Equipment Review: Schwinn Airdriver 1100 Bicycle Pump -- Piece of S*^t

A bike pump is an essential piece of equipment to bring along on any camping trip that includes bikes. It's quite frustrating to hop on your bike in anticipation of a nice ride around the campgrounds and find out that the tire is flat. Regardless of how diligent I am about pumping up the tires before the trip, somehow at some point during the camping trip we almost always end up re-filling with the pump for one reason or another. My previous two bike pumps broke. The Schwinn Airdriver 1100 is the third bike pump I have purchased in the recent past. My first two pumps were cheap no-name pumps. This time, I decided to spend a little money and upgrade to the Schwinn name-brand pump. I bought this pump at Target, and I recall the price being around $30. This pump has the standard bike connection, and also includes a built-in needle that's intending for pumping up balls and the like.

This pump has been a big disappointment. I do not recommend buying it. If I had inspected the product closer before my purchase, I would have noticed that the valve area is 100% plastic. The plastic connection valve is not able to make a strong connection to the valve stem of the bike tire. As a result, the connection leaks and you can not get enough air in the tire to get it up to the pressure required. Although this pump has a fancy design and the Schwinn name brand, it is your typical made-in-China-use-the-cheapest-plastic-possible piece of junk. Not unusual for many hard-line products available at Target stores. If you need a pump, spend your money elsewhere.