The Blackburn Core is a minipump aimed at the off-road market. With a wider barrel and flexible hose, it is well suited to pumping modern MTB tyres.

How to sort a puncture

The Blackburn Core has to be one of the most sensibly made and quality looking pumps on the market. It’s all brushed, satin aluminium and copper highlights so looks a little like it belongs in the fifties rather than as a modern MTB pump.

Be careful you don’t lose the Core with its muted colours.

Blackburn Core minipump review

How does it work?

Like most pumps the Core has a flexible hose to which the air-chuck is attached. Making ripped valves hopefully a thing of the past. The hose is a little thinner than some, so air flow is a touch restricted. But the upside is it is much more flexible so vigorous pumping has less impact on the valve. Talking about vigorous pumping, thanks to the mid-diameter barrel (24mm) and smooth stroke it takes the Blackburn Core 100 strokes to pump a 29×2.25 tyre up to 18psi. Thanks in part to the thinner hose pushing a touch less air through. The stroke action remains delightfully light throughout the process, so less arm strength is needed.

Flexy hose and easy to use, Presta only air-chuck

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Things to know

There are two things to note about the Blackburn Core. Firstly the rubber seal used to prevent the pump from extending/getting grit in the shaft gets in the way when pumping. So you need to make sure to slide it down and out of the way before commencing inflation. Secondly, the Core is Presta valve only. Not a problem for most of us but if you ride with your kids then you’ll need to carry an adapter for any Schraeder valved tubes.

Ah! That’s why it’s called the Core!

The final thing to mention is the reason why the Blackburn Core is called the Core. At the lower end of the pump is a removable valve core key. This might sound a little gimmicky but if you’ve ever had a valve core come loose on your tubeless setup, you’ll know how valuable having one of these to hand is.