Birzman Infinite Apogee Road with CO2

The Birzman Infinite Apogee Road with CO2 is a lovely looking piece of kit, all mirror-polished aluminium, but the limitations of the Snap-It Apogee head, which is not as versatile or effective as you might hope and expect, take the shine off.

​​Although it's compatible with both Presta and Schrader valves via a CNC'd collar that you lift and twist, it appears to work better on threaded Presta valve stems than threadless ones. It has no problems with Schrader valves, which are all threaded.

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The pump has a CNC'd aluminium body that's robust and solid. The sturdy piston rod, anodised green and laser etched with the legend 'Conquer all constraints, be boundless' is equally confidence-inspiring.

A heavy-duty steel braided hose is concealed inside the handle and held in there by a rubber stopper. The hose screws in at the other end – the layout is that of a traditional pump.

However, the Birzman has a trick up its sleeve, or rather at the end of its hose, as it can also be attached to a CO2 canister – this model comes with two of these in their own special bracket – for speedier inflation.

At 25.5cm the pump is slightly too long for a rear pocket, but it comes with a bracket that mounts to your bike's bottle cage bosses. The pump sits one side and the two CO2 canisters the other.

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I tested the Infinite Apogee Road on five different valve types and found that it only worked consistently satisfactorily on two. These two were the threaded Presta valve and the Schrader valve (Schrader valves are always threaded).

The Snap-It Apogee head has a collar that you pull backwards for Presta to release the pin that would depress the spring in a Schrader valve. Once it's over the valve stem, you push the collar back down and “with a short twist” according to Birzman's instructions, it seals around the valve. 

However, I found the head tended to blow off one threadless Presta valve stem at between 80 and 90psi – but strangely not another. This is not a problem in itself, because that pressure is absolutely fine for getting home on a 25mm tyre, but Birzman claims 160psi and an instant, secure engagement with no blow-offs at high pressures.

The same thing happened with a Vittoria valve extender, the type where you need to remove the valve core. To be fair, as far as the pump is concerned, this is the same as a threadless valve stem.

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However, there were certain threadless valves that it coped with perfectly. It stayed put on a Continental Podium tubular valve, for example. I can only think that because there's no standard for valve construction or dimensions, there are certain ones that the Snap-It head is not compatible with.

The Birzman would not work at all with the type of valve extender that screws over the top of a Presta valve. The head's Schrader pin in this case blocked the opening to the extender.

It did work as advertised with a threaded Presta valve stem and in this case it was my arms that gave up before the head blew off – at around 100psi (which was relatively quick to reach since this pump has quite a decent volume). The head was never going to blow off because the o-ring and twist/clamp system were able to get more of a purchase on the threads than on the threadless valve – but I unfortunately prefer the threadless type on my inner tubes simply because it doesn't chew up the rubber o-rings of pumps. And who actually uses the knurled nut that the threads on a threaded inner tube valve carry?

In its defence, Birzman could well be looking to the future, to a world where everyone will ride tubeless tyres – which use threaded valves because here the knurled nut is essential as it works as a locknut to seal the rim. But that world hasn't arrived for everyone yet and until then I need a pump that works on all threadless valves too.

On a Schrader valve it worked fine, screwing tightly onto the threads with no air loss while pumping.

And finally, the CO2 canister test. I knew it would work fine with the threaded Presta valve so I tried it on the threadless one – and surprisingly it held without blowing off, up to the canister's maximum pressure, about 90psi in a 25mm tyre. I then tried to top it up manually – and the head blew off.

Value

The Birzman is quite a bit cheaper than the Crankbrothers Klic HP+ Gauge but it doesn't have the gauge. It's also cheaper than the Zefal EZ Max FC CO2, which has gone up to £38.99 since we reviewed it, but the Bontrager Air Rush at £24.99 undercuts it and is pocket sized.

Verdict

The Birzman Infinite Apogee works well with Presta valves that have threaded stems and with Schrader valves, but I prefer threadless Presta valves mainly because they don't wear out the rubber o-rings of pump heads – and the Snap-It head blows off that type at 80-90psi. That's fine for getting you home, but Birzman claims it can go up to 160psi.

With deep-section wheels I prefer the type of valve extender that goes over the top of the valve to the type where you need to remove the valve core – and the Birzman Snap-It head does not work at all with those. However, Birzman may well be looking towards the road tubeless market, where all valve stems are threaded. So I'm giving it a score of 'above average' because it's nicely made and works well, but not so well on all the valve types that I use, and I'm sure that for the time being at least I'm not alone in using threadless inner tube valves and valve extenders.

Verdict

Good looking, well-made pump but the gleaming aluminium body outshines the performance of the patented Snap-It head