have never pumped a tire properly. HELP

[KSH]

I have issues pumping my tires too. Here's what you have to do... you have to unscrew the presta-valve all the way... and then tap on the top. For some reason, they can get... stuck... and then when you try to put air in, the air won't go in. Sometimes it takes a few tries of me putting the pump on... taking it off... tapping the presta-valve... trying again.

I have drained my tires of all their air sometimes because that stupid valve gets stuck.

Sometimes I worry I won't get any air in the tire because it gets stuck.

Because of the above reasons I HATE PUTTING AIR in my TIRES!

Try tapping the presta-valve and pumping it then. If you are pumping and it feels like the air is not going in, then the valve is stuck.

[Biciclista]

This Is Such A Great Thread!!!


Thank You!

[Pedal Wench]

A lot of times, you need to really push hard on the very first pump to get it to open the valve, so don't give up. Get that first push in, and the rest get easier.

[tribogota]

Very sorry that it is so frustrating! It is definitely frustrating to always take care of oneself and not have much help.
I train with professional athletes and if I don't have one of the "boys" help, I can't get the pump down either (they work up a sweat too)...I usually give up, as I do have people to help with the bike stuff but the day I don't, I am up sh-- creek.
The best thing is that it shows your perserverance!
All the above advice is really really great, thanks all.

[lo123]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who has to use her body weight to pump up tires. My hubby and my other male riding buddies think it's hilarious to see me jumping down on the pump to get my tires to the right psi.

One thing I've found (with a Specialized floor pump and presta valves) is that if the pump handle seems "springy" and very difficult to push down, then I don't have it seated properly. Release and reapply until it doesn't feel springy.

[tctrek]

Wow, what a terrific thread! I think most of feel like an idiot jumping our whole body down on a stupid pump to get it to work! LOL -- it lifts me off the ground sometimes! I've also let all the air out of my stupid tires a few times.

So, none of us are stupid or weak, it must have been a man that invented the bicycle pump Maybe the same man that invented mammograms!

[Grog]

To all those who felt bad because they have trouble pumping up their tires and need to lift their feet off the ground to apply enough weight on their floor pump, think about this:

(And keep in mind that I'm not very good at physics. But I hope this makes sense.)

Think about how a bike pump works. You need to compress the air that's in the pump to the point where you build more pressure in the shaft of the pump than there already is in the tube, so that the air in the pump needs to "escape" in the tire. Let's say you're pumping your tires to 100 psi (Pound per Square Inch) and let's imagine that the surface of the bottom of your pump is 1 square inch (in fact it's probably a bit bigger than that), you need to push increasingly close to 100 pounds down as you approach 100 psi on the gauge, in order to push the volume of air that's in the pump into the tire.

For us petite women with not a whole lot of upper-body strength and not a lot of weight, it's almost as much as we our own weight!

[redrhodie]

I also had trouble pumping at first. One thing that's helped me is position of the valve. I like it to be right at the floor, that way I get gravity helping lock the pump onto the stem.

Also, try unscrewing the valve nut a little less, not all the way open, and see if that helps.