Review: dwndpump Electric Pump

 I wanted Xiaoqin's bike to be as light as possible, and one of the heaviest items in your kit is your frame pump. While there are small and light mini pumps, what I've noticed is that most of them have a wide barrel, which is a no-no. You want a narrow barrel so you can reach high pressure and each stroke volume wouldn't be insanely high.

Brad Silverberg recommended the Fumpa pump, but that was too expensive. I found the dwndpump mini pump which was $33 on sale. There are many competing pumps in the market at various price points and with various features (such as a gauge), but this was the one that was the cheapest. For an emergency pump, you care about 2 items, maximum pressure, and battery stability. I say battery stability because a pump that loses its charge and won't pump during an emergency is useless. I care a bit less about battery life, because an Anker Nano battery bank is light and will recharge this pump at least 6 times. The total weight of this pump and the anker nano is still lighter than my go-to manual pump, the Topeak Road Morph Mini G. More importantly, the size of the two will fit into an underseat saddlebag, eliminating the need for the mounting clip on the manual pump, which in the case of my Roadini, takes up the space of a water bottle cage.

I bought this pump in March charged it up, stowed it in my wife's Lynskey's saddlebag, and forgot about it until after we got back from our tour in July and went for a gravel ride. After the dirt section, I took out the pump, and inflated our tires from about 20psi to 40psi on both bikes before riding home. The tire valves get hot, so you need to take the admonition not to use this pump with a TPU tube with a plastic valve stem seriously. But it did the job and I have no doubt that as advertised, it will take a tube from 0 to 33 psi twice on a 38mm tire.

After this experience I went and bought another one for my Roadini as well as a bottle cage that will make use of the slot freed up by the pump. Call me a convert to this new style of bike pump.