Fabric Premium track pump review

The Fabric Premium track pump looks smart, although its base is a bit small and unstable

(Image credit: Cycling Studio)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

Fabric’s Premium track pump has some nice design features and a really clear gauge. It’s efficient but it’s rather let down by its small, unstable base.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Efficient pumping action

  • +

    Nice design to the valve adapter

  • +

    Quality feel

  • +

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Base is not very stable

Fabric has expanded its range from its core saddles in the last couple of years and last year added pumps and lights to its inventory. It makes two track pumps, with the Fabric Premium version differing from the standard one in substituting a wooden handle and a plywood base with anti-slip surface for the standard pump's plastic and using a hose with a braided steel covering. It’s also £20 more expensive.

Fabric Premium track pump

Pump head swivels through 360 degrees for ease of use
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)

The pump’s barrel is smart and made of brushed aluminium, while the plunger is extra wide and doesn’t wobble around when extended. Some pumps have quite small gauges, but Fabric’s is one of the largest and easiest to read we’ve seen. The black lettering on white makes for good legibility too.

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Fabric Premium track pump

Handle is wide and comfortable
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)

The Fabric Premium pump’s braided hose is sturdy and should be durable. It’s long too, stretching over the top of the handle, where it’s secured in a grove, with the head sitting in a dock in the base when not in use.

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Fabric Premium track pump

Gauge is very easy to read, but the pump is rather let down by its unstable base
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)

The adapter head is designed to work with both presta and schrader valves and is secured with a lever. It gives an airtight fit. The head is attached to the hose with a rotating joint, so it’s easy to avoid getting the hose twisted and to attach to the valve at whatever angle. Again, this aids use.

Pump action is efficient, with high pressures being reached without undue effort. Fabric quotes a maximum pressure of 140psi.

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I did find the base a bit small though. On flat surfaces, it was adequate, although you need to make sure the pump is balanced after use. But on uneven and loose surfaces, there’s a tendency to slip around or topple over. I’d have preferred to see a wider or three-point base.

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.