Blackburn mini-pumps follow up review

We wanted to follow up on last week’s review of the Blackburn Mammoth classic and new 2Stage mini bike pumps and offer a couple new points of comparison. First, we neglected to mention the actual air volume each of these pumps put out: the classic squeezes in 5 cubic inches per stroke while the 2Stage …

We wanted to follow up on last week’s review of the Blackburn Mammoth classic and new 2Stage mini bike pumps and offer a couple new points of comparison. First, we neglected to mention the actual air volume each of these pumps put out: the classic squeezes in 5 cubic inches per stroke while the 2Stage blasts up to 10 cubic inches per stroke on the high volume setting.

Of course it was nearly impossible for me to pump the 2Stage for long on high volume and that’s where the high pressure setting comes in. After consulting an expert in the bike pump industry we learned that our tests should have considered the number of strokes rather than pump time to compare pressures, so we happily obliged.

For this test we gave each pump 50 strokes on the same 26″ bike tire and measured the resulting pressure at the end of the test. The classic yielded an impressive 20 psi and felt fairly smooth and even from the first stroke to the last. With the 2Stage we started on high volume and after about 10 strokes (the point at which my arm felt as if it would fall off) we switched to high pressure for the remaining 40 strokes. The result? About 20 psi, the same as the classic (unlike in our time test where the 2Stage seemed to lag the classic).

Our follow-up tests also allowed us to concentrate a little more on our stroke form and this really confirmed our only gripe about the Mammoth 2Stage: it needs a t-handle and a larger area to grip the pump. Gripping the nozzle area puts your hands in harms way of the plunger and when we removed our hand from the nozzle we were afraid the shear force of our strokes would break off our tire valve (especially on the high volume setting). The classic, in contrast, provided plenty of room for our hand around the pump barrel and the t-handle helped with leverage.

The Mammoth pumps we tested from Blackburn are both solid mini-pumps to have with you on the trail. Whether you prefer the classic or the big-tire friendly 2Stage, rest assured the Mammoth will get you pumped – literally.