Review: Lezyne High Pressure Micro Floor Drive

Some of you may already know of my praise for Lezyne Pumps from my previous blog post on them (Link); however I recently added a new tool to my arsenal: the High Pressure Micro Floor Drive (with gauge) that I purchased from SportPursuit for a knock-down price.

This is no ordinary pump; somewhere between a track pump and a hand pump, it is a serious rival to the traditional "frame-fit" pump in terms of being able to reach high pressures quickly. To be more precise, this little pump will reach 160psi max. and will pump a road bike tyre from flat to 100psi with relative ease in under 2 minutes (in my experience). That's pretty good going! 

Why did I buy it? There were two principle reasons for me to invest in yet another Lezyne pump: 

1. Firstly, on our France and Spain tour last year we were subjected to a few punctures (inevitably), and after the first week and around 700 miles of riding over the Pyrenees and across the south of France, we stopped in Le Bourg d'Oisans on a "rest day" (in which we climbed Alp d'Huez?!). In the camp-site we were kindly leant a track pump by a friendly Dutchman; as expected, after a week of pumping up our tyres with a small hand-pump they were barely at 65psi, and after subsequently re-inflating them to their recommended pressure (around 100psi), the difference in bike handling ability and feel was predictably huge! As a result I have since been on the look out for a pump that will reliably and safely inflate a tyre to near the same ability as a track pump. 
2. Secondly, as highlighted in my post Hints and Tips: Wet Weather Riding, the benefits of having a good pump in wintertime are significant; if you get a puncture in the wet and cold, the last thing you want to be doing is snapping off valves and developing repetitive strain syndrome as you frantically pump up your deflated tyre with a pocket-sized hand-pump at the side of the road. 

So I went ahead and splashed out, and here are my thoughts:

• It works! Some will look at the pump and think it looks a bit gimmicky, but I can assure you it works, and works rather well. Feeling definitely more like a track pump to use, it provides quite a revolution to road-side inflation.
• The little flip down foot-stand ensures a reasonably stable base to pump on.
• The screw-on chuck means there's no risk of the pump slipping off the valve at high pressure.
• The long hose means you can find a good spot to stand and inflate the tyre from.
• The rounded handle is comfortable on the hand, at least compared to many pocket pumps.
• The pressure gauge, although probably only accurate to the nearest 10psi, provides a useful measure of how much more pumping you need to do, without continuously having to stop to check the pressure by feel.
• As mentioned above this pump will happily pump a road tyre from flat to 100psi in under two minutes
• The frame bracket is secure and despite my fears before I ordered the product, it is in fact very slim-lined and posses no noticeable obstruction on the frame. [Although you will want to frame-mount it, as it is certainly too big to fit in a jersey pocket.]
• The usual Lezyne build quality and style is evident throughout.

Overall this is one pretty cool little invention from Lezyne. It will make pumping tyres up on long tours a far easier and more accurate task; increasing safety and reducing effort when riding. It is well made and carefully designed, and like other Lezyne products I expect it will last a long time as well. 

All I can say is that I think the traditional "frame-fit" pump has well and truly met its match; I reckon there will be a lot more of these pumps adorning winter and touring bike frames in the near future.

N.B. I should say that there is also a Lezyne High Volume Micro Floor Drive, which would be more suitable for the mountain bikers out there with their larger volume tyres

Available from Wiggle Bike Shop (Link)