There have been a few examples of electric pumps for bike tyres on the market over the last few years. The first I was aware of was the Fumpa Pump, produced in Australia. I have the original model, and the nano Fumpa. I've also bought a Cycplus A2 Pro. These devices offer some advantages and some disadvantages for the cyclist. So in order of purchase, here are my opinions.
As an opening comments, these pumps all have battery capacity limitation to varying extents. Obviously the smaller pumps are more limited in this regard than the larger models. But I would not take an electric pump (or for that matter CO2 cylinders) on a long bike ride in preference to a conventional pump. All these pumps can be used for inflating tyres with Shrader or Presta valves.
The original Fumpa Pump, its smaller sibling the nanoFumpa, and the Cycplus A2
Fumpa Pump (original model).
A boxy red alloy case contains a battery and a pump motor. The pump feels really solid and high quality. Mine is the original model bought about 4 years ago, with a micro-USB port for charging. I think it's pretty similar to the current model. The manufacturers claim the following:
- Inflates up to 5-6 tyres on a single charge.
- 120psi max pressure (8.3 Bar).
- 0-100psi: ~25 seconds (700x25c).
I'd say that the pump meets this claim. Or at least met the claim. I've found that it doesn't have the same oomph as it used to do, and I'm not sure whether this is down to the battery ageing, or the pump or other parts wearing out I don't know. This pump quickly became my go-to pump for topping up tyres before a ride or race owing to it's eas of use and its built in digital pressure meter. My pump came with an angled adapter which made inflating tri-spokes and disc wheels really easy.
nanoFumpa Pump
I bought this to take along to time trials. It resembles the Fumpa Pump in construction and style, and like that pump feels pretty solid. It doesn't have a pressure display. The performance claim:
- Inflates up to 1-2 tyres on a single charge.
- 120psi max pressure (8.3 Bar).
- 0-100psi: ~100 seconds (700x25c).
The nanoFumpa manual says the max pressure it'll get to is about 80psi, which seems to contradict the above, but also says as it doesn't have an automatic cutoff it will reach 120psi. With the use of wider tyres and lower pressures (I'm racing on 25mm Conti GP5000 tyres at 85-90psi these days), this seems OK to me.
The device is rather minimalist - you don't really know what pressure you've reached, though I guess as a pump aimed at inflating a tyre after a repair this may not be too critical. I often take this in a top tube bag on my Cervelo P5 TT bike - the alternative being a CO2 cylinder or a tiny hand pump - the nanoFumpa is a lot more controllable than the former and probably quicker than the latter.
Cycplus A2
Cycplus make a range of electric bike pumps, including models similar in spec and shape to the Fumpa pumps. This model is a large one, with a large charge capacity. The device has an ovalised black plastic housing which doesn't feel as robust as the Fumpa units, and has a longer hose which can be stored inside the unit.
It is claimed to be able to inflate 12 road bike tyres to 120psi on one charge, though I haven't used more than a third of the charge while inflating bike tyres. The pump has an illuminated pressure gauge, and allows the user to set a cut-off pressure. This is pretty useful, and probably more so if you were topping up the pressure of one of the new hookless tyre/rims - always assuming the pressure reading is accurate.
The pump comes with a cloth carry bag and a bike mount that fits to bottle cage bosses. Given that the manual says to keep the pump away from dust and water, I think that carrying the pump on the bike would be a little unwise though.
Pricing
Fumpa (current model) - £129
nanoFumpa - £89
Cycplus A2 - £33.99
Conclusion
When considering buying a rechargeable electric bike pump, one really needs to think about the practicalities and probable use case of these devices. For general cycling use, I probably wouldn't take one of these out on the road, either because of bulk (the Fumpa and Cycplus A2) or limited charge capacity (the nanoFumpa). Having said that, the pocket-sized nanoFumpa is worthwhile taking in some scenarios where a reasonable quick inflation and small size of only one inflation is needed.
All three of these pumps provide an effective way of pumping up a tyre with minimal user effort, and are very useful where access to the valve can be difficult - for example aero trispoke and disc time trial wheels, where in the past I've ended up using a track pump single handed whie desperately holding the pump chuck in place with the other hand. So this is more than just convenience for me.
These devices are ideally suited to the wider tyres running at lower pressures that are growing in popularity.
The stand-out feature here is the auto-cutoff offered by the Cycplus unit.
My use of the original Fumpa has been greater than the other two pumps as I've had it the longest - about 4 years. I've used it a lot, and over the last year it seems to have lost a bit of 'oomph'. This may be a battery issue, and I guess is something that would affect all such devices in time, particularly if you're using it frequently. That's something to bear in mind if you plan to buy an electric pump.
While the Fumpa pumps have a better construction standard with their alloy case compared with the plasticky Cycplus pump, the Cycplus is considerably cheaper than the Fumpa models, which for some might swing the decision. For me the combination of function and price would probably lead me to favour the nanoFump (for portability) and the Cycplus (for workshop use). That said there's nothing wrong with any of the units in functional terms.
Originally published at Flies&Bikes