I've been an avowed floor-pump man, but recently I got an air compressor to help me cope with the 40-plus bikes - that's 80-plus tires - that show up at an informal weekly race I organize. As is not uncommon when we turn to more-complicated technology for answers, solving one problem created another. I couldn't find an inflator unit that had everything I wanted: a true high-pressure hose; a gauge that was accurate and went up well over 120 psi while also being hashed out in fine-enough detail to let me distinguish between small increments (such as, say, 33 and 37 psi); a brass presta chuck that securely gripped valves yet would also converting to Schrader in snap; and quick-release attachment at the compressor.

 

The common commercial units I tried - like those at the big-box hardware and automotive stores - were flimsy or inaccurate on the scale I needed, featured lousy presta fittings, and, for most of them, delivered too much air volume at once. I bought parts separately and assembled one, but for the gauge was never consistently accurate. (And I could never stop a slight hiss of escaped air from the trigger area.)

 

A desperate Google search brought me to a brand-new product: The Prestaflator, made by cyclists for cyclists. It's everything I wanted, and through a summer and fall of use has held up without any loss of structural integrity. The rubber-encased gauge has even maintained its accuracy after being dropped twice. (I check it against a digital Michelin pressure gauge.) One of the best features is the trigger design, which lets you shoot very short bursts of air into the tires - unlike with some inflators, you get a chance to notice a tube pinched under the rim before it explodes, and you can also fine-tune pressure in increments of 2 to 4 psi.

 

The hose that connects the chuck to the trigger unit is just long enough to let you easily hook onto a tire valve through some of the weird spoke configurations on modern wheels. There's a pressure-release valve that comes in handy for getting a clean reading on the gauge. And the brass chuck puts me in mind of a Silca, with its solidity and security once slipped onto the valve. (Replacements are $10.)

 

In the same way that a crescent wrench can be used to twist a cassette tool, but the specific tool from Park is somehow better - and makes me feel more like a bike mechanic - the Prestaflator is superior to any general-purpose unit I found, or could assemble myself.

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