SKS Rennkompressor NXT

The SKS Rennkompressor NXT has an old-school style – maybe it should be LST instead of NXT – and a substantial build that feels good for the high price. Unfortunately, the fancy metal and wooden parts are arguably outperformed by cheaper plastic ones, and the retro design extends to the ergonomics – it's like they haven't really been considered. For better options, check out our guide to the best track pumps.

Alongside this SKS pump I've been reviewing a £37 Topeak JoeBlow (full review to come). You might think that simultaneously testing a £130 pump like this alongside a £37 one would be bad news for the cheap pump, but in fact, it hasn't really helped the Rennkompressor. There are a string of small complaints I really shouldn't be able to level against a premium design, and they all start to mount up.

Firstly, the feet fold for easy transport/storage, but while they lock up out of the way, they don't lock down. Give this pump a nudge and it falls over. It also means you need to stand on both its feet to keep it steady at high pressures – stand on just one and it can hinge side to side. That's annoying because the feet are directly under the handle, with no flare back towards your body. You're forced to stand so close your hands are scraping up and down your chest and legs. It's a cramped position.

While your lower half needs to be bolt upright, your top half wants to lean forward as the gauge is hard to read – it only has numerals every 50psi, and the little 5psi divisions between are crowded. Every other line is longer, at least, but only by millimetres; I found myself peering to carefully count lines rather than just being able to read it at a glance.

You could set the rotating tell-tale arrow to your target pressure first, of course, but that ends well short of the printed scale and is that famous hi-viz combination of jet black against jet black. And I thought the camo grey one on the Topeak JoeBlow Roadie EX was a poor decision. Oh, and talking of grey, if you're using bar instead of psi, that scale is printed in a nice dull battleship colour that's about as eye-catching as fog. At least the needle is orange.

You could always go for the Rennkompressor NXT Digital with its big glowing numbers instead, but that's £20 more at £150.

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The handle unscrews (easily, thanks to a large plastic collar) to leave the whole pump genuinely slim and easy to transport, but if this pump is about portability, why use so much metal? It weighs 1,450g, when a plastic-based (but metal-chambered) alternative can weigh around a third less.

Also, our test pump lost a 2x1cm chunk of aluminium wall from the base while in the loving care of a courier, and while this (thankfully) didn't affect its operation at all, it does demonstrate that metal isn't an inherently 'better' choice than plastic. Harder materials can also be more brittle. The cheaper, plastic-bottomed track pump alongside the Rennkompressor in the same package, as an example, arrived undamaged.

Still, this certainly looks and feels premium. Take the handle; it's a lovely thing, attractively carved from beech, and it's smoothly rounded. It's also unyielding and noticeably less comfortable at high pressures than a broad and less rigid plastic one.

Is there anything I do like? The chuck. It's solid, incredibly crisply built and pretty easy to use. It has separate holes for Presta and Schrader, and while that seems unnecessary when many combine the two into one, it works just fine. The long hose (120cm) is good too, especially if you plan to blow something up to the full 230psi this is apparently good for. It's nice to be as far away as possible.

I don't have anything I'm prepared to take beyond 160psi for fear of becoming death, destroyer of worlds, but it will get a 28mm tyre (on a 21mm ID rim) to 100psi in 36 strokes. That's 45-50 seconds of pumping, though it does start to need quite a shove from around 90psi – something the awkward stance doesn't help with. That only gets more noticeable once you're pushing against 150psi-plus.

Value

While £130 is high for a basic track pump, the substantial build and 'premium' materials go some way towards justifying it. But you could argue that today's plastics have surpassed metal and wood in these applications, which means they're no longer premium so much as old fashioned. But that's up to you.

Typically, you can expect some extra features for £100+, such as the integrated bike stand of the £119.99 Topeak Transformer eUP Floor Pump, or the tubeless-blasting abilities of the £150 Lezyne Pressure Over Drive.

On the other hand, it's not always the case – and the SKS is a fair chunk cheaper than the wooden-handled ego-booster that is the Silca Terra Floor Pump. That one's £180 and really ought to come with a free cravat.

Still, if you just want to blow up your tyres and don't care how déclassé plastic makes you look to the members of your local country club, you have plenty of options, such as the 9/10-scoring Cannondale Precise Floor Pump (a 'road.cc Recommends' badge winner) at £55, or the aforementioned £36.99 Topeak, the JoeBlow Roadie EX.

Overall

Is this a bad pump? No. It's very solidly built and capable of shoving a lot of air into a tyre in fairly short order, and the overall quality feels high. The design of both the gauge and the folding feet could be improved, though, and those – along with the very rigid handle – make it less pleasing to use than it could be, and arguably should be, given its premium price and nature.

A bigger issue still is that pumps for half or even a third of the Rennkompressor's price can match it for performance, beat it for ergonomics and give it a damn good run for longevity. Despite some impressive aspects, the Rennkompressor NXT just doesn't offer any real benefits for the premium.

Verdict

Very nicely made from retro materials, but the ergonomics are poor – the design should be better at this price