All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

If i had to pick a compressor or a joe blow sttle pump, compressor all day. Its a multipurpose tool i can do truck and workshop stuff with too.

Presta to schrader adapters are on tge counter of dang near any bike shop for $1. That said, the park inflator I wouldn't mind having.

 

Couldn't agree with you more!
For $150 and a $1 adapter you will never think about seating tires again. Ironically, a compressor is marginally cheaper than buying one of those types of bike pumps but a compressor serves so many purposes. If you get one of those bike pumps it can only do one thing.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-...FwZIlwIkm1P4_zERuoAaArFVEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Agreed. The versatility of a home compressor is really nice. You end up buying all sorts of air tools, which makes a lot of work easier. They are really noisy though, and neighbors don't love it when you fire it up early, or late.
If you can only have one though, I'd go with the Joe Blow charger. Just because it does work really well, and you can take it with you on trips (I've helped more than a few peeps on trips get their tires seated with it). Plus, you get a really good pump, pretty accurate (IME) gauge, and durable construction. I've seated a lot of damn tires with that thing, but there are some tire/rim combos that are a huge pain and I end up having to go down to the LBS for a quick blast of shop air.
I've learned a few tricks along the way that help seat too. For a really stubborn tire, I'll throw a tube in and pump that up. That'll seat one side, pop the other side off and remove the tube, replace the tubeless valve, spray some soapy water on the unseated bead, try again. While letting the air in, squish the tire a bit too, which helps get that bead up on the track.
Even with that, once in every maybe 15 tries, I have to take it to the shop.

 

Yea I would totally go with the JoeBlow if space were a premium on trips. My air compressor makes my ears hurt and I definitely do not turn that bad boy on from 9pm to 8 am. My neighbors still like me at this point. Come to think of it, when I originally purchased my air compressor I was living 30 plus miles from the nearest bike shop and it was before they had come out with those types of bike pumps.

 

Thats where my ARB compressor mounted in my engine bay comes in.

Def agree a shop compressor is maybe a secondary item if you are in need of a pump anyways.

 

2003 Pre-runner v6 with a 2019 Cannondale Jekyll. Bought the truck just to haul my bike

 

A cheap compressor will set a fat tire at the truck or home. Use a ratchet strap snug around tire and apply air.

I’ve set skid steer tire using similar ingenuity with an ARB truck compressor.

Thinking about it idk if it will work for the thin bicycle tires, but now I’m curious

 

NS Bikes Snabb, Pivot (Mach?),
NS Bikes Snabb, Giant Toughroad

 

I can't remember the last time I had trouble seating a tire with a cheap floor pump. If I'm struggling, soapy water always fixes that.

I have a compressor in the truck and shop, but a floor pump is so much easier for bike tires. Clearly I'm in the minority here though.

 

You can do some nice riding in Phoenix on south mountain, and Gold Canyon area. Then head up to Sedona and get on some slick rock. Basically every trail you ride in Sedona will be amazing. Even the easier trails. I have ridden highline and the Hog Trails but even the blues and single blacks provide an amazing amount of fun.
Ps. If anyones ever near phoenix for whatever reason over next couple months give me a shout and I'll take you out on south mountain.

 

i might be in the vicinity but probably without a bike.

 

Man its been ages since I have even tried. My last attempt was probably about 30 minutes of cursing before I drove to get a compressor about a decade ago. I imagine rim profiles and tires have made it a bit easier but I couldn't tell you one way or the other.

 

Good excuse to rent or demo a new bike if you are traveling bike-less. Warning though this leads to new bike purchases!

 

Yeah... things are a bit different now. Most tire/wheel combos seat just fine on their own at 40 psi or less in my experience.

 

Have you ever tried to seat a fat bike tire? Since I have pretty much a full bike shop in my garage including a compressor and Park Tool inflator (a phenomenally great tool) I usually end up setting up all my friends and family bike tires. And I can tell you a compressor is miles better than floor pump, it takes zero effort and less than 10 seconds to seat a tire.
I will say I still like using floor pumps for dialing in pressure.

 

Great point on rent, Tons of shops all over phoenix, and If you had any interest in Pivot bikes Arizona shops have loads of them to rent. Their HQ in phoenix and they design the bikes and test them on the obnoxious rocks here and absolutely kill it. Probably my next bike unless I turn into a bikepark/shuttle bum when I get out to reno/tahoe area.

 

That new Mach 6 is so badass looking too.

 

The last tire I seated on my sentinel would NOT go on. Wpuldnt bead right qround the stem. So much soapy water, etc. Finally ran the line pressure to 200psi and let er rip. Finally seated. Pump never would have seated it.

 

Based on my previous post, Anyone here able to speak on the type of riding most common in reno/tahoe area? I know theres the bike park in tahoe and thats mainly jump lines and flow from what I've seen.

 

Welded up a permanent version of my sideways fork mount. Need to build a simple wheel chock off the back bedrail to hold it upright, but otherwise this should work perfectly.