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Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 7:52 pm
by jonassvedas
Hi, I would like to use my kite pump for my bike as well. Has anyone had experience with this. If there are such adapters what are they called. Google did not help me much on this one.

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:40 pm
by TheJoe
Are you trolling? Kite pumps are high flow low pressure. If you want to knock yourself out you might be able to make an adapter. Might have a lot of trouble if it's possible to compress that much volume to over 30lbs you would need for a car tire.

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:40 pm
by randykato
Those are totally different applications and require totally different types of pumps.

A kite needs high volume and low pressure, while a bike needs the opposite. Feel how difficult a kite pump gets as you get to max pressure ( < 10psi ). Your bike tires would feel flat at less then 10psi.

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:45 pm
by tkaraszewski
You could use a bike pump for a kite. It'd take you all day to inflate it, though.

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:56 pm
by Havre
He probably hasn't made an account will a name nick to troll about pumps.

But yeah - the answer is probably no. On a road bike a heavy rider might go passed 100psi. Very different from a kite. Even on a MTB you often go passed 40.

Would be cool to try it out though. See how close you get. Even if any mod would most likely cost you more money than just buying a bike pump.

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 7:05 am
by fluidity
Maybe for a fat-bike (with the tyres like wheelbarrow wheel tyre width)

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:08 am
by longwhitecloud
Wish.com - i am pretty sure i saw a "kite pump to car adaptor" suitable for even pumping up lorry tyres think it said.

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:11 am
by Havre
I am not good enough in physics to understand the basic details, but how much pressure would you have to apply to get a normal kite pump to reach 40psi+? Considering the volume you would have to push through wouldn't that be hard?

Assuming the seals would hold.

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 10:13 am
by evan
Havre wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:11 am
I am not good enough in physics to understand the basic details, but how much pressure would you have to apply to get a normal kite pump to reach 40psi+? Considering the volume you would have to push through wouldn't that be hard?

Assuming the seals would hold.
Assuming a piston of 10cm diameter (4inch), that converts to an area of 78cm²

With a pressure 10psi or 0.7bar there is a force of 0.7kg per square cm, do that x78 and you get 55kg that you need to apply to get your kite up to pressure.

Good luck applying 220kg (4x 55kg) unto the pump to reach 2.8bar or 40psi unless you are morbidly obese, but I can't imagine the pump surviving that :roll:

Re: Repurposing kite pump for bike or car?

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 10:19 am
by Herman
~400lbf (bore is ~10sq in). You can get the adapters in most hardware stores, usually kept next to the striped or tartan paint on a long stand! We all make mistakes!