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Thread: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

  1. #1
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    Default Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Everyone needs to carry a frame pump. Perhaps you don't need one on every ride however it is the right stuff to have most of the time.

    I've got two frame pumps that are equally awesome.

    First up is the venerable and no longer made Silca Frame Pump. It is crazy light weight and used properly will reliably pump to 90 PSI especially using the XL sizes. Silcas come with a list of things you should and should not do in order to have them last. Follow the rule book and they will last forever.
    Silca Rules:
    Spit on the seal - no kidding, it preserves the rubber.
    Never let the handle extend to full reach - if you do the pump handle will explode, not kidding.
    Gently rock the pump head onto the valve and when done smack it off with a sharp hit - just do it
    Once in a blue moon - regrease the leather washer with some goose grease.
    DSC06600.jpg

    Zefal HPX Traditional - This is probably going to win the discussion once the dust settles. Everyone has owned this frame pump. It is the pump ATMO handed to me when I thought my pump wasn't working. I've got a drawer full of them. Zefals pump to 90 PSI easily, are serviceable and can be used as weapons multiple times due to heavy construction. The only knock is that they weigh a lot, enough that we all have foolishly tried other pumps only to "re-discover" our HPX waiting patiently for a return to service.
    Zefal HPX rules:
    None
    pu2-2.jpg

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    While I disagree not with both of the above, I've got to put in a plug for my Blackburn ... FP-1... ? Not sure because the lettering is rubbed off. I've had it for fifteen years, nary a re-lube, grommet or washer replacement. Gets up to pressure no problem.
    Just one of those things that's so amazing because it functions without a second thought.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    I haven't tried either one and being someone who's been riding for less than a decade, I'm new the frame-pump game. I have a toppeak master blaster. It's light enough and I can get to 90 psi pretty easily w/o any drama.
    Auk's words to live by:
    Blow up and pin a picture of M. Bartoli on your wall. When you achieve that position, stop. Until then, stretch, ride, stretch, ride, eat less, and ride more.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Like our ability to put a man on the moon or having the Space Shuttle, decent frame pumps are a technology that has been lost to humankind. I agree with the first two nominations as the stellar examples of the genre and will add that the Silca pump is best when equipped with the Campagnolo two-foot metal head. A mistake that people often make when using these is to not hold the pump properly so that the head remains straight on the valve....When cocked tothe side, the presta valve can be forced to remain open making inflation difficult/impossible or the pump can "backfire"....This is often blamed on a faulty pump, but it is a faulty operator....In the kinky suggestion department...In the late 70's early 80's Zefal made a pump called the "Z-Course" It was a great cross between a Zefal HP and silca as it combined some of the robustness of a Zefal with the lightweight simplicity of a Silca...They were rare back in the day and nearly nonexitent today...but if somebody encounters one in good condition that fits his frame, grab it...

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    The Silca picture provoked a flashback. My first "custom" bike was a Stowe, with a red>>yellow fade like what was popular on the Serotta frames at the time. The Stowe came with a Silca painted to match the frame. It was ridiculously light, almost toy-like, but it got the job done. Gave it away with the frame. Haven't tried a recent Zefal, but had an old one on the Serotta that replaced the Stowe. It also got the job done but I didn't care for the look of it on the frame and the clanking noise it made on the crappy NY roads. I skipped the pump peg option on my current bike but, who knows, maybe I'll have one on the next…..but only with the pump painted to match!

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Pet peeve: velcro straps around the top tube to hold the pump on. Fugly! The pump that comes in many sizes will win the war. I thank the Universe that an XL sized Topeak will fit tight on my Hampsten 57cm TT. Oh, and I also thank the Bacon Brothers for remembering to put a pump nipple on the back of the head tube on the Cinghiale. Back in 2001. Very progressive/regressive for the time. I used Silcas for years, Too Tall's rules above were well known, and Silcas suck the way misaligned 70s-80s Italian frames sucked. We just didn't know it at the time. Now, we do. ATMO.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    one more vote for the master blaster. multiple sizes and one end is shaped just so and of the correct material to fit competently into any corner of the frame from the tt/ht to the st/cs.

    works so well I'm happy using at home when I find myself too far from my floor pump.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    HPX is the king. If it's cold and crappy and getting dark I'm no longer willing to indulge Silca foibles. Blackburn's good too. Planet Bike's fine. I did a group ride in the rain early this season and all around me were getting flats, every one eventually got pumped up with my frame pump after various mini pumps/inflators didn't work/yield enough pressure and if I'd had a Silca I'd have had to do all the pumping myself to avert catastrophe.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    I am not sure it's the best of all time but Topeak road master blaster is my go to. I never had a problem and they are easy to find and buy.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Yep.....the Silica's are the pump to go for especially the ones with metal end, only got one left and that's on our tandem. I think the modern one to go for is the Topeak Master Blaster though not got one as not available in Germany. I use some well known make but for the life of me as write the name has'nt come to me.
    Savine Cycles
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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Paint matched Silca still looks the best on a frame with smaller diameter tubes but out of place on a modern carbon wonder bike.

    Zefal HP is a strong pump and useful for beating off muggers and wild animals.

    Have had good luck with the Master Blaster (sometimes modified to fit on NDS chainstay for frames that wont take a pump under the top tube where it belongs).

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    No contest whatsoever: Zefal HPX. Beats 99% of the floor pumps.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Zefal rocks, been using for a lot of years.
    life is too short to drink bad wine....

    Stuart Levy

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    I've had the hpx and it may be me but it doesn't hold a candle to a silca with a steel campy head, even given the quirks of the silca.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    I use whatever my buddies are carrying. A pump you don't have to carry is the best.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan View Post
    I use whatever my buddies are carrying. A pump you don't have to carry is the best.
    That's what everybody else on my group ride does. I'm enabling them.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    Zefal HPX - All the above + survives dog training sessions.
    Kevin Grady
    Chi va piano, va sano e va lontano.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    So you guys don't have a follow car with spare wheels? Who pumps their own tires these days.

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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    I'm curious to try out the Topeak, but you can have my HPX when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
    Eric Doswell, aka Edoz
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    Default Re: Frame Pumps: The Greatest Ever Made

    I have the new Park on my main bike, but there'll be an HPX on it pronto if the Park ever lets me down. I do have another bike with a Silca on the frame--and a CO2 inflator in the seat bag.

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