Portland Design Works Shiny Object CO2 Inflator - Bike Tire Inflator, Bicycle Accessories

I bought this a few weeks ago and had to use it today on my weekend bike ride. Worked superbly! I took 2 cylinders in my repair kit and it was a good idea. I was able to top of air a few times to get to a location to replace the tube in a shady spot. One cylinder fills the tire (700 mm) about twice. Second fill is not quite 70 psi but is plenty to continue your ride. A person could ask why mess with this when you could carry a pump. That may be a good choice also but the convenience/speed are more important to me as I usually bike in very hot weather in the south. That pumping after changing a tire on a hot day makes this a far better choice for me. Plus I love the simplicity and size. I read all the reviews before I bought this and was concerned about sealing it on the tire and perhaps losing all the gas from the relatively small cylinder. It's not a problem! Screw the cylinder and as it gets almost all the way on you will hear a little hissing as it seats on the seal. Just screw it on quickly and it will work fine. Make sure the black valve is closed snug, that's all that's required. Then put the tool over your tube valve, you may need to press the valve stem at its base to make sure it doesn't push into the tire. The tool seals on to the valve itself once it's seated. Next crack the black valve slightly and the tire will fill quickly. Then simply close it snug and pull it off the tire. I'd never done this before and believe me it is very easy. I notice a lot of people complaining about the seal, or worried about it coming off etc. I had no problem with this so either they've fixed the problem or maybe they got a defective unit. Mine worked perfectly. If your concerned bring a spare CO2 cylinder and you'll most likely find you don't need it the first time you use this tool. Great product! Great price!! I hope htis helps.

I've tried some of the CO2 inflators where the cartridge is installed inside, but I never found any that I thought were really well made. So, for the last several years, I've carried three CO2 cartridges with the little aluminum adaptor that you use to directly connect the CO2 to the presta stem. You screw one end onto the presta stem, and the CO2 cartridge into the other end. Once the CO2 cartridge goes in far enough, it pierces the cartridge allowing the CO2 to flow in through the stem. These cylinders are small, and light, and that's why I carried them. But, they have two drawbacks, IMO...First, you only get one shot. Once you pierce the cylinder, it dumps everything at one time with no way to shut it off. And, once you pierce the cylinder, you still have to turn the cartridge a half or 3/4 of a turn to get it to bottom out...and you lose some CO2 while doing so, because it's also attached to your stem, and you're usually bent over on the side of the trail when you're using it. The PDW inflator addresses both of these problems. First, with the valve closed, you can thread the cartridge into the inflator while holding it in your hand...you don't have to have it already attached to the presta valve. And it's easy to get the cylinder fully threaded on after the cartridge is pierced, so you only lose a tiny amount of CO2 while doing do. Second, the valve works well. Its action is smooth, it allows you to vary the amount of gas that's being released, and it seals completely without having to tighten the valve an excessive amount. I've had to use it on the trail twice... once to air up a flat tire after putting in a new tube. And the other time, I used it to add a few PSI of air to a tire with a slow leak. The inflator allowed me to add air to the tire three times before the cartridge was spent, over the course of a couple hours. The device is nicely made, and has a quality feel to it. Yet, it's very small and light, and adds next to nothing to the weight you have to carry. I've since bought two more, one for my wife's pack, and a spare in case I lose one.

Since this is my first CO2 inflator, I performed a test run at home to ensure that I knew how to use this tool before requiring to do so on the trails and it works Great! Here are the results of my test run: 1. I made sure that the Shiny Object release knob was in the closed position. 2. The CO2 cartridge was very easy to screw into the inflator. 3. I heard a very low "hiss" once the seal was broken as I screwed in the cartridge. 4. I continued screwing in the cartridge until it was well seated but I did not over tighten. 5. I filled a backup tube with a Presta valve as well as using a Presta Adapter with no issues either way. 6. The CO2 cartridge does get very cold so the stitched leather sleeve works nicely to reduce the frozenness to your fingers / hand. Nice and compact, very well crafted and very functional for any cyclists requiring to perform a flat repair on the trail. Was going to purchase one of those hand pumps but heard too many negative reviews about them as well as hearing that you would need to acquire an expensive pump to meet your tires PSI requirements. I had no desires to spent a lot of money nor perform lots of pump-action on the trail during a flat repair so I opted to get this instead. Excellent decision and this tool will be one of those mandatory items for every trail ride we venture out on for sure. P.S. If I see you out on trails struggling with one of those hand pumps, I will definitely stop and share with you my CO2!

