What bicycle floor pump fits well in a transport case?

August 18, 2008 3:26 PM

I am looking for a bicycle floor pump that is particularly slim, suitable for packing inside a Trico Iron case with my road bike for air travel. The pump I have now is too fat in one dimension.

The Trico Iron case is used to pack a 58 cm carbon fiber framed road bicycle and wheelset. The bike fits in the case perfectly with plenty of room left over for a helmet, shoes, bottles, small tool kit etc. packed around the corners.

The users manual for the case can be seen here, which describes pretty much how I pack my bike. Handlebars are taken out of the stem and rotated, seatpost taken out and put alongside the bike, etc. This leaves plenty of room at the bottom of the case (below the crankset and chainrings) to put something long such as a floor pump. The pump I have now is basic model which fits well except for the pressure gauge. The gauge sticks up into the area where the wheel-protecting foam and wheelset pack in the case above the bike frame. If you take a look at the photo of the pump, if the gauge were rotated 90 degrees around the body of the pump it would be much slimmer in one dimension and should fit perfectly. Despite being cheap it works well, other higher-end floor pumps seem to have the same arrangement of foot rests and gauge...

Can anyone recommend a floor pump that is extra skinny, or a particularly heavy duty touring type frame pump (with folding footrests?) that would be suitable for use as a traveling floor pump? Is there such a thing as a floor pump with a pressure gauge on top of the main body, with only footrests protruding from the bottom?

posted by thewalrus to travel & transportation (7 answers total)

Look at Topeak's Morph line of pumps on this page. They're designed to be carried on the bike, but they unfold into a [small] floor pump.
posted by meowzilla at 3:34 PM on August 18, 2008

That's perfect... If you look at the folded photo and photo with the gauge and foot pedal flipped out:

http://topeak.com/products/Mini-Pumps/TurboMorphG

http://www.topeak.com//mediafiles/products/1220/?show=1
posted by thewalrus at 3:40 PM on August 18, 2008

Ditto the Topeak Road Morph. The Silca Super Pista has a fairly small footprint though, and it'll be the last pump you ever buy.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:45 PM on August 18, 2008

Looks to me like you could unscrew the gauge/hose assembly at the bottom of your current pump next to the footrest, loosen the collar holding the gauge on the cylinder of the pump, and rotate the gauge to the side as you mention fairly easily, and then reconnect it as easily. In fact I'd say it's designed to allow you to do that (notice the little slot made for a coin on the part at the base which screws into the cylinder).
posted by jamjam at 4:50 PM on August 18, 2008

Tried that, it doesn't come apart... Appears to have been assembled using one-way fasteners at its factory in China. I don't expect a low-end $22 pump to be highly modular or portable.
posted by thewalrus at 5:03 PM on August 18, 2008

The Topeak Road Morph kept my tires inflated all over southwestern France. I've used it for three years and only had the mounting bracket cause me trouble.
posted by Heretic at 7:26 PM on August 18, 2008

nth-ing the Road Morph. I have an old Blackburn floor pump that comes apart but I always just take the Morph with me in the car, on the RAGBRAI bus, or BOB trailer trips. It's a great product.
posted by altcountryman at 7:21 AM on August 19, 2008