Fumpa Pumps OG Bike Pump

The Fumpa Pumps OG is the daddy of the Australian brand’s range of pumps, with a strong resemblance to the original, launched 10 years ago, but with some worthy refinements. It’s designed for use in the workshop or the pro team mechanics’ bay rather than out on the road, and although it’s not the cheapest pump of this type, Fumpa designs its products to last a lifetime, with a serviceability that I’ve not seen among any competitors.

As alluded to above, the OG is not unrelated to Fumpa’s first pump, which we tested back in 2019, but in the intervening years the company has refined the product while retaining its ‘buy once’ ethos. Since 2019, Fumpa pumps have become a popular choice for pro team mechanics, and the distinctive red casing a common sight at races. Fumpa cites Picnic PostNL and Q36.5 Pro Cycling among other teams which it supplies.

I can understand why. If you’re prepping 20 or so bikes for your riders, even small economies of time and effort are worthwhile. And the Fumpa OG is really quick, well made and really easy to use. It has a clear OLED display which you use to set your desired pressure, then you hit play and it just does it, fast.

I recently tested a smaller battery pump, the sort you’d carry with you on a ride. When I first used the Fumpa I was really surprised at how much faster it filled a tyre. Fumpa uses a 12v motor in this pump, where most (but not all) of the smaller inflators use a lower voltage motor. To quantify the difference, I pumped a 700×25 tyre from empty to 90psi, and the times taken were as follows:

• Fumpa OG – 24 seconds
• Inflata Pro S – 60 seconds 
• SKS track pump – 18-20 seconds pumping at a ‘normal’ intensity; 13 seconds pumping as fast as I could. It’s worth pointing out that this particular track pump (the discontinued Airmenius) has an unusually long stroke, so I suspect some would take quite a bit longer.

The battery pumps were fully charged before this test, and each time I emptied the tyre before starting again for consistency, but in normal use you’re more frequently topping up tyres before a ride rather than pumping from empty, so it’s a lot quicker than this. As an example, on the same tyre, pumping from 65psi to 90psi with the Fumpa OG took under nine seconds.

> How to choose the best bike tyre pressure – balancing speed, comfort and grip

So what do we take from this? A really good track pump can still be faster with a bit of physical effort, and a workshop compressor would be faster still. As would CO2, obviously. What the Fumpa offers is just pure convenience compared with those other options.

One specific scenario where it is miles better than a track pump is for topping up bikes hanging on the wall. Speaking as someone who’s perched on top of a chair in the garage to use a track pump, just to avoid the faff of taking a bike down from the wall, the Fumpa is a game changer. Set the pressure, pop it on the valve, press go, and a few seconds later you’re done.

Auto improvements

Back in 2019, the original version had a digital pressure readout but you had to hold down a button to inflate and then let go when the desired pressure was reached. Now that gets taken care of automatically, with the pump able to stop typically within about 1psi of what you asked for, even pumping as fast as it does. It’s a big improvement in convenience (albeit one that is increasingly standard across all but the smallest battery pumps). In his review of the original, Mike also noted that it lacked an auto-off function, and would drain its battery if you left it on all day. That’s been addressed too – the OG will power down after two minutes of inactivity.

Where Fumpa differentiates strongly is in its ethos of designing products to last and to be repaired. It manufactures all its pumps in Australia, and offers replacement parts including seals and batteries to allow user repair and extend the life of its products. I asked what it could do if, say, the compressor failed (as this isn’t listed as a spare part) and Fumpa told me that customers can send back their pumps to Australia and the company will repair them for a fixed price. In my view, that is absolutely worth paying a bit more for, and I applaud companies that do this sort of thing.

Valve versatility

The pump can be used with various different attachments. As standard, there is a push-fit connector screwed directly into the pump, so you can just push it straight onto the valve of your bike. This connector can be set up for either Presta or Schrader – you just unscrew the top, reverse the rubber seal, and fit or remove a little brass push pin (needed for Schrader valves).

Fumpa says that most mechanics prefer to use the Elbow Nozzle Kit (a £19 option), which screws into the pump and means you can inflate tyres without having the pump between the spokes of the wheel. For what you get the pricing is quite punchy, and whether you go directly onto the bike or via this kit will be down to your preference.

If you’re using TPU inner tubes, the Elbow Kit is the recommended solution to prevent excess heat reaching the tube. The connector is still an either/or deal with the valve type, though.

