances are excellent I'd be mid pump, see something shiny, and have to start over. I can see it now... "27, 28, 29, 3... Oooooh, that's neat looking. Uh... 14?"

 

[evan]

I have the slime compressor like rainman. Easy, already have pigtail wired to battery. I air down to 12-13 psi for dirt and back up to 28-30 for street. am going to try to time how long it takes to fill up each tire and mark it down somewhere. Also have the Co2 cartridge kit from America's tires ($20?) for back up. I thought about manual air pump but too bulky for me. One thing I have noticed is my Gps puts crazy miles of my trip on and I think it may be when I'm airing up the tires. Maybe voltage getting too low on battery when compressor running so gonna unplug gps charge cord next time BEFORE airing up tires next trip.

 

[peruano]

Just to hit the middle of the road with pump options, I'll point out a wonderful line of hand pumps made for bicycles but capable of doing the job for the TW community as well. They are Topeak Road Morph (master blaster) or better yet the Topeak Mountain Morph (probably the Master Blaster too, but mine is packed away and thus not visible to check). They are much smaller than Mr. Giz's floor pump but work the same way (have a tiny foot plate to stand on and a horizontal folding handle that lets you pump harder, longer, and more comfortably than most slender bike pumps). But wait there's more (they have a pressure gauge built into the hose so you get an approximation of where you are with pressure). Yes they will be slower than the floor pump but take up not nearly as much room. Yes they cost more (about $26) but I buy mine at REI's scratch and dent sale because many REI customers find them too complex or hard to use (they want it easy). Basically you are talking about carrying a pump that is the size of an old time road flare. Mind you if I was going on an overnighter I'd carry my slime pump (12 v), and a bottle of slime to allow me to limp home with almost anything but a major rip, but if I didn't want to go electric or wanted to save a bit of room, I'd carry the Mountain Morph bike pump (actually most of my day rides are with no pump or provision for flats, but I'm within 50 miles of home and 10 miles of a pavement with abundant traffic. I'd be curious as to how many CO2 cartridges it takes to air a back tire on a tw. I've used them on a tandem bicycle to get the high pressures needed and btw the MORPH pumps are the only bike pumps that meet the needs of the tandem that I have encountered. CO2 might be fine if everything works right the first shot, but I'm presuming that I might have to limp home with a slower leak than when it went flat but still significant enough that I might have to re-air every xx miles (thus I want a pump, not a mountain of co2 cartridges).

BTW the REI scratch and dent for Albuquerque is 31 December (members only) and its an orgy of equipment at 30 cents on the dollar or less (returned, one of a kind, damaged, or blemmed, but sometimes just returned because some yahood didn't like the feel, or understand how to use the product. Sorry for the advert for REI but we are into the outdoors are we not? Happy New Year everybody. Tom

 

[RodneyReed]

Peruano has a good point on the CO2 cartridges. I use them for emergencies on my bicycles. It takes one cartridge to fill up the tire on my road bike, and it gets it to a rideable, though not normal, pressure. On my mountain bike, it airs it up good enough to limp along. Again, that is if everything goes right.



I've used them on sport bikes before, and it takes a couple of cartridges to get the tire reasonable enough to get to the next gas station, just barely. The TW's rear tire probably has a slightly higher volume, but you could get away with a much lower pressure.



I like the idea of carrying a suitable manual pump if you can, just because I believe it's the least likely to fail, especially if it gets neglected over time, and it has an (almost) infinite amount of air.



Of course, I'm talking about more of an emergency setup. I never air up and down during a ride. I just set it to a compromise before I leave depending on where most of my riding will be. If long stretches of high speed pavement are involved, I err to the side of caution.

 

[srs713]

Anyone ever use one of those tubes you screw into the spark plug hole?



Never wanted to myself, but I am curious.

 

[peruano]

SRS, They work best with an engine that has more than one cylinder. The engine should be running (exclude the TW one lunger) in order to force air/gas mixture into the tire. I can't imagine the tw starter being able to pump up a tire efficiently. Personally I never liked the idea of gas/air mix in my tire (damage to tube??). Maybe I'm wrong about them working on thumpers, but . . . Tom

 

[pgilles]

Anyone ever use one of those tubes you screw into the spark plug hole?



Never wanted to myself, but I am curious.

I've filled an inflatable pool from the exhaust on my truck (and a couple adapters) when at a music festival years ago. Maybe one could devise a way to connect the muffler outlet to the tire stem with a trigger option that lets the exhaust vent to the atmosphere then pull the trigger to re-direct all or a percentage of it to the tire. Not sure how the added backpressure may effect the engine, though (maybe just feather the trigger so the backpressure isn't elevated for extended amounts of time). Obviously with the truck/pool setup I didn't need high pressure, and luckily the heat from the exhaust didn't melt the pool as it did the adapter haha.



An idea to ponder, I guess.

 

[qwerty]

Spark plug pumps did not work well for me on thumpers.



Exhaust inflators do not make enough pressure to inflate a tire.



Small Slime compressors tend to overheat--remove them from their housings to reduce mass and volume.



Slime breaks down over time, is nasty to clean off for tire repairs, and can cause corrosion problems. Slime is a temporary fix that renders the tire/tube unrepairable.



RideOn does not break down over time, does not cause corrosion problems, and cleans off with soap and water for repairs. It also balances the tires as the bike is ridden and provides a cooler tire that lasts significantly longer. Slime is designed to remain in the tire for the life of the tire.



I've never had a flat with a tire with RideOn installed. I've pulled 4-inch cactus spines, chunks of glass, and rusty 16d nails out of tires with RideOn installed, heard the pfffffft, then rode on the tires until they wore out with no problems.



I carry a Slime compressor removed from its housing that plugs into the tender plug, a patch kit, tire tools, and a CO2 kit with a box of cartridges for back-up.