air pump problems

wow said:

so i finally got my own bike pump...and while i was trying to put air in my tires, i found it REALLY difficult. I couldn't pump it down enough and so i only got it to about 90-100psi...that's with putting my entire weight on the pump...is it suppose to be that hard? I know i'm putting the pump on the valve right, but i can't seem to be able to press it down enough after i get to about 70psi...can anyone give me any tips or tell me if i'm doing something wrong?

Make sure the presta valve is open all the way, if so re-attach the pump and try again.

OCRoadie said:

Make sure the presta valve is open all the way, if so re-attach the pump and try again.

And after you open the valve, tap it a bit to let out some air. Sometimes prestas stick.

No...not really. When that happens with me, I find that I didn't get the Presta valve open, or I don't have the head from the pump pushed far enough down onto the valve stem. In either case, that means that I am only inflating the pump hose. I can usually get to about the same point that you describe before figuring out that I am not making the connection all the way to my tire tube.

Try making sure that you have unscrewed the Presta valve head stop, and that you have mounted the pump head so that you are filling the tube and not just the pump hose.

Hope this helps. 😉

I usually have the same problem of inflating the hose and not the tube. This usually happens with tubes with a short valve stem. You can tell if this happens by the lack of the usual air flow noise and much faster pressure buildup.

Letting a lot of air out before trying to inflate usually fixes this problem for me.

thanks for the tips everyone! i'm going to have to try all those things the next time i pump air. 🙂 hopefully my problem will be fixed.

wow said:

so i finally got my own bike pump...and while i was trying to put air in my tires, i found it REALLY difficult. I couldn't pump it down enough and so i only got it to about 90-100psi...that's with putting my entire weight on the pump...is it suppose to be that hard? ?

When you refer to a "bike pump" do you mean a compact pump that you attach to your frame, or a floor standing pump that you would leave at home? 😕

The former are sometimes limited in their ability to reach high pressures and the last few strokes can require a lot of effort. 😠

The latter... I agree with the other postings. 😄

fix said:

When you refer to a "bike pump" do you mean a compact pump that you attach to your frame, or a floor standing pump that you would leave at home? 😕

The former are sometimes limited in their ability to reach high pressures and the last few strokes can require a lot of effort. 😠

The latter... I agree with the other postings. 😄

it's a floor pump.

by the way...how much should i inflate the tires to? the max. or the min. recommendations? is there a benefit to either??

Start with the recommended max. That'll provide the lowest rolling resistance and minimize the chance of a pinch flat (pinching an underinflated tube against the rim resulting in a puncture). If the ride is too jarring (higher pressure means the tire transmits more energy to the frame and rider) try reducing the pressure by a few pounds until you find a satisfactory balance.