Replaced an old Cateye speedometer (which wasn’t hearing the magnet) from my tri bike with a new wireless cadence/speed sensor this evening. I’ll try to resuscitate the first one and stick it on my Dahon. I have a second, wired, Cateye for Le Chacal.
A few years ago I bought a Silca floor pump for my bicycle tires. They’re the snob-friendly Italian tire pump everyone rants about lasting for decades. In my experience, it’s pretty much an overpriced piece of retro-shit.
This afternoon I bought a replacement rubber gasket for the presta valve connector. It was disintegrating, making it hard to attach the pump to the tires, as well as hard to get a good seal.
Later this evening, I was topping off my road tires with the pump when the handle collapsed underneath me. The pump was no longer creating any pressure.
I tore apart the pump easily. The cheapness of the build was appalling.
There is a plastic guide at the top of the steel chamber. It’s “attached” with two stubby wood-screw style screws. That will be good for two, perhaps three, re-tightens. They hadn’t even drilled pilot holes, so the whole plastic assembly is a ripped mess. If I have to fuss with this pump many more times, I can imagine needing to drill new holes for the screws to find a bite.
Why did the pump lose pressure? Because there is an apparently cheap piece of leather formed into a cup, and bolted to the end of the pumping shaft. It had simply torn where the leather is pinches by the bolt. Dumb. If they want to use leather for something like this, at least use good leather, or lubricate it with something more appropriate than cheap grease. Or something.
The tube itself is just some cheap steel tubing with a crummy paint job. I can see rust blisters forming under it.
I’m sure I can replace the leather gasket and get back to work with the pump, but having taken this thing apart I see there is nothing special about this at all. If I repainted the logo from “SILCA” to “XINRONG IRON MACHINERY WORKS FACTORY NO. 2″ you wouldn’t be surprised by this product.
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