BONTRAGER DUAL CHARGER TRACKPUMP

£44.99 › Easy inflation for big or small tyres

AS MORE AND MORE OF us are trying out different styles of cycling away from standard road bikes and slim high-pressure tyres, be it fat-tyred gravel bikes, cyclo-cross or mountain bikes, it soon becomes apparent that a standard high-pressure track pump just doesn’t cut it when it comes to getting your tyres pumped up.

Yes, any high-pressure track pump will inflate a bigger tyre, but you’ll be there a lot longer than you should. The beauty of Bontrager’s solution is to combine both high volume and high pressure in a single unit.

Despite the pump’s modest price, we’re impressed with the quality, all of the important parts are metal, there are no cheap plastic internals or base to be found here. It’s very well designed with a large three-spar footprint, which is detailed with grip tape inserts to keep your foot planted. The gauge is easy to read thanks to its massive 4in diameter and the sensitive needle proved accurate when we checked pressures against our digital gauge.

The long 1.3m hose has a pressure relief button at the joint with the

WE SAY Whatever tyres you’re pumping, we’d recommend the Dual Charger

pump’s shaft and the head smartly switches between Presta and Schrader valves, the long 2in lever locking into place tenaciously.

Switching between high volume and high pressure is done via a large switch mounted on the gauge’s edge. It’s easy to flick between settings with your foot, so you can use the high volume for the first few strokes and then switch to high pressure to get more accuracy.

It took us 14 strokes to get a 28mm tyre up to 80psi, a combination of six strokes at high volume and then steadily increasing the pressure with the HP setting. On a large volume tubeless 45mm 700c gravel tyre it took 15 strokes to get to 50psi, using the high volume setting. Thanks to its height (680mm) and wide design it can achieve 160psi, though why you’d want to, who knows?

If we had a criticism, then the hard plastic used in the handle could be a bit more tactile, but it’s very well shaped, and we did like the neat handle inserts that hold airbed and football adaptors. That’s a very small gripe on what is a very well-made, clever and well-priced pump.