Get to grips with the three main ways you can inflate your bike tyres using our guide.
When searching for the best bike pumps for your bike, whether it's a hand pump, C02 gas cartridge or a floor pump, each has pros and cons varying from convenience, speed and quality. Find out which is the right one for you and your bike.
Here are some handy hints and tips to help you with your cycling.
What kind of bike pump you’ll need will depend on how you want to use it, i.e. to inflate your tyre post-ride quickly or at the side of the road and the type of bike you have.
What do you need a bike pump for? Not everyone has the same needs. You might be re-inflating tyres after a ride or dealing with an urgent repair miles away from home.
Go for a floor pump (or compact floor pump model) to make pumping up your tyres quicker and more comfortable. You'll be able to push more air into the tyre each time than with a hand pump. Generally, foot pumps will pump to a higher pressure than hand pumps, which are more precise and require less effort. This bike pump often comes with a pressure gauge to see the tyre's pressure.
If you need to carry your pump on bike rides, go for a hand pump or CO2 cartridge.
These small, compact pumps are easy to carry in a bag, on your bike's frame or in the pocket of your cycling jersey.
Regarding precision, some hand pumps have a pressure gauge for accurately inflating your tyres. CO2 cartridges are practical and very fast but can only be used once.
Don't leave anything to chance: mountain bike and road bike tyres have very different pump requirements. For other bike models (city bikes and hybrid bikes), the choice of pump won't be so strict.
Go for a pump with a wide body so that you push a large amount of air in each time. This will inflate your tyre more quickly.
Go for a pump with a thin body. Even though this pumps less air, it will let you get up to at least 7 bars – all the pressure you need for road cycling.
Specific pumps also have a telescopic function for pumping even more air when you first start pumping.
Don't get caught off guard on a ride out and find the perfect convenient bike pump in our Decathlon range below.
"Remember to also check the valve on your tyre. There are two types of valves: Presta and Schrader. Presta valves are mostly found on road bikes but can also be found on mountain bikes with tubeless tyres.
Schrader valves are normally found on mountain bikes (and are identical to car tyre valves).
All of the pumps you will find at Decathlon are compatible with both types of valve!"
