Over the years I’ve had a number of bicycle pumps.  Normally these have been of the standard straight tube design with a hose to connect to the tyre though I have had mini pumps and straight tube ones without a hose.

The quality of the straight tube type hoses has been variable.  The better quality I have had have been the Zefals.  The lowest the no name Wilkinson ones.  The problem I have with these is that I am usually unable to get the tyre to the pressure I would like consistently without wrecking the hose.  My current Zefal has gone through about 3 tubes this year.  At least it’s not the pump I damaging but it’s a worry to think that I might wreck it out on a ride and be forced to cycle home.

I’m no fan of the straight tube ones that clip directly to the valve owing to the fact I very good a managing to split the tube where the stem meets the main part of the inner tube.  Avoiding flexing the stem I’m sure is one of the best ways to avoid that.

My first romance with the Topeak Road Morph mini track pump was 4 years ago where I found the combination of the hose, pressure guage, quality build ease of use made it outstanding to use.  It’s been the only pump I’ve not written off in use.  Unfortunatley this one was lost by a friend.  In the meantime I went back to using Zefals and I’ve tried a Halford mini track pump but the Zefals I keep breaking the flexible tubes and the Halford mini track pump I broke on a cycling holiday in Cheshire forcing me to ride on an under inflated tyre until I could find another bike shop to buy another Zefal.

I’ve just gone back and purchased a replacement Road Morph.  Again I’m back with a pump that does what it needs to use, is easy to use and I’m not worried about breaking my inner tubes.