SKS Wese Roadrace pump

The SKS Wese Roadrace minipump is a neat and practical solution if you are looking for a relatively cheap and lightweight pump to keep you rolling on your road bike. The Wese only has a Presta valve fitting, which rules it out for some, but as it does say on the side, this is a Roadrace pump.

The pump fits snugly into its plastic bracket, held in place by a rubber strap that prevents it from falling out going over bumps. As you'd expect, it was very easy to fit under a bottle cage via the two Allen bolts, and it didn't subsequently cause any problems either getting in the way of pedalling or rattling, as some pumps can. The valve adaptor is protected from water and road dirt by a plastic cover that clips into the adaptor's opening. The Wese is sculpted to fit in a smooth aerodynamic-looking fashion to the tube it is attached to. Whether this actually makes any difference is debatable, but it looks good.

So how did it fare as a pump? Well, clearly you aren't going to be filling large volume tyres in a hurry with a pump of such low stroke volume. From completely flat it took me a minute and a half of effort to reach a rideable 80psi in my 700x23c race tyre. Not bad if this is an emergency last resort, but well behind a Carbon Dioxide cylinder and adapter if you are in a real hurry. Carrying on further with the hard work, I managed to reach 120psi before giving up with the veins popping out all over my forearm. I'm sure you could go higher still, but for the amount of time and effort, I doubt many would ever bother. SKS claim an optimistic maximum pressure of 144psi for the Wese but for a small pump it is capable of some high pressures. The small diameter alloy barrel and plastic ends keep the weight of the pump right down to a featherweight 115g (117g on my microbalance) which compares well with competitors' offerings in this area, although there are some lighter pumps available.

All things considered this a cracking little pump for the money, and makes for a good insurance policy out on the road, without weighing you down too much. If you want a rock hard racing tyre in super quick time, however, you'd better start training your pumping arm or look elsewhere!

Verdict

A lightweight and simple pump that provides good emergency back up on a road bike for a reasonable price.