A bicycle pump is a type of positive-displacement pump specifically designed for inflating bicycle tires. It has a connection or adapter for use with one or both of the two most common types of valves used on bicycles, Schrader or Presta. A third type of valve called the Woods valve exists, but tubes with these valves can be filled using a Presta pump.
Several basic types are available:
- Floor models or track pumps
- Frame mounted
- Compact or mini
- Foot operated
- Double action
In its most basic form, a bicycle pump functions via a hand-operated piston. During the up-stroke, this piston draws air through a one-way valve into the pump from the outside. During the down-stroke, the piston then displaces the air from the pump into the bicycle tire. Most floor pumps, also commonly called track pumps, have a built in pressure gauge to indicate tire pressure.
Electrically-operated pumps intended to inflate car tyres (as available in most service stations) can in principle be used to inflate a bicycle tyre if the right type of connection is available. Some such pumps are designed to cut off before a suitable pressure (much higher for a bicycle than a car tyre), and will much underinflate the tyre. Others may not cut off, but deliver a high rate of flow to fill the larger car tyre, with a risk of overinflating and bursting a bicycle tyre unless it is stopped with split-second timing.
Read more about Bicycle Pump: Bicycle Pump Types, Tire Pressure
Famous quotes containing the words bicycle and/or pump:
“I well recall my horror when I heard for the first time, of a journalist who had laid in a pair of what were then called bicycle pants and taken to golf; it was as if I had encountered a studhorse with his hair done up in frizzes, and pink bowknots peeking out of them. It seemed, in some vague way, ignominious, and even a bit indelicate.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“God primes the pump of obligation.”
—A.P. Martinich (b. 1946)