Lezyne Alloy Drive CO2

The Lezyne alloy drive looks very smart indeed. It's CNC machined from 7075 aluminium which makes for a high quality feel, and has some really nice design touches; it works on both Schrader and Presta valves, you can keep your cartridge in the body without risk of accidental puncturing and airflow can be controlled. At 100grams is not as light as some but certainly no heavyweight either. It takes any 16g threaded cartridge.

The design of the body is such that you can store a cartridge the wrong way up inside the CO2 pump which is a nice feature; it means the bulk of this pump is not so significant as you need to take at least one cartridge anyway. The head has a twin thread design which means it screws on to both Schrader and Presta valves.

Using the Lezyne alloy drive is really straightforward: unscrew body, take cartridge and screw into head, screw body on again, screw head onto valve, press and tyre is rockhard in seconds.

I'm always a bit apprehensive with CO2 pumps, pressurized containers scare me a little. The Lezyne alloy drive takes a lot of that apprehension away. It's easy to screw the cartridge in to the head and it feels very secure. Absolutely no air escapes until you press the head onto the valve.

The body does a reasonably good job at keeping the cold from your hand. You can feel the body getting colder but I had absolutely no problems using it with bare hands. The only slight issue I had is when you unscrew the head, the rubber still grips the valve quite tightly. In a nervy race situation I could see the potential for a ripped valve.

Verdict

A well made, smart looking and easy to use CO2 pump