The Trek Air Rush is one of the latest portable bike tire inflators and Trek’s first electric bike pump. Although Trek is a bit late to a crowded market, they’ve combined their expertise and world-wide reach to refine and add new features into the pump. The pump has a retail price of $99.99 and offers a color screen with 120 psi inflation limit. Trek has integrated a well-sized 33.7Wh LiPo battery which can inflate three 700×28 tires from empty to 75 psi. What helps the Air Rush stand out from other pumps is the integrated flashlight with separate control and a plastic exterior that stays cool and eliminates the need for a silicone sleeve.
The Trek Air Rush offers a compact form factor with a plastic body that stays cool even with repeated inflations.
| Retail Price | $99.99 |
| Rating | 9.6 / 10 |
| Measured Weight (in g) | 138 (inflator), 14 (extension hose) |
| Likes | + Insulated plastic body stays cool and eliminates need for silicone case + Bright color screen with large buttons that are easy to use with gloves on + Clever details like adapter storage slot on bottom of pump |
| Dislikes | – No quick battery status check with pump off |
| Where to Buy (US) | Trek |
UNBOXING
The Trek Air Rush inflator comes in a compact white and black cardboard box with a glossy graphic of the inflator on the outside. Inside the box you’ll find:
- Air Rush inflator
- Fabric storage bag
- Extension hose
- Presta & Schrader adapters
- Ball needle adapter
- USB-C charging cable
- Lanyard
- Thick instruction manual
Thanks to Trek’s plastic outer shell and ventilation there is no insulating silicone case included or needed with the Air Rush. Also, the size of the instruction manual is also a good reflection of how much global reach Trek has as a majority of the manual is just the same instructions repeated in different languages.
FIT & FINISH
Visually, the Trek Air Rush has a compact rectangular profile with rounded corners and ergonomic design. Dimensionally, the Trek Air Rush is only 45 x 80 x 32 mm which makes it competitively sized with other pumps. It’s small enough to easily fit in a jersey pocket and only slightly wider than a CO2 canister. Unlike many other mini-pumps which have metal exteriors that can heat up with us and may require using silicone sleeves, the Trek Air Rush is mostly plastic. That allows the pump to stay cool and eliminates the need for a silicone sleeve. There are also nice touches like an over molded rear portion which adds a TPU material to give it a textured non-slip feel for improved usability.
Trek has placed the screen and controls on the left side of the body with the nozzle on the front side. It’s clear that Trek spent time doing testing and paying attention to the details as the buttons are clearly labeled and large enough to be used with gloves. There are three buttons to the side of the color screen for increasing, decreasing as well as starting and stopping inflation. Trek has also added some clever details to the Air Rush such as a threaded bottom insert for storing a second nozzle on the pump. It’s a smart idea that avoids the problem of keeping track of small adapters, but it does make the pump slightly larger when its used.
One of the unique features of the Air Rush is the LED flash light which is placed below the nozzle. There is a dedicated button to turn it on and off when the pump is on, and it also automatically turns on when you are inflating. It’s a nice feature that lets you use the pump in low light conditions and has decent brightness. With the separate on/off button you don’t have a complicated multi-button press to activate the light on or off as we’ve seen with other pumps.
As far as the nozzle design, it’s just a standard thread-on design with separate Presta, Schrader and even a ball needle attachment. The adapters twist onto the body of the pump or onto the end of the extension hose. It’s a flexible rubber hose that makes it easier to access tight spots where the pump might not easily fit. The extension is a nice length with a rotating head which allows you to rotate the pump while you are inflating. Trek has color coded the adapter to make them easier to differentiate and added a nice rubber exterior for durability.
USER INTERFACE
To operate the pump, there are three primary buttons with plus / minus and play / pause indicators. Holding the center play/pause button powers the pump on and off. There is also an auto-off feature that turns the pump off after about a minute of inactivity to preserve the battery. The display shows a green colored target pressure and a larger white current pressure below it. Holding the plus or minus button will quickly change the target pressure while a single press does one value increase or decrease.. Once you reach the desired pressure the screen also flashes green with that pressure value which is a nice touch.
There are four bars on the top right to show the current battery status and a light indicator below it when the flash light is on. You can only see this battery status indicator when the pump is on though, unlike other products like the Trek CarBack which lets you tap the power button while off to quickly check the battery. To change the units, you simply hold the play and plus button together and then the plus/minus buttons to cycle between PSI, bar and kPa. Trek has also added a pump reset feature that can be used if there are any issues such as non-zero pressure display. You hold the plus and minus button together between 3-5 seconds which will display the firmware version on the screen.
USABILITY
It’s clear Trek has done their homework as the Air Rush is sized and priced competitively to other pumps. The biggest difference right out of the box is the fact that the exterior of the Air Rush is plastic instead of being metal. While it doesn’t feel as premium, the over molded TPU material is more grippy and it doesn’t heat up. That means you can ditch the ugly silicone covers of other pumps and use it directly as it doesn’t heat up. We found the Air Rush to be easy to use with the extension hose and competitive inflation speeds. It’s about ~10-20 seconds slower when inflating a 700×28 tire to 70 psi compared to pumps like the CYCPLUS AS2 Pro or the Topeak E-Booster but still feels relatively fast. One feature the Air Rush lacks is Topeak’s SmartHead feature which eliminates the need for an adapter when using the pump directly, however, Topeak hasn’t been able to make it work with an extension hose.
Otherwise, small details like the separate button for the flashlight solves the problem the COOSPO AP-B1 created with complicated multi-button combinations to operate the light. The LED on the Air Rush is still pretty dim, but with the auto-on while inflating feature and separate button it is far more functional. We also liked the larger buttons and simple user interface that makes it easy to operate even with gloves on. The only improvement we would have liked to see is a way to check the battery with the pump off by simply pressing the power button with the pump off. You can see the battery status with the pump on though, which ensures you can keep it topped off so you do not run out of battery on the side of the road.
THE VERDICT
Overall, we found the Trek Air Rush to be a well designed and competitive electric bike pump. Trek has created a portable electric inflator with a bright color screen that easily fits in jersey pockets or saddle bags. By doing their homework and researching other pumps, Trek has been able to incorporate several improvements into the Air Rush like an insulated plastic body and simple user interface. The plastic body ensures the pump doesn’t get hot and eliminates the need for a silicone case while the large buttons and separate flashlight button make the pump easy to use. As far as negatives, the only thing we would have improved is to make it possible to check the battery status with the pump off. That said, the Trek Air Rush is a surprisingly competitively priced and sized electric tire inflator that lets you ditch traditional CO2 canisters.
Disclaimer: The product for this review was provided by Trek. The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.