A flat bike tire far from home or the solace of a bike shop usually means an unintended bicep workout. Bike pumps small enough to slip into a pocket or attach to a frame mean more work than a foot pump — suddenly leg day becomes arm day. The Airsupply bike pump by re.mo.bic is designed with the inadequacies of other travel pumps in mind. It’s built into a seatpost, which means it saves pocket space and can’t fall off a precarious downtube attachment. The campaign is up on Kickstarter, set to end a little less than three weeks.
The AirSupply pump itself is hidden within a 27.2 mm (about 1 inch) 6061/7075 aluminum seatpost. Acknowledging the different seat tube sizes, it comes with 30.9 mm and 31.6 mm adapters to assure a wide variety of fits. A specially designed saddlebag with a built-in taillight hides a coiled hose with a Schrader valve, which comes with an adapter for Presta and Dunlop valves.
Unfortunately, cycling pros and weekend warriors that ride full-carbon will likely give this the side-eye. At 480 grams, it’s a bit heavier than the combination of a pocket pump and a carbon post. Further, road bike tires can have a PSI as high as 145, and this tops out at 116 — a small margin, but one that might deter some backers. While a hardcore mountain biker can do well with lower tire pressures, a sensitive seat tube is a bad idea, and the AirSupply’s toughness is as yet untested.
But, for those riding bikes under two grand or just cruising on a tour, the AirSupply could be a good deal. It’s a way to save jersey pocket space without fastening anything else to the downtube. This could be a huge seller in a location like the Netherlands, where nearly everyone commutes on bikes.
AirSupply seems like a solid idea, but the campaign isn’t turning over the kinds of numbers it could. This might be due to the reasons mentioned above in regards to the needs of hardcore road and mountain bikers, or a result of the campaign’s info gaps.
For example, while most modern bikes stick to 31.6mm diameter posts, the list of bike seat post sizes is long and varied, so it would be nice to know exactly which adapters are provided with the post. Also, we can use the photos to assume the hose is long enough to stretch to both tires, it would be nice to know exactly how long that is. Lastly, it’s always good to know the battery stats on an electronics, in this case the LED.
We reached out to the re.mo.bic team about the post sizes, the length of the hose, and the battery used for the LED. Co-founder Kathrin Stathis gave us some answers: the post adapters are 30.9mm and 31.6mm, while the length of the hose (66.9 inches), is more than long enough to reach both the rear and front tire. And the red LED in the rear of the seat bag runs on an AG13 button cell battery.
The Airsupply bike pump Kickstarter campaign ends February 29, whether it hits the $70,000 goal or not. There are still early-bird backer rewards available for $40 (compared to a $70 retail), which is about the cost of a decent mini-pump. The difference is, you can’t use other pumps with your rump.