We have one bike in our garage that uses Schrader valves and I found that, using either the direct push-on attachment on the pump itself or the Elbow kit, I needed to hold the connector in place against the valve to prevent it blowing off in operation. I asked Fumpa about this and it recommended the Dual Head Extension Nozzle, available for a further £15. This has a head like most track pumps, with two holes and a lever to grip the valve, which worked well, as you’d expect. It comes with a one metre length of hose, meaning it also allows you to inflate a tyre without needing the pump as close.

Most cyclists are probably okay with just Presta valves, in which case either the direct connector or the Elbow kit work well. If you’re needing to inflate both types of valve on a fairly regular basis then I’d suggest you should add in the Dual Head option.

All of these kits use standard 6mm pneumatic hose and push-fit connectors, as widely seen in industrial applications. This means you can easily chop and change – so for a while I had the Dual Head attached to the shorter hose which came with the Elbow kit.

Total tyre inflations

We’ve looked at how fast the Fumpa OG inflates, but how many tyres can you get from a full charge? In my last pump review I used the test of pumping a 40mm tyre to 37psi. Repeating the same here, I found the Fumpa OG could manage eight tyres before the battery was dead (allowing a minute between each inflation to let it cool off a bit). Again, a reminder that mostly you’ll use this to top up rather than inflate from empty, so the reality is that you’ll probably pump upwards of a dozen tyres before you need to charge it.

That result puts the Fumpa OG on a par with the Prestacycle Prestaflator Go, which is about half its size! Digging into the specs, this is not as surprising as it sounds – the Prestaflator has 5.55Wh of battery versus the Fumpa OG’s 6.1Wh. In terms of speed, though, it’s no contest – the Fumpa is much quicker. It’s still generally not fast enough to seat a tubeless tyre, but that’s the case with all battery inflators that I’m aware of.

Charging

When the battery needs charging, a USB-C connection will work with a phone charger. Fumpa says it’s a “fast charge” of an hour, which is slower than some pumps, but in practice I found it usually took less than an hour.

When it’s plugged in, the ‘play’ button lights up red, but it doesn’t go out when it’s charged. Fumpa says this is to remind you not to leave it plugged in, for safety reasons. It’s a minor irritation, but I’d prefer this to work like bike lights, phones and most other things that we need to recharge – the light should go out or turn green when it’s full. It’s compounded by the fact that the display will also have switched off by the time it’s charged, so you can’t see from the percentage battery indicator on that whether it’s full either.

Not just bike tyres…

Fumpa says the OG can be used on car and motorbike tyres, but that it will not inflate them from fully flat – presumably because the volume of air needed is simply more than it can manage on a charge. Fumpa’s online shop offers a car tyre attachment as well as a needle for inflating balls, although it also specifies that this pump is not suitable for larger inflatables like mattress or pool toys. Fumpa offers a larger pump (the megaFumpa) where car and motorbike tyres are the primary use.

Market place

The market is awash these days with battery pumps, so where does the Fumpa OG fit? For most applications, it’s larger than you’d want to carry with you – there are plenty of smaller pumps better suited to on-road use, including the Mini+ that Fumpa is launching soon (and the nanoFumpa, shown below alongside the OG). For ride captains with larger groups of cyclists, the capacity and inflation speed that the OG offers compared with something smaller is appealing, and it would fit comfortably in a frame bag or larger saddlepack.

Otherwise, it works best in the garage or workshop to get your tyre pressures set before a ride. It’s really handy if you have a fleet of bikes and is also a much more compact alternative to a track pump if you’re on a cycling holiday (it is fine to take on a plane in carry-on luggage).

Value

Price-wise, the Fumpa OG is nearly £20 more than the Prestaflator Go (£99.99), while the Inflata Pro S is around £90, but both of those are smaller types you’d carry with you on a ride.

The only garage-style pump we’ve reviewed is the Cycplus Electric Air Pump A2, which is a lot cheaper at £36.82, and Steve was impressed with its performance. We also have a full review coming of the Dynamic Turblo+ which is more than twice the price of the Cycplus, but still only £69.99.

It’s expensive in comparison then, but as I said at the start, Fumpa designs its products to last a lifetime, with a serviceability I’ve not seen among any competitors and a useful and comprehensive selection of optional fittings and spare parts. So while it’s no bargain, I don’t think it’s bad value.

For other inflation options, check out our guide to the best bike pumps.

Conclusion

If you have a perfectly good track pump, I’m not sure you could justify this as something you needed, but the convenience is certainly something you’d appreciate. In short, for most this is a bit of a luxury purchase – perfectly good track pumps can be had for £30. But the same could be said of all manner of cycling paraphernalia. I’d argue that Fumpa makes that ‘treat yourself’ buy a lot easier to justify with its proven spares and repair offering.

Verdict

Very good battery pump for your garage – you probably don’t need one, but you might well want one

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