What a swell idea - a small and lightweight battery-powered bike pump that you can stash in your saddlebag for those times when a tire needs a boost in the middle of a ride. It lived up to my expectations, but only after a confusing tussle with the user manual.The X-TUOTU purports to work with both of the most common Schrader valve found on most bikes and the slender Presta valve used on more higher-end bikes, including my cruiser e-bike. I needed to set up the pump to work with Presta valves.
I consulted the tiny user manual and was quickly baffled by the text and diagrams. The pump kit comes with six different pieces, some of which are needed to adapt the pump for the different tire valves. The challenge was figuring out which ones.
Here's a portion of the Presta instructions: "Insert the seal ring with the small hole facing upward into the valve body, then tighten the valve cap onto the valve body. Finally, assemble the valve body onto the inflator for use."
After an hour of attempts to follow those instructions, I tried a much simpler approach that I found on a different page. I screwed the inflator hose directly into the pump and screwed a brass adapter onto my Presta valve. That adapter allowed the hose to make a tight connection with the tire valve and it let the pump begin pushing air into the tire while clearly displaying pressure levels on its screen.
Finally, the pump turned out to be exactly what I hoped it would be: an easy way to get my tires to my desired air level before of during a ride.
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Written by Ric Manning
Follow me on Twitter @ricmanning and read my technology columns at My Well Being.
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