Without a doubt, electric pumps are 2025’s biggest cycling trend. They take nearly all of the effort out of trailside (or roadside) tyre inflations while being small enough to stash in a pocket. However, out of all of the electrical gubbins finding themselves on and around bikes, I’m yet to be convinced.
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Yes, I have been there. Hunched over my bike, pumping frantically to reinflate a punctured tyre after ramming in all of the tubeless plugs I have to no avail. Only to then throw in a tube, and wreck my arms while getting that up to pressure. There’s no two ways about it, even with the best mini pumps, pumping up a tyre is a real pain, especially if you’ve managed to unseat the bead on your tubeless tyre.
The phenomenon of electric pumps has taken the cycling world by storm because they basically do all of the hard work for you. Simply attach it to a valve, press a button, and it’ll get to work (albeit with an almighty racket).
While they are awesome little things with enough punch to seat and inflate a tubeless tyre almost completely hands-free, they’re not going to tear me away from my bog-standard hand pump just yet.
I am talking from a mountain biker’s perspective here, so I’m sure riders of skinnier tyres will have had a better time; but boy, they take flippin’ ages to get a tyre up to pressure! From completely flat to around 30 psi, I’ve had time to stick the kettle on and get a brew on the go. Admittedly, I wouldn’t be able to do that with any other kind of pump, but I’m certain that I can get a tyre up to pressure with a good hand pump much quicker… while sweating, no doubt. In a pinch, electric pumps are no match for smaller and faster Co2 inflators. Of course, these are a one-time use thing.
To add to that, they definitely don’t replace a solid track pump, not that they should. In fact, their inflation is much slower, so even pre-ride pressure top-ups don’t really make sense with an electric pump. Unless you’re really stuck for space in the car or van, what could take an electric pump a while, takes only a few strokes of a track pump to reach the pressure I want.
My main issue is that they’re yet another device that requires charging, and for a bit of kit that you won’t actually use that much, that can become quite the problem. Even the most sophisticated batteries bleed and eventually lose their charge when they’re not used and topped up. If that’s not kept on top of, your electric pump would be completely useless should the worst happen, then you’d be wishing you had a regular pump on hand.
To add to that, electric pumps have a finite battery life. If you’ve found yourself with a particularly tricky puncture that struggles to inflate, electric pumps only offer a few opportunities for the stars to align and achieve a good seal again. Yep, your arms will be burning after sorting a difficult puncture, but we all need an upper body workout, right?
Owing to their electric nature, it’s just another thing to charge, and in a sport that gets us away from electricity in general, that may not be desired. Plus, some bikes already come with plenty to charge. That may be the battery on your e-mountain bike, electronic gears, or maybe electronic suspension and dropper posts.
While it’s another thing to charge, it’s also another thing to forget about charging, leaving you out in the woods with a flat tyre, and no way of getting rolling again unless you bump into a friendly, pump-equipped fellow rider.
As I mentioned, thanks to the development of mountain bike tyres, and tyres in general, it’s incredibly rare that I’ve had to reach for a pump to fix a puncture. And then with certain pumps being so efficient (I’m a huge fan of OneUp’s EDC pump), it doesn’t really take that much effort to inflate a tyre. Plus, I can carry all of the tools I need in that pump. Admittedly, not every pump can do this, but instantly that makes an electric pump redundant for me. Plus, I can clip a hand pump onto my bike and pretty much forget about it until I need it.
To wrap up this rant, my problem with electric pumps is that they’re things that I use incredibly rarely that require very regular maintenance (charging). While other electric bits and bobs become a pain in the ass when they die out on the trail, there’s still some way of dealing with it, whether that’s pedalling in a less-than-ideal gear, or having your suspension stuck in a less-than-ideal setting. If I found that my electric pump ran out of battery when I really needed it, I’m pretty stuffed. So I’d rather equip myself with a trusty, reliable and efficient hand pump, and get that upper body workout in that we cyclists really need.
