Customer Reviews

Topeak Pocket Rocket Master Blaster Bike Pump

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Pros: High Pressure, Very Small, Light Weight, High Quality
Cons: Heating, Flimsy rubber holder on the frame connector.

Recommended: Yes
Has Owned Product: 2 Day(s)

Comments:
This is an amazing pump, very small and works really good. I had other pumps before, but for my racing bike I need to put over 100PSI air. No mini pump could go near 80PSI. This one goes as much as 160PSI according to the specs. When I tried it on my bike, I could go over 100 easily. My tires can take a maximum of 120PSI, so I didn't try further. It is neatly built, with high quality material. The barrel is brushed aluminum, and very narrow in diameter. Towards the end of pumping it gets warm, but it works like a charm. Thanks Topeak! If I lose I'd definitely buy again.

Pump works very well. Since it is a mini, it will take more pumps to inflate the tires but not meant to use on a new out of the box tire unless you want a good arm workout. works well if you need a little extra air on the tires when out on the road or when bike has been left around for a few months and the tire is a little low.

Pros: Sturdy metal body. Very good seal on tires(only tested w/ presta). Little force needed to pump. Inexpensive
Con: Not very much air with each pump.


Mainly I wanted to write this review to put at easy anyone who, like me, was looking for a small, inexpensive travel pump, but also didn't want to end up with a flimsy piece of junk. My old bike pump was exactly that, and I really didn't want to have another crap pump. So trust me, I know a cheap pump when I see one. After rolling the dice and ordering this pump from Topeak, rest assured fellow shopper, this little guy is solid. It's got a great strong metal body and a very smooth and sturdy pumping and locking action.

I've only used it for presta tires, so I can't vouch personally yet for the schrader mode, but for the presta, the seal it makes is perfect and there's no adjusting or need to try and lock it in again (A constant with my old pump). Just put it on, flip up the lock and start pumping. No leaks. As far as using it for schrader tires, all you do is unscrew the front, pop out a little plastic piece, turn it around and screw it back together. Seems self explanatory and I would have to guess it works well also, but like I said, haven't tested it yet.

I will use this pump probably once a week, as I love having lots of pressure in my tires though they never seem to hold pressure that well. The pumping is very easy even when it's getting very full. I never feel like I'm going to blow a neck vein from pushing so hard like I used with my old pump. And even if I did, this pump is very sturdy so I never feel like it's going to shatter in my hands if I get a little aggressive with it either like the old pump did.

The only negative I have is that the amount of air you get in each pump is on the low side. If I used 7 or 8 pumps with my old pump, I'd say with this one I'd need close to double that. But this is a small price to pay for not having a flimsy pump that takes some tries to get a good seal, get's very hard to pump and feels like it will snap in two.

Almost forgot about the mount. It's a great system that will screw in underneath your water bottle holder (Comes with screws if you don't have one). Just take off the water bottle holder, line up the mount, and put the water bottle holder back on on top of it. (you can see this in the customer image) Mountain bikers take note; The pump clips in very hard and on top of that, has a rubber piece that holds it in. One of my water bottles would fall out before this thing would.

This pump works well with both types of valves. Kind of tricky to switch from one type to the other but it does work.

Sincerely,
Ira Carmel

Unscrew the gray cap.
Pull out the black insert(s). There should be two pieces but you may have to pull them apart.
Take the one with the point end and push it through the small hole of the cylindrical one.
Put the pair back into the pump with the larger hole facing out.
Reattach the cap.

My tires lost air when my bike was stowed away for the winter. This was my first time shopping around for an air pump, and I considered a floor pump, even though it was double the price of this. Because of the many positive reviews, I bought this one.

In short, the pump works. After about 30 seconds of pumping, My tires went from a little flat to perfect PSI.

The directions are vague, so I was frustrated at first. I finally saw a comment that said this:

"Unscrew the gray cap.
Pull out the black insert(s). There should be two pieces but you may have to pull them apart.
Take the one with the point end and push it through the small hole of the cylindrical one.
Put the pair back into the pump with the larger hole facing out.
Reattach the cap. "

And then I finally understood what the picture on the back of the box meant. Without words, expect the picture to confuse and frustrate.

