High pressure stakes
When it comes to a pocket pump you want pocket pump power! As I have mentioned before no one really wants a pump as it means normally that you have a flat. When you're commuting or out on a club ride you don’t want to be hanging around especially if it’s raining or cold even worse when it’s both. Now there is a plethora of these devices in your local bike shops to choose from, starting from under £20 going up to the lofty £120 for one of Silca’s mini beauties with Bluetooth so you can check the pressure on your phone.
These handsome and some less so tools will either fit inside your back pocket or on a bottle cage mount for ease of transportation, I prefer not to fit them to a bike as I think it makes them look ugly. Because of this I was very happy that the pump I have chosen fits neatly in my Rapha jerseys pump pocket (yes for none Rapha jersey users some of them do have these and I find it handy) and in my other jerseys it’s a nice weight (109g) so I don’t notice it swinging around or pulling the back of the jersey down.
Topeak’s Racerocket HPX is a good looking slim alloy pump, it extends to give a reasonably long stroke added to the flexible Smarthead threadlock adaptor means it easily fits Presta and Schrader valves without issue and it’s rated up to 160psi. So it usually goes like this, we are gliding through the country roads on the Sunday club ride and the call goes out “flat” this is a universal call we all dread and it’s about this time I pull over and break out the Topeak, not because I like fixing punctures or pumping up tubes but as I have said, once you're warmed up and only a few minutes away from a café stop or home you want to get back on the road soon as possible, and the Topeak makes short work of these duties.
Now the only issue and Topeak have mentioned this on their web site, is if your presta valves have removable cores they may if you’re not careful come out when you unscrew the Smarthead, I found this happens normally when the pump is box fresh and the threads are very new. But no fear after a few uses this problem soon goes away. It is a quick pumping, good looking high-pressure pump that will get you out of a pickle fast, that’s all you really need.
Price: £34.99
Weight: 109g