LIFELINE AIRBLAST

£70

SPECIFICATION Height: 110cm • Hose length: 120cm • Contact: hotlines-uk.com

All Lifeline products are competitively priced and the Airblast tubeless pump is no different.

It has a lightweight aluminium construction and is reasonably tall with a good hose length, allowing you to seat tyres with the bike still in a workstand. It also comes with an ‘auto select’ head that is virtually identical to the one on the more expensive Blackburn Core. It has the same reversible chuck that you flip round for Presta or Schrader valves too. And, rather than a big foot pedal like the Lezyne, the tubeless release lever is on the head.

Charging the pump took less than 10 strokes, as the volume isn’t as big as the Lezyne Pressure Overdrive or Topeak Joeblow Booster, but we had very few seating issues. And if the bead didn’t seat, all we needed to do was add a couple of quick strokes to finish the job.

As a regular pump the Airblast pushes a bit more air than the Lezyne and Blackburn (30 strokes got to 27psi) and has a smooth, effortless action. There’s a bit of flex in the handle and the pump wobbles a bit in use due to the small base, but the analogue gauge is mounted on the top of the pump and the big numbers are easy to read. Unfortunately the scale on the dials is way too small, making it slightly more difficult to achieve accurate pressures.

When we first tested the Airblast, we said it was a great part-time tubeless pump, but that original sample is still going strong, so we’re upping our rating. It’s a quick and easy pump to use, the auto-select head is as good as any here and it’s great value; fully recommended.