After the purchase of your bike, one vital piece of equipment is the bicycle pump. This is essential to get the best performance from the bike as tires maintained at the correct pressure will ensure good grip on the roads, less tyre drag resistance saving on effort needed to keep you moving and not to forget the most important bit making your ride more comfy by isolating you from excessive vibrations. Consequently it is advised to keep tyres at the correct pressure and should be checked before every ride. Loss of pressure can be explained by:

• normal air loss due to rubber’s natural porosity

• a drop in ambient temperature

• small punctures

Different models of bicycles need different tyre pressures, a mountain bike tyre regularly used off-road should have a pressure around 2.5 bar (35psi). City bikes typically run between 5 and 6.5 bar (85psi). road riding or racing bicycles should have a pressure between 6 and 8 bar (100psi). These recommendations also depend on tyre width and rider weight.

Several basic types of cycle pumps available in market place.

Floor models or track pumps: These work by resting the base of the pump on the floor, placing your feet at the base, and pulls and pushes full strokes vertically with handles. Due to their size, these pumps are unsuitable for carrying on your bike if you need to fix a puncture in the middle of a ride.

Compact or mini: As you can guess from the name, mini pumps provide a portable solution to inflating your bicycle tyres whilst out on a ride, they often come with clips to attach to the frame of the bike or are even small enough to fit in your saddle bag, jersey pocket or pannier bag. Most of these makes of pumps will comfortably inflate to over 70psi, while some of the higher end pumps can reach over 140psi, making them suitable for both mtb and road use.

Foot operated: These pumps are often not specifically designed for bicycle use. Therefore do not necessary generate high pressures needed for narrow road-bike tires, but they can be suitable for large low-pressure tires as found on mountain bikes.

CO2: Co2 bicycle pumps provides a compact and swift solution to inflating your tyres. These tend to be ideal for races where there is a need to minimise the least amount of downtime. Co2 cycle pumps are suitable to fit in your pocket, saddle bag or to the frame. Nevertheless, the disadvantage of co2 pumps is the limitation air capacity of the gas canisters, whereas with the conventional pumps this is infinite in theory.

On a final note you need to ensure the pump attachments are suitable for your make of tyre inner tube, typical valves on bicycle inner tubes are the presta or schrader.