Bikeradar - The world is for riding

If you're in a hurry, then this is the track pump for you: it took us just 23 strokes to get a 25mm road bike tyre to 100 psi in 'high volume' mode.

The last couple of those strokes needed a bit of effort, it has to be said. If you're a racing whippet or petite female without the sheer mass to bear down on the Dual Phase 200's rubber-coated handle, then you can just switch it over to 'high pressure' mode and things get a lot easier. An internal valve lets some of the air out into the world while the rest goes into your tyre.

Getting to 120 psi did need another 10 strokes or so, but that's a reasonable trade-off. The Dual Phase 200's gauge is marked to 220psi. While we stopped at around 150psi for fear of blowing off our tyre we have no trouble believing that it'd easily get to 200+psi.

The Dual Phase 200's details are nicely sorted. The gauge is at the top of the aluminium barrel so you can easily read it and the steel base is big for stability. It's a pity it's hollow and not solid though.

RAVX has gone for a dual-chuck pump head instead of some clever self-adapting design. That's a triumph of engineering for reliability over cleverness. Self-adapting heads that take presta and Schrader in the same hole are very nice, but their relative mechanical complexity means they don't work as well for as long.

Given its mostly aluminium and plastic construction, the whole thing feels pretty solid. It's not as bombproof as the gold standard SKS Rennkompressor, but it's a lot better than all-plastic track pumps or even many mostly-aluminium ones.

Australian price: AU$89

Bookmark with:

• Digg
• del.icio.us
• reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

Shopping partners

Shopping partners