- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
review
Zéfal Profil Max FP50 track pump£39.99
VERDICT:
Highly recommended for workshop use, fast, effective, accurate and tough
Weight:
1,760g
Contact:
www.zyro.co.uk
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
- Exceptional
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Quite good
- Average
- Not so good
- Poor
- Bad
- Appalling
Zéfal's FP50 Profil Max Track Pump is a tough piece of kit that's fast, effective and accurate.
At 1775g, there's a distinctly old school flavour to Zéfal's FP50 Profil Max that runs much deeper than the tough red/black livery. Its a steel barrel and base don't make it light, but they help it stand up to accidentally being kicked across the workshop floor — any mechanic who says they've never done that is telling porkies.
The dual-compound composite handle and super smooth piston make it a joy to use. The hose is a useful 110cm long. The patented Z-Switch head is a welcome innovation that overcomes the questionable durability of one-head-fits-all designs heads and the dismantle-and-swap faff factor associated with reversible heads. That said, ours seemed susceptible to air locks when toggling between valve types.
The FP50 also features a gargantuan gauge, accurate to within 2psi (verified by a standalone, digital unit) complete with integral magnifying lens and red bezel that void any excuses for under/over inflation. It got a 700x23 tubular to 160psi in 50 strokes, and a 700x24mm wire on reached 120psi in 28. To get a 700x35 to 100psi required 30 while a 26x1.75 was pushed to 80psi in 50 strokes.
Verdict
Highly recommended for workshop use, fast, effective, accurate and tough
road.cc test report
Make and model: Zéfal FP50 Trackpump
Size tested: Red
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
"FP50 floorpump with heavy duty steel barrel and base. The FP50 includes a 1100mm extra long hose which includes the patented Z-Switch system for either Presta or Schrader valves. Pressure capacity is 180 psi." A delight to use and I can attest to a genuine 160psi.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Steel barrel & base, composite handle, pressure gauge with integral magnifying lens, 110cm hose.
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
Very sturdy.
Rate the product for performance:
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
8/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
8/10
Reassuringly hefty. 1775g by my scales.
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
8/10
Lovely to use.
Rate the product for value:
8/10
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Solid materials, construction and innovative features mean the FP50 is a delight to use. Genuinely accurate to within 2psi, its 68cm stature and composite handle are comfortable for prolonged periods, while the smooth action races even the most demanding tubulars to optimum pressure.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Pretty much everything.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Tendency for air locks when swapping between valve patterns.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.
Would you consider buying the product? Yes.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.
About the tester
Age: 38 Height: 1m 81 Weight: 70 kilos
I usually ride: Rough Stuff Tourer Based around 4130 Univega mtb Frameset My best bike is: 1955 Holdsworth Road Path and several others including cross & traditional road
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, fixed/singlespeed, mtb,
Shaun Audane is a freelance writer/product tester with over twenty-eight years riding experience, the last twelve (120,000 miles) spent putting bikes and kit through their paces for a variety of publications. Previous generations of his family worked at manufacturing's sharp end, thus Shaun can weld, has a sound understanding of frame building practice and a preference for steel or titanium framesets.
Citing Richard Ballantine and an Au pair as his earliest cycling influences, he is presently writing a cycling book with particular focus upon women, families and disabled audiences (Having been a registered care manager and coached children at Herne Hill Velodrome in earlier careers)
Latest Comments
- Capt Sisko 7 min 4 sec ago
That speed bump looks no end of others typically used in 30mph or less zones in the UK (and if you move the Streetview up the road a bit you'll see...
- George Platts 11 min 3 sec ago
47 years ago, as a founder of Cyclebag (7.7.77) and Sustrans I am disappointed by all of this. Our original hopes were to "make Bristol safer for...
- Rendel Harris 32 min 31 sec ago
It's a bit ironic that those of us who have already disembarked the sewage supertanker that is Twitter (up yours Musk, no I will not call it X)...
- zweiblumen 1 hour 11 min ago
The decisive point here is that cyclists already use this route and no enforcement action is taken. I don't see how the residents will be...
- David9694 1 hour 19 min ago
Day 2: "get out of my way" " pay Road tax" "where's your hi viz" "the sun was in my eyes"
- bensynnock 1 hour 33 min ago
'slow traffic flow'....
- check12 9 hours 34 min ago
Surely please get down on your knees, rappers rap about gats not cats and foil isn't made from oil and can hold your all told
- David9694 11 hours 8 min ago
Elderly man sentenced following serious crash in Ringwood...
- the little onion 15 hours 11 min ago
I didn't remove the sound because I didn't think that it mattered - quite clearly the swearing was in reaction to an act of frankly horrid...
Add new comment
13 comments
I agree with previous comments, price is to high
I wouldn't go for cheap bike (like Tesco or smth) but pump? Got also the one from Lidl and it workin' fine like 3 years so far.
I have a pump that cost about £25 eight years ago.
It's crap.
Throw it oot then.
I fully intend so to do. However the swearing and shouting that goes on in my hall way before a ride, is an excellent warm-up routine.
I bought a Zefal HPX frame pump in 1983, I damaged it last week, Zefal still do the spares, which were delivered in 3 days for under 5 euro's. How many 5 quid pumps are you going through in 30 years?
Some friends have bought cheapo track pumps in Supermarkets, not one has managed 100psi, so they're effectively useless for road bikes.
Air? Pah, I just ride directly on the rims, this whole tyre and inner tube malarkey is just a ploy by rubber manufacturers to sell more unnecessary products.
Can you confirm that the only difference is shinyness? I've used neither this Zefal nor the Tesco one. I'd be concerned about getting a tub up to 160 on a ten quid pump, but then I hadn't considered the shiny factor.
you can make a perfectly serviceable trackpump from a length of drainpipe, some pipe lagging an an old broom handle. don't get ripped off.
What a con, I just put my lips to the valve and blow.
£4.99? Luxury. When I was a lad, etc.
[more than i paid] for [nicer thing than i have]? it's a rip-off! you should get [the thing i have] and save yourself [the difference between the nice thing and the ordinary thing]!
*insert into every review of anything ever*
Lidl do one for £4.99. Tesco? how bourgeois.
I'll spend more money on products that offer something extra. A nice Gore jacket, or decent lighting (there's several hundred quid's worth on my bike). A good chain, a carbon alternative to a heavy component, Chris King or Hope bearings. But a pump? I doubt anyone can convince me of the need to buy a pump that's slightly shinier than another pump, when both can do the job equally well.
It's your money but I'd rather spend mine on discernible improvements.
£40 for a device that moves air from one place to another. I bought a track pump from Tesco about ten years back, it cost me about a tenner. Still works perfectly.
I suppose £40 gets you better quality air or something.