Bike Perfect Verdict
Ideal for storing in the car or your bike travel bag for easy trailhead inflation, although it’s too long for mid-ride use unless you ride with a backpack or large frame bag.
Pros
- +
Flexible hose and push-on head make for easy, air-tight fitting
- +
Hose neatly packs into the pump body
- +
Quick to use
Cons
- -
Larger size limits portability
- -
No pressure gauge
- -
Expensive
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Crankbrothers makes a broad range of pumps in their Klic range for at-home or out on the trail duties. The Klic HV Mini Floor pump straddles the two for efficient tire filling at the trailhead or to be taken with you on your travels, although not necessarily accompanying you on the trail.
I have previously tested the Crankbrothers Klic HV Gauge pump which has some neat features that aren’t commonly seen on the best mountain bike pumps. The Klic HV Mini Floor pump follows the same format but comes in a larger volume design for faster tire filling. Is bigger really better though?
Design and build
Billed as a mini-floor pump rather than a hand pump, Crankbrothers Klic HV Mini Floor pumps silver body is quite long at 325mm and weighs 186g, a little more than a regular hand pump. On the pump handle end, the hose slides 270mm hose slides into the pump handle and clips into place. On the bottom, there is a fold-out foothold and a rubberized base which make it a mini-floor pump.
The hose securely attaches to the pump body with magnets and has a simple push chuck that clamps onto the valve with a flick of a lever. By unscrewing the end and flipping the rubber insert the chuck can be switched between Presta and Schrader. The port where the hose attaches has a twist cover to keep the dirt out so you always have a good magnetic fit. Crankbrothers hasn’t equipped the Klic HV Mini floor pump with a pressure gauge, which is odd considering its smaller sibling includes an inline gauge, albeit a not very accurate one.
The pump is aimed at lower pressure tires up to 60psi so it will cover all MTB or gravel tire needs. Crankbrothers say that the pump will go up to a whopping 110psi although because it's a high-volume pump you would probably need to put a fair amount of work in to get to that maximum pressure.
Performance
I'm a fan of how simple it is to use, pull the hose out of the handle, press on to the valve, and magnetically click the hose into the pump. The handle folds out and clunks in position, as does the foothold to add stability. The length of the hose means it's easy to position the pump without pulling on the valve too.
Although adding a pressure gauge would limit the flexibility of the hose it feels like a glaring omission for a pump that doesn't need to be to be as packable as possible to not have a gauge.
In use, the pumping action is smooth and easy even as you start reaching 60psi when the handle action begins to firm up, the foothold adds plenty of stability when you're getting to higher pressures.
100 strokes of the pump got me up to around 25psi on a 40mm gravel tire, in comparison that is 5psi more than the Crankbrothers Klic HV Gauge pump. It will alleviate some effort compared to a regular hand pump, especially if your pumping up 29er mountain bike tires, however, it doesn’t come close to the full-sized Lezyne Sport Gravel Floor Drive pump which achieved the 25psi in just 15 strokes.
Verdict
The smooth action, simple secure valve head, and larger volume mean the Crankbrothers Klic HV Mini Floor pump gives much faster and easier inflation than a standard hand pump, even if you do need to remove the pump if you want to check on your pressure progress.
Although it’s reasonably light and compact, the pump is too long to feasibly carry with you on the trail unless you are riding with a backpack or large framebag. Crankbrothers doesn’t include a bracket for you to mount the pump to your frame either. It will easily tuck away into your travel bag for travel or happily live in the back of your car for trailhead duties, although I would much prefer popping a proper floor pump in the trunk instead.
The Klic HV Mini Floor pump works well but it sits in an awkward middle ground that left me wanting either more performance or more portability making it hard to recommend.
Tech specs: Crankbrothers Klic HV Mini Floor pump
- Price: $69.99 / £69.99
- Weight: 186g
- Length: 325cm
- Max pressure: 110 psi
