Airshot 12-Volt Air Compressor

AIRSHOT 12-VOLT AIR COMPRESSOR

EVALUATION

AIR APPARENT

THERE’S NOTHING QUITE LIKE GETting ready for your favorite Sunday morning ride, then going out to the garage and . . . and finding that your bike has a dangerously low tire. Inflating it with the cobweb-covered bicycle pump over in the corner would be agonizingly slow work—if it works—and a gas station is farther than you care to ride or push the bike. Now what?

If there were an Airshot over on the workbench, you could have the tire back up to pressure in less time than it would take to retrieve the bike pump and find it was broken. Distributed by Performance Unlimited Motoring Accessories (11192 Prouty Road, Concord, OH 44077; [216] 354-4403), the 7.5-pound Airshot contains an air compressor powered by a 12-volt, 4.5-amp, rechargeable gel-cell battery, within a black ABS plastic case roughly the size and shape of a shoebox. There’s an accurate pressure gauge on the front, and a filler hose, a battery charger, four filler-adapters and a 12-volt power take-off stowed away in a storage compartment behind a little swingout door in back.

Before the Airshot draws its first raspy breath, the battery needs to be charged for between 12 and 20 hours, according to the operating instructions. Our test unit, though, seemed rather asthmatic even after spending 24 hours on the charger. Just bumping a tire’s pressure up by 5-6 psi left the compressor shortwinded, and it gasped to a halt after seven uses.

But a second 24-hour charge breathed new life into the Airshot. Over the next week, it inflated four motorcycle tires, a bicycle tire and two rear shocks, all of them starting from 0 psi; it also pumped up a halfdozen other car and motorcycle tires before the compressor’s laboring indicated another charging session was in order. Most riders wouldn’t work an Airshot nearly as hard, so they could expect far greater intervals between charges.

There is, however, a compelling reason to keep the battery hot and ready: speed. Freshly charged, the Airshot will inflate a motorcycle tire in about three minutes; air-adjustable suspension components take a few seconds. Granted, that’s tortuously slow compared to what a gas-station air hose can do; with a claimed maximum operating pressure of 150 psi, the Airshot can blow hard enough, but it has no storage capacity, so the compressor has to do the job huff by puff. Still, for filling air-adjustable suspension components, a leisurely pace is better than the instantaneous seal-popping pressure of a gas-station hose. And in either case, the Airshot compressor leaves hand pumps choking in its wake.

With a retail price of $89.95, the Airshot comes far more dearly than hand pumps, too. But it also offers a certain peace of mind, because its speed and convenience make it easier for a rider to stay on top of tire and suspension pressures. In short, the Airshot can be a worthy, if expensive, addition to your garage, for routine maintenance, or for the occasional Sunday-morning surprise. And that’s not a lot of hot air.