The Lifeline Performance mini-pump is great value but missed the mark in a couple of areas.
LifeLine Performance MTB mini-pump review
Lifeline is the in-house brand for Chain Reaction Cycles/Wiggle, and as you’d expect, this means value for money is a priority with all its products. The Performance MTB is its attempt at making the best mini-pump for mountain biking.
To keep the pump compact while pushing the most amount of air possible, the LifeLine Performance MTB has a telescopic shaft with dual-action inflation. Plenty of manufacturers have offered telescopic pumps before, but we found they were often flimsy, didn’t feel that smooth and were also noisy, making a weird clip-clop noise in use.
The Performance MTB does come with a lockable head attached to a retractable hose, which is a bit like a mini track pump. The head pushes onto the valve stem and there’s a little thumb lock to hold it in place. Switching between the two valve types is a no-brainer, you just unthread the cap and flip over the internals.
Included with the pump is a plastic bracket with a securing rubber strap. To ensure the pump doesn’t pull apart when you’re riding along and to keep out the dirt, there’s a rubber shim between the handle and base.
Verdict
Feature-wise it’s hard to fault this pump – aluminium barrel, lockable head, retractable hose; it ticks all the boxes. It’s also amazing value for money, but it does require quite a bit of work to get a modern tyre up to a usable pressure, and that noise just seemed to make it so much harder.