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Giant Control Tower Pro Boost Track Pump

6
£99.99

VERDICT:

6
10
Compact tubeless booster pump that's effective for smaller road and gravel tyres
Neat design
Well made
Works pretty well on smaller tyres
Chamber not really big enough to seat bigger or difficult tyres
Weight: 
1,953g

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Giant's Control Tower Pro Boost is a neat solution to integrating a tubeless booster into a track pump that doesn't require a separate chamber.

In the main, most booster track pumps work in the same way: there's a pretty standard track pump bit that charges up a pressure vessel, and you can dump that air into your tyre to seat it. The Control Tower Pro Boost is different in that it uses one cylinder both as the main pump and the storage vessel.

> Find your nearest Giant dealer here

> Buy this online here

How has Giant done that? By inverting the pump mechanism so that the top barrel slides over the lower barrel, rather than using a piston inside. 'The inverted design is so that the pump can incorporate the dump tank,' Giant told us. 'Creating the tank at the bottom of the pump means we can use the over barrel to compress the air down for either the dump tank or a straight forward inflation process. As the bottom part is a tank, it's not possible to have a piston run through the centre of the pump, which is why we have the outer over barrel. We didn't want users to have to push and pull the tank up and down so this design allows the tank to be fixed at the bottom of the pump.'

2020 Giant Control Tower Boost track pump - shaft.jpg

Clear now? Anyway, the TL;DR (too long; didn't read) is: it's all in the one barrel. Which makes the Control Tower Pro Boost a very compact solution.

In use it's the same as other booster pumps. You flick a lever on the base to charge mode and then pump away until you've got the tank up to 200psi, then you attach the pump's head to the valve and flick the lever to dump all the air and seal the tyre. Getting the tank up to 200psi takes a bit of effort but it's easily achievable.

2020 Giant Control Tower Boost track pump - detail.jpg

I've had decent success seating Giant's own Gavia Course 1 tubeless tyres, and Schwalbe G-Ones in smaller sizes (28mm Gavias, and 30mm Schwalbes). The main limitation of the design is that the tank is quite small compared to a pump with a separate booster tank, or something like an Airshot. So the bigger the tyres are, the less effective it is. The speed of the air dump is better than some other pumps I've tried, but it's not up to Airshot standards; if I've got big or tricky tyres to get seated, that's still my go-to solution.

If you're going to be seating road/gravel/CX tyres and you're unlikely to do anything bigger than a 40mm, say, then the Control Tower Pro Boost will definitely do a job for you. If you're just pumping up tubed tyres then it's an effective track pump: the Autohead chuck adapts seamlessly to Presta and Schrader valves…

2020 Giant Control Tower Boost track pump - valve head.jpg

…and it has a nice long hose that stows away neatly over the handle, which is well shaped and comfortable to use.

2020 Giant Control Tower Boost track pump - handle.jpg

The base is nice and stable, and the big gauge easy to read.

2020 Giant Control Tower Boost track pump - gauge.jpg

One slightly annoying thing is that if you've flipped the lever to charge and you lift the handle, it stays lifted rather than dropping down again, because of the design.

> Buyer’s Guide: 13 of the best track pumps

Given the limitations of the tubeless booster – which may or may not be an issue for you – the Control Tower Pro Boost doesn't have universal appeal, and at £99.99 it's at a price point where you could buy an Airshot for your tubeless fettling and our favourite track pump, the Topeak Joe Blow Sport III for the same money. It's not as neat to do it that way, but you're covered for any size of tyre. As a one-stop solution for pumping and tubeless seating, it's decent enough but not outstanding.

Verdict

Compact tubeless booster pump that's effective for smaller road and gravel tyres

road.cc test report

Make and model: Giant Control Tower Pro Boost Track Pump

Size tested: n/a

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?

Giant says, 'With the all-new Giant Control Tower Pro Boost, featuring a fully integrated 200psi tubeless inflator chamber alongside the standard inflation chamber, you can get the air you need to seat and inflate any tubeless tyre on any wheel and still have the functionality of a standard floor pump.'

And lists:

DoubleShot barrel-in-barrel technology means the pump is compact and lightweight

Over-sized 3.5 inch pressure gauge

Easy to use AutoHead™ technology ensures full compatibility with any valve

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Giant lists these details:

SPECIFICATIONS

Barrel Aluminium

Colours Silver

Gauge style Base Gauge

Gauge size 3.5"

Base Steel

Handle Comfort handle design

Maximum Pressure 200psi

Height 695mm

Weight 1900g

Hose 1150mm

Volume/Stroke 369cc

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
6/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
 
7/10
Rate the product for comfort (if applicable)
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

It's decent rather than great; works well for smaller tyres.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Neatly designed and well made.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Struggles with larger and trickier tubeless jobs.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

It's not hugely expensive: the Topeak Joe Blow Booster Floor Pump is £140, for example. It's not cheaper than buying a good track pump and a better tubeless booster, though.

Did you enjoy using the product? It's decent enough.

Would you consider buying the product? Probably not.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Probably not.

Use this box to explain your overall score

It's decent enough, and a neat solution, but hampered a bit by the size of the tank. Will work for you if you're doing road/gravel sized tyres.

Overall rating: 6/10

About the tester

Age: 47  Height: 189cm  Weight: 94kg

I usually ride: whatever I'm testing...  My best bike is: Kinesis Tripster ATR, Merida Scultura, Dward Design fixed

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, time trialling, cyclo cross, commuting, touring, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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