You can't go wrong with the <$15 price tag, but it comes with a few annoyances. There's no grip or rotation to the pump, so it can get quite uncomfortable after over a minute of pumping, because it's so thin and small. Building up pressure takes a while. So to that I say, use for road side and emergencies only, or in my case, where the tire just needs a little more air.

I'm going to get a floor pump too.

This is a very sleek little pump that fits nicely on my women's road bike with limited space.

The pump itself works well without too much effort to replace the tubes (although I have noticed the pump gets pretty warm). I do occasionally have difficulty getting a good seal with my presta valve tubes.

I am less enthused with the flimsy plastic bracket. I have not had it break but I am worried the plastic seems to bend quite a bit - however it does come with a rubber band to hold the pump in place even if the bracket gives.

Bottom line: I would like a gauge, but the pump works very well with little trouble and very little added weight - so yes, I would recommend it.

So I got my new pump and was all excited to mount it on my bike and use it. I let a bit of air out of my tire and went to connect the pump to the valve stem... No go. Didn't create a seal. The pump head didn't seem to be wide enough to "go around" the whole valve... Hmm..

So I check the VERY sparse directions, which are actually not directions at all, but semi-vague diagrams that only become clear after you understand what they mean.

From the look of the diagrams, I had to open the pump head and flip this little plastic piece around. No go. Still nothing...

Then I went to the Topeak website and checked out the video they have posted. [...] Mystery solved. The plastic piece comes apart, at which point you turn the two halves around and plug them into each other - poof! Like magic, it fits and my tire is inflated again.

Haven't used this on the road yet, but it certainly re-inflated my tire with no problems. The only reason I rated this 4 stars instead of 5 is that if you are not a bike aficionado, you might not know about different valve types (I didn't) and not realize that the plastic piece comes apart. Basically, poor directions. But the product seems solid and functions as it should.

NOTE: In the video the two halves of the plastic piece are different colors (one red, one black) -- mine were both black, so it was not easy to see that it comes apart.

Will update this review if I run into any problems.

UPDATE: Just wanted to report that I recently took the opportunity to pump up both of my tires from near flat to 45psi and I was able to do it with this pump without any issues at all. Was it as easy as using an electric pump? Definitely not, but it was not hard either - and it is now reassuring to know I can do this "in the wild" if the situation ever presents itself.

I picked this up after a recommendation from my local bike shop. I am using it for my mountain bike as I wanted something very small and light. It takes about 200 pumps to get a completely flat 26" x 2.1 tube to 45 pounds. It locks on to presta valves very easily and stays connected while pumping. It's not the best pump if you are in a hurry, but perfect for an emergency along the trail. The plastic bracket bolts underneath the drink cage. The pump clips in and has a thick rubber band like retainer. Hardly know it's there.

This is a well-made pump that has a holder that fits rather cleverly underneath a standard water-bottle bracket. The rubber strap that holds it in place on the holder seems strong and yet has the necessary elasticity to hold its tautness for a long time. Unfortunately, I cannot imagine how the manufacturer concluded that there was no need for even the briefest of instructions: Most importantly, how to convert the tip from the default Presta valve use to what most people have known since they were kids (but didn't know the name), the Schrader valve. The pump came attached to a piece of cardboard, but the cardboard had not one sentence of instruction printed on it. I was so baffled as to how this pump works that I carried it on my bike for months just hoping I would never have to use it. I thought maybe it simply wasn't every going to work with my tires, but it was too late to return it. Finally after almost becoming stranded with an extremely low tire about five miles from home, when I got back I did a google search using a few key words, and came upon a review here that described it in words how to convert the tip. Then I found a video posted on Youtube that showed how. Now I know, but it shouldn't have taken an online internet search to figure it out. Shame on Topeak for assuming everyone is already an expert in their products.