Lezyne Lite Drive

The Lezyne Lite Drive is a no-frills yet nicely designed pump that’s ideal if your focus is on minimal size, low weight and high pressures, rather than on pumping things up quickly. It still works well on bigger road or gravel tyres; it just needs a bit of time.

The easiest way to make something lighter is to make less of it, but the trade-off with small pumps is an air chamber that gives out only tiny huffs. This Lezyne takes a while to inflate a tyre, then, but it’s a noticeably light 80g, is only 19.8cm long, and is slim.

It fits in a jersey pocket easily, or with it strapped firmly to the 10g ‘composite matrix’ bracket (let’s call it ‘plastic’, we’re all friends here) you’ll forget it’s there until you need it. Note that this is the Small, and there’s a Medium version of this pump that’s 26cm long.

Light and simple doesn’t have to mean basic, and as you might expect from Lezyne, the details impress. There’s a rubbery grommet around the main body to stop the handle extending and seal the gap at the same time, and captive grommets on either end to seal the threaded parts of the flexible hose and body. The workings all stay clean and dry.

Unscrew that hose and you’ll see the ends clearly marked Presta and Schrader, plus very neatly-cut threads and crisp knurling for grip. You simply screw the hose in whichever way round matches your valve. There’s even a little purge valve should you accidentally go over pressure, though frankly that’s unlikely.

It’s unlikely because, at least for a 45mm gravel tyre on a 23mm internal diameter rim, raising the pressure 1psi took roughly ten strokes. After 300 strokes and around three minutes I was at a very rideable 33psi, which isn’t ideal if you’re in a rush, but doesn’t really take much effort either. The stroke is a dinky 8cm long, and the smoothly machined alloy handle and body are comfortable to grip. It’s an easy time.

Narrower road tyres obviously go up quicker, and thanks to the low-volume chamber the pump’s really (as Lezyne says) optimised for higher pressures. Those pressures inevitably require more work, though, and I actually quite liked the easy, lazy results on bigger tyres – don’t discount it. It’s nicer than fighting to keep a bigger pump stable while you ram each giant huff in through the valve, anyway.

Lezyne says the Lite Drive is good for up to 160psi, but I’m not sure either of my arms or my willpower is. By 70psi each stroke is taking a noticeable shove. If you’re serious enough to want significantly more than that, you should probably consider a faster, easier CO2 system anyway.

Value

The £36 price tag seems very fair given the quality and performance. There’s a temptation to think that fancier materials would make it lighter still, but that’s not necessarily true.

For instance, the Muc-Off AirMach Carbon Pump costs more at £50 but is actually significantly heavier at 135g, and while it’s also 5cm longer, as mentioned there’s a longer version of this Lezyne (26cm) which is still only a claimed 88g. Even if that one’s 5g heavier than claimed, as this tested size turned out to be, it still beats Muc-Off’s carbon pump handily.

The SKS Airflex Racer Black is only slightly more at £38, and is certainly good, but it’s also heavier at 126g and is Presta only.

Alternatively the Topeak RaceRocket Mini is very close at £36.99, and at 16cm it’s shorter. It’s a really good pump as well, though it’s heavier at 105g and can unscrew your valve cores if you’re not careful.

Our best mini pumps and best bike pumps buyer’s guides round up more of our favourite inflators.

Overall

This is a really good pump that’s been simply but cleverly designed, and it’s well made. It’s pleasingly small and light and capable of high pressures, plus if you’re not in a massive rush it does a good job with larger volumes too. Don’t buy it for mountain biking, but for road tyres and all but the chunkiest of gravel rubber it’s a winner.

Verdict

Simple yet sophisticated pump that combines good performance with low weight

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