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    Gravel Cycling

    Tire Inflation Mystery


    Hey Team,

    I'm fairly new to gravel biking / cycling in general, but have been loving it for the past couple of months and . I recently got my Kona back from a full tune up and purchased a Cannondale Precision Floor Pump today. Guy at the shop showed me how to use the pump by deflating, then filling my tires using the new pump with zero issue. I wanted to practice on my own once I got home, so this evening I deflated my tire halfway, attached the pump and…. for the life of me cannot get air into my tire! I meet a lot of resistance with the pump and can't get a reading past 20 psi 🤯

    After watching an hour of Youtube, I'm pretty stumped bc: the valve is fully opened, I've released air before attaching the pump, locking head is in correct position and is fixed to the valve, the pump is in brand new and seemingly working order (it works automatically with my Presta valve – no adapter required), and there doesn't appear to be any stuck sealant.

    The shop is closed for the next week, so wondering if anyone has tips or ideas on what the heck the issue is here? Thanks so much!

    Tire Inflation Mystery
    byu/Outrageous_Access369 ingravelcycling



    by Outrageous_Access369

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    18 Comments

    1. willy_quixote on

      Try pushing the head of the pump more onto the valve before locking it.

      Check that the rubber bung inside the pump head isn’t reversed.

      See if you can unscrew the valve head to compress the bung less.

    2. kcDemonSlayer on

      i use adapters for presta valves on my pump like that, and it still does that randomly. Then i unscrew my adapter and screw it back on and it works. If i had to guess i’d say when you lock your pump it is locking on the thing you unscrew which has to be depressed to let air in. Maybe try a shallower position before locking or deeper, 1 should work.

    4. livecaffeinated on

      The pump inflator head doesn’t look like it’s seated deeply enough. As others have said, try pushing it on harder before locking the head down.

    7. estebanelfloro on

      I’m more impressed by your pump doing that. I have a cheap pum and it has a one way valve to prevent the handle going up. Cannondale should do better

    9. millenialismistical on

      Is it a high volume (MTB) pump trying to pump a road tire (high pressure)?

    10. Current-Brain-1983 on

      I have a pump that does this, Serfas Airbones. It has the Presta and Schrader holes on the head. There is some kind of check valve in it to block one hole when using the other. it requires some back pressure to to work.

      It’s a PITA when it does this. I had it happen just the other day. I was testing a completely deflated Presta tube and it just blew air out of the Schrader port. I ended up partially inflating it with a small frame pump, then using the floor pump and it worked fine.

    11. Oldposer1 on

      When you really push down on the pump, hard, does the pressure go way up? I’ve had similar problems on my prestas- it’s just the force within the tube keeping the valve closed. You need to break that static friction, and then you should be able to pump it up. If the pressure does not go away up when you push the pump, and it just leaks out the top, then maybe it’s the pump?

    12. jsmonet on

      You aren’t seating the head on the valve. Push down more, then flick the lever

    13. ElJefeUM on

      Use an adapter. It’s so much easier. If that doesn’t work you can also get a core replacement tool on amazon for like $10 if your core is replaceable.

      Here is the adapter. I have a different brand adapter so this was just a highly rated one I found real quick.

      https://a.co/d/gIXyt3R

    14. bdog2017 on

      Two things.

      These types of pumps are a pain to deal with in general. Pumps which screw onto the valve are much easier to get attached properly.

      You need to put pressure into the line that is greater than the pressure in the tire to push the valve open and force air in. You do this by pushing the pump handle all the way through its stroke.

    15. urbdaniel86 on

      Not sure if it was mentioned, but you should push the pumphead harder into the valve

    17. Adventurous-Till-558 on

      The pump connector is not locked on to the valve. You need to have the lock lever in the vertical position when you push it on to the valve and then lock it

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