Battery Powered Bike Pump: Cycplus AS2 Pro Max Review

The Cycplus AS2 Pro Max — it rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

Cycplus, a Chinese bicycle accessory band, sent me their AS2 line of mini electronic pumps to test, and, despite being skeptical, I wanted to give them a fair trial. I was sent three different versions of the AS2 – the standard AS2, the AS2 Pro, and the AS2 Pro Max. Size is the main differentiator here, and of course each size has a different battery capacity, but also max inflation pressure, among other things.

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Cycplus AS2 inflator specs

• Up to 120psi
• Price: $89-129
• Buy from Amazon

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The AS2 is the most basic, with no screen, simply one button to turn on/off and start/stop inflation. It has a 7.4V 300mAh battery, inflates to a maximum pressure of 100psi, weighs 97g, and supposedly takes 20 minutes to charge. The AS2 Pro has a larger 7.4V 420mAh battery, delivers up to 120psi, weighs 120g, takes 30mins to charge, and has an LED display with pressure and battery gauge, and buttons for setting the pressure. The AS2 Pro Max features an 11.1V 600mAh battery, 120psi max, weighs 205g and takes 1h to charge. It has the same display and interface as the AS2 Pro.

The AS2 retails for $89, the AS2 Pro for $109, and the AS2 Pro Max for $129.

What is the Cycplus AS2 for?

This was the first question I asked myself. Who needs a mini electronic pump, and why would they want one? Surely a floor pump works just as well. Well, yes they do, but they also take up space, and don’t often have an accurate pressure gauge. I could see why someone might want to carry one of these. It’s unlikely to replace a floor pump, especially for seating tubeless tires, but it does do a good job.

For example, if you just want to top off your tires occasionally, this is perfect, and takes up little space. It’s a great emergency item to have around, and could easily be carried on a bike instead of a pump. Sure, it’s not as infinite as a hand pump, but it’s a hell of a lot better than a CO2. Since it takes up so little space I’ve taken to leaving a Cycplus AS2 in the door pocket of my car so I can check my pressure pre-ride.

How Does the Cycplus AS2 Work?

Easy: the smallest AS2 simply turns on with a long press of the one button, a short press to start and stop, and another long press to turn off. The larger pumps with the screen do the same on/off and start/stop with the top button, but the bottom two buttons set the desired air pressure. Turn it on, set your pressure, pop it over the valve, and hit the top button to start inflating. It’ll read the instantaneous pressure until it reaches the goal pressure and then stops. It’s as easy as that. I like that the LED display reads the pressure whether you’re inflating or not – it makes for a relatively accurate pressure gauge.

The inflator comes set up for Presta valves, but you can flip the rubber insert inside and add a supplied pin to make it work for Schrader. You can also use the air hose supplied with the AS2 Pro and Pro Max without the Presta adapter to inflate Schrader, and honestly this is probably the easier way.

In The Real World

In practice, all of the Cycplus AS2 pumps work surprisingly well. They don’t blast out enough air to seat a tubeless tire, but to top off a tire that’s already seated, they’re pretty damn quick. I find the Pro and Pro Max the most useful because of the pressure gauge, but the regular AS2 would work well as an emergency pump for stashing on a bike thanks to its size – the Pro Max is about the size of a credit card – and the regular AS2 is about half the size.

Cycplus claims the AS2 Pro Max can inflate a 29 x 2.2″ mountain bike tire from 30-50psi up to 7 times. It’s an interesting measure, but I put it to the test to simulate a normal use scenario — inflating tubeless tires that have been sitting at home for a while. On a single charge I managed to inflate a 29×2.2″ tire from 10psi to 45psi twice, a 29×2.5″ tire with insert from 10-22psi, and a 700x45c tire from 18-40psi, before it overheated, and the battery ran down to 1 bar out of 3. It took 1:21 on the first bike, 25s on the second bike, and 1:31 (with a leaky valve) on the third bike.

It’s worth mentioning that when running the pump for that long the nozzle does get quite hot, as does the rest of the device, hence the silicone cover. The device will power off when it gets to a certain temperature if pushed hard, though it returns to functionality when it’s cooled down. Given that this was outside of the normal use scenario, I wasn’t too worried.

I found that my normal usage for the AS2 Pro Max was for it to live in my car or near my front door for topping off my tires when going for a ride. Typically it’s inflating a 29″ tire maybe 3psi, up to as much as 10psi each time, and I could go without charging it for weeks at a time, riding 3-4 times per week. That is to say, battery life is good.

The Pro Max is a fair bit faster at inflating thanks to the higher voltage pump, and is also a little quieter; the middle pump is actually the loudest. It’s not absurdly loud, but it isn’t quiet; I wouldn’t use it inside the house while people are sleeping, for example. Charging is also fast, as promised. While I didn’t time it exactly, I never left any of them charging for long, usually less than an hour.

I found that the middle-sized pump, the Pro, fits inside the frame storage on my Santa Cruz Tallboy, and the Rocky Mountain Altitude I have on test, and while it’s not a full replacement for an actual pump, it’s a lot better than a CO2. For carrying on a bike I think the Pro is the best of both worlds. The Pro Max works best for me as something that I don’t bring along on rides, though it would happily slip into a hip pack, and certainly would be a good companion for bigger rides.

Cycplus sells direct, shipping internationally, as well as through Amazon and AliExpress, the latter having garnered something of a name for itself through the glut of second rate products available there. However it’s worth remembering that many brands either manufacture in China, or rebrand Chinese catalog products. Any vendor could open an AliExpress account, and not all vendors are created equal.

Pros and cons of the Cycplus A2 battery-powered mini pump

Pros

• Compact: the Pro fits inside a downtube, the Pro Max inside a pocket or hip pack
• Packs more of a punch than a CO2 and is rechargeable
• Good battery life. Can inflate a bunch of tires on one charge.

Cons

• Noisy
• A little pricey

Bottom line

I wanted to not like the Cycplus AS2 pump, especially given that my feelings about electronic gadgets are well documented. I don’t hate it though; in fact, I actually quite like it. It’s a great little portable tool to have when you don’t have access to a regular pump, for example when inflating a wheelbarrow tire on a trail work party (yes, that happened). While it’s not super quiet or particularly cheap, it does look and feel well-made, and has been totally reliable, and very easy to use.

Outside of testing, I plan to keep these around, since you never know when you might need a quick blast of air in a pinch. It’s not something I would typically buy for myself, rather it’s the thing I never knew I needed until somebody bought one for me. Hint: it’s an excellent Christmas or birthday gift.