It’s cyclocross season and if you’re still rocking tubes on the course, it’s time to re-think your life choices. Something that will help nudge you towards the light is the Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Floor Pump.
Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Floor Pump Features:
- Anyvalve™ Pump Head: Works great on Presta, Schrader and Dunlop valves. No leaking, no fuss, clean and simple.
- Air Bleed Button: Micro adjust tire pressure.
- Hold Tight: A riser bar with comfortable grips comes stock
- Aviation Gauge: Our huge 2.75in top-mounted gauge lets you easily read off the pressure without stooping.
- Charge Switch: The two position switch allows you to charge the chamber position one. In position two, that air is forced into the tire.
- Direct Pumping: Once you’ve seated your tire, the switch bypasses the auxiliary air chamber and the direct-to-valve technology lets you pump the tire instantly, without going through the chamber all over again.
- Stand Back: 4ft hose lets you keep out of the way, while also allowing you to inflate tires whether they’re on a hitch rack, repair stand or round the corner.
- Tubeless Seating: Quick, reliable, tubeless inflation. Now everyone can seat tubeless tires without needing a garage full of compressors and hoses.
- MSRP: $165
Finally, go tubeless without a compressor
Tubeless is the only real option for mountain bike tires, but it has taken a little while to catch on aboard road bikes. But, cyclocross paved the way, then gravel bikes pretty much blew the tubeless door wide open. Now, just about any road bike wheelset worth its salt is tubeless-ready. What that means is it has tubeless rim tape pre-installed and the hook or hookless rim design has been tested to work with most tubeless tires.
So, you have a nice set of tubeless road wheels and tires, but want to seat them without frantically pumping away with your standard pump? The Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Floor Pump is just the trick. Yes, you could get an air compressor and all that jazz, but the Chamber will do the job just fine — and it’s definitely more portable than an air compressor. And, if you watch any cyclocross or XC races, you’ll see the pits lined with this pump or the Bontrager TLR Flash Charger in a locked-and-loaded position.
As a quick inflator for the pit crew, the Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Floor Pump is a gem. But, it’s primarily made for tubeless tire inflation, so let’s focus on that.
Obviously, the feature that makes this tick is the large piggyback chamber which gets pressurized and then released when ready. The large gauge features a green “tubeless-ready zone” that takes about 55 strokes to achieve. It is a bit of a workout, but chamber inflation isn’t something you do all the time. Once there, a flick of the Charge Switch releases all that goodness to inflate any tubeless tire I’ve tested (25c – 47c) without sealant, soapy water or any tricks — just the tire, tubeless-ready rim and the Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Pump.
With Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 32c TLR tires on Aeolus PRO 3V wheels, I loaded the Chamber to 150 psi, then unleashed the fury. Once all the air was settled, the tire was seated and inflated to about 60 psi. A few more strokes to add more pressure locked the bead in place securely. I then left the tire overnight before adding sealant (just to see how well it sealed without any and re-inflating using the Chamber, once more).
Any good pump has a nice, ergonomic handle. Some try to be cute while others are purely functional. Blackburn has taken the utilitarian approach by taking a riser bar, putting grips on it and calling it good. It functions well and is comfortable in-hand for those chamber inflation sessions. It does have a tendency to get criss-crossed slightly if you’re not deliberate in your strokes — particularly near the end when it takes increased force to do so. You could also trick out your pump by putting on a set of your own riser bars if you wanted.
The base is sturdy with easy foot placement to keep everything solid. Yes, there’s a little movement, but it’s minimal and in no way does the pump feel flimsy. It’s well-built. And, that 4-ft hose is money when reaching bikes on hitch racks or hanging on wall hooks.
Nothing is more frustrating than a nozzle that needs adapting between Presta and Schraeder valves. The Anyvalve Pump Head works as advertised and seals nicely on all valves I’ve tried. With a sturdy lock, it bites on with gusto and the button allows you to release air in small increments for fine-tuned pressure.
Inflating tires with the chamber bypassed requires only slightly more strokes than a standard pump. It does take about an extra stroke or two in my tests of 29×2.2″ tires.
Tips for sealing stubborn tires
I’ll admit that road and gravel tubeless tires are easier to seat and work well with this pump. But, larger-volume tires can work as well — you just may need to employ a few tricks to do so. Here are some tubeless tire tricks for difficult-to-mount treads:
- Make sure the rim and tire beads are clean and that your tubeless tape is sound
- Remove the valve core for increased airflow
- Apply a bit of soapy water to the beads (allowing it to dry a little makes things a little sticky — a good thing)
- Pinch your tire’s cheeks — put the wheel between your legs and pull the sidewalls outward to better engage the beads, rotate the wheel to do this all the way around
- If all else fails, find someone with a compressor
While the Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Floor Pump is great for most tubeless situations, sometimes you will need to pull out the big guns (a compressor). I was able to use the Chamber to seat the WTB Venture 47 with the Zipp 303 650b wheels, but I had to use steps 1-4 above. In the end, I got them sealed, but it took a few tries.
The Good
- Easily inflate tubeless tires without a compressor
- Anyvalve nozzle adapts to all valve types
- Sturdy, comfortable handle
- Base is solid
- That 4 ft. hose comes in handy and stores nicely
- Large, Charge switch is easy to flip
The Bad
- A lot of strokes to charge it (thank goodness for the handle)
- A stroke or two extra over a standard pump when bypassing the Charge switch
- Because of the high-pressure gauge, normal operating pressures are more difficult to measure
- Don’t expect the Chamber to be able to seal ALL tubeless tire/rim combos — it’s pretty good, but not perfect
The Bottom Line: Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Floor Pump
Seating up tubeless tires requires the right tools for the job and one of those should certainly be the Blackburn Chamber Tubeless Floor Pump. Yes, it’s a little more cumbersome than a regular floor pump, but it can also be used as a daily inflator. That 4ft hose is perfect for accessing bikes in racks or stands.
Buy Now: Available at CompetitiveCyclist.com
