Pump head and hose?

On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:11:54 AM UTC-7, Luns Tee wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 5:16:35 AM UTC-7, N8N wrote:

I thought Silca was the premium product but I'm willing to try something cheaper and better! I was *this* close to buying a Silca head but even those didn't seem to get uniformly good reviews hence my post, nor did SKS for that matter.
The classic Silca head has mixed reviews. Many people have a hard time with it while for others it's pretty reliable. There's not a lot going on in it, but the gasket does wear out over time. I would think a lot of the complaints relate to using old gaskets, but some people manage to have a hard time with them even when new.

So it's not idiot proof, but if you can get along with it (or if it gets along with you), it does its job well. I suppose there's some exclusivity to being amongst those who use the head without problems, and people who do have trouble sometimes show animosity for being left out.

Silca's new Hiro chucks seem to be more uniformly well regarded, as are the Hirame heads their design is based on. These chucks are on the pricey side though, and are presta-only. It may also be that these are new enough that everybody who has one likes it to justify the money they sunk on it.

The Topeak Smarthead also has more consistently good reviews, and I think is a very appropriate choice for you, but it does have a few shortcomings too. None are necessarily showstoppers but are worth being aware of.

The first is that it doesn't work on very short presta valves. The chuck engages Schrader valves right at the face, while presta engages deeper in the chuck. Silca's chucks engage right at the face and can engage presta valves too short for the Smarthead to reach.

The other issue with the Smarthead is that the chuck disengages by pinching the lever to the body, and engages by lifting the lever. I suppose they do it this way so that for storage, the lever is out of the way without compressing the rubber, but there are problems with this both ways.

First, engaging the chuck is a two-handed operation for me, with one hand to hold the chuck body, and the other hand to work the lever. With other chucks, engaging the chuck is a pinching motion that can be done single-handed.

The flip side of this is that releasing the Smarthead is a pinching operation. This isn't a problem in and of itself, but the chuck body is shaped so the lever fits flush into a recess, and the sides of the recess are a sharp edge with the lever and the side of its recess forming a pair of scissors. This is a pinch hazard, that can cut the cheek of your thumb if you try to release the lever with one hand. You don't actively squeeze the lever onto yourself, the compression of the gasket snaps the lever shut onto you once you release it past a certain point. I've literally been bitten by this in the past, actually drawing blood once.

I've considered cutting away the sides of my smarthead to get rid of the pinch hazard, but never got around to it, not seeing an aesthetically inoffensive way to do so, and conditioning myself to use it two-handed in the meanwhile.
The original Silca pump head had a spring loaded top that would relieve the pressure on the rubber seal which made it easy to put on and extract. In that manner the seal would last for many years. While the present head looks the same it doesn