December 21, 2007

Innovations Proflate 16 mini-pump (courtesy, performancebike.com)

Do you have a question of your own?

CO2 inflators are great. Rather than laboriously hand-pumping a tire, you stick an inflator on the valve, squeeze a trigger, and before you can say, “I once saw a guy on the Tonight Show blow up a hot water bottle with his mouth until it exploded,” you have a tire at 100 psi or better. So these days, most of my bikes have an Innovations Proflate 16 mini-pump ($25; performancebike.com), which takes a 16g non-threaded CO2 cartridge. Some people prefer an inflator that takes threaded cartridges, I think because the risk of a leak is perceived as lower. The Hurricane Quick Shot Pro ($25; performancebike.com) takes either threaded or unthreaded.

There’s not much risk of blowing out a tire; most cartridges fill only one tire, so you can’t really over-inflate. Most, such as the Proflate and Quick Shot, also have a trigger that helps you control the flow so it’s not an all-or-nothing deal. The risk is that you might have a tube stuck under the tire rim, and the inflator is so fast that before you realize it the tube has pooched out and popped. So be sure you have the tube carefully installed.

The other risk is this: You’re on the road, and you have a flat. If you don’t have a spare, then you need to inflate the bad tire to find the leak. And that may mean you waste a cartridge just finding the leak. And, if you have a really bad run of flats, you can easily run out of cartridges. So I tend to think CO2 fillers work best when you’re in a group, and one of you has a pump. Use the inflators for quick repair of any flats, but the pump provides some backup in case you run out of cartridges after rolling over a handful of thumbtacks. For a pump, I still find the Zefal HPX-2 ($30; zefal.com), which has been around for forever, very hard to beat.

The 2008 Winter Outside Buyer’s Guide is now online. From snow sports to trail-running to camping, get reviews of more than 300 new gear must-haves.

RECENT QUESTIONS I'm looking for the lightest breatheable bivy sack out there, any suggestions? What is the best way to carry water on a hike? Are there any high-def cameras that can zoom into a six-foot square—from 60,000 feet? What’s the best pair of winter running shoes? What shoes provide light-and-fast performance and support? Search the Gear Guy

GEAR GUY FEATURES Check out the bio of Douglas Gantenbein, aka the Gear Guy. Readers' Mailbag: The Gear Guy digs into some of your more bizarre, obscure (and let’s face it, downright weird) posts from years gone by to see if he can make sense of it all, or if it’s just time to run up the white flag. Previous column: Beat the Cost of Gear. The Gear Guy reports from the 2005 Outdoor Retailer summer trade fair, with his rundown of ten products to watch in 2006, plus the inside scoop on what shook down at the bi-annual gearapalooza.

MORE GEAR The Outside Gear Blog 2005 Buyer's Guide State of the Art: 2005 Bikes