This is a nice lightweight inflator where the valve works perfectly and had never given me any roadside headaches. It is sturdy and well made. I have tried other inflators and in my opinion this one is the best at any price. As much as I ride and care for my tires, I do have to pull this out to do a quick flat fix several times a year. I have one on every bike I own. Just so you know I have some experience with this, I average over 6k miles a year for the past 14 years

I'm an old school cyclist, I guess. I have always used a pump. Maybe it's because I'm a long-distance cyclist and I've had as many as six flats on a single ride (a wet double century). I've helped cyclists by the side of the road who have had one more flat than they had CO2 cartridges. But I'm getting older and pumping up tires, even with my awesome Topeak Morph, is getting to be a pain. So I decided to carry a very small CO2 pump in addition to my Topeak. This is that small CO2 pump. It looks beautifully made, and it is. It's so small and yet does it's job so well. I now carry it together with one CO2 cartridge. That should be enough for 99% of my rides. As an inexperienced CO2 pump user I am concerned about over-inflating so I would love to have some kind of pressure limiter. I have no idea if it is possible, but it would be great to have a little dial or something that let you set, say, 110psi. It wouldn't have to be too precise +/- 5psi would probably be fine. It wouldn't even have to be incredibly convenient to set because most people would only set it once. Update: I bought one of these for my wife and another for my daughter. They both had the problem of the stem seal blowing out of the inflator when they released it from the tube. My wife found hers and I reinserted it but my daughter could not find hers. You could probably avoid this problem by wrapping your hand around the stem and inflator as you release it - but it is a serious design flaw.

I simultaneously ordered the Shiny Object and the Air Chuck Elite since I have a need for 2 such inflators. The Shiny Object arrived first and I immediately thought it was awesome and I should have ordered 2 of them. I was particularly relieved that the Shiny Object only weighed 28 grams instead of the 90 grams stated on Amazon (gee, how unusual for such information to be incorrect!). It is largely a nicely machined aluminum piece, has a very precision screw valve, and it is very easy to disassemble to replace the seals for the stem. Then, a couple days later I received the competing Air Chuck Elite, and was even more impressed from the initial inspection. It is about 1/2 the size of the Shiny Object and weighs only 16 grams. My magnet indicates it has less iron in it than does the Shiny Object. The Air Chuck Elite is very beautifully crafted but I am not sure what material it is constructed from. It is mostly non-magnetic, and has a bit more of a titanium look to the metal body. One con is that it is surely much harder to disassemble to replace the seals as it uses an unusual C-clip to keep it all together. I am also thinking the Shiny object may hold air longer if that is a consideration since the Air Chuck uses a push valve instead of a screw valve. Either unit is sweet.

Have only had to use once, but it worked flawlessly. Can't say that about many other CO2 inflators I've tried over the decades!

This is an amazing little device at a very reasonable price. Fortunately, I read a lot of reviews first before using it, so I knew to really close off the valve firmly before screwing in the cartridge. I did hear a little co2 escape, but nothing significant at all. The beauty of this valve lies in its ability to regulate the discharge of the co2. I was able to use it exactly the way I wanted to: to "top off" a tire that had already been inflated to around 80 PSI using a frame pump. Rather than wasting a bunch of co2, or tiring myself out trying to get the tire past the 80 PSI mark, I used the frame pump to easily get it to 80, then used the co2 to get it to around 100-105. The fact that the PDW Shiny Object has a control knob to turn the co2 on/off made it a piece of cake to go from 80 to 100/105. Then, afterwards, I could keep the cartridge, with the valve still attached, to use again, rather than having to throw it away. It's easy, practical, and economical all at the same time. How could you expect anything more from such a basic, simple tool?