A floor pump is part of the basic equipment of every cyclist, whether commuter, mountain biker, racing cyclist or crosser. Reason enough for us to take a close look at the market: in our list of the best floor pumps.
What do you have to look out for with a floor pump?
So what should you look out for when buying a floor pump? First of all, the area of application should be marked out. If you're only out and about on a mountain bike, you probably don't need an air pump that gets 20 bar into the tires. Conversely, for the racing cyclists and crossers among you, it is important to ensure that the pump can also cope with high pressures and that the operating forces are not too high.
The manometer also plays an important role. Every ambitious hobby cyclist would like to know how much pressure is in his tires - a pressure gauge is essential for this. There are big differences in our floor pump test: sometimes the dial is too small, sometimes too delicate, sometimes the pressure gauge is simply inaccurate.
In addition to these technical conditions, the ergonomics of the floor pump must not be forgotten. Is the floor pump too high or too low? Is the grip comfortable? Does the pump wobble or is it firmly on the ground? These are all things that often make the difference between pleasure and frustration.
How do we test the floor pumps?
We took a close look at all floor pumps in the test and put them through their paces (or air pistons). To get an idea of the pump performance, we put a large-volume mountain bike tire (29×2,4″) and a narrow road bike tire (23mm) under pressure. The target for mountain bike tires was 2 bar, for narrow racing bike tires the pumps had to hold up to 8 bar. Finally, we check the displayed pressure with a Schwalbe Airmax Pro pressure gauge for correctness.
In addition, the air pumps had to withstand our scrutiny. How is the processing? Does the floor pump tilt when pumping? How does the grip feel? These are all points that are included in our rating.
Do you have product suggestions for our list? Or suggestions for our tests? Let us know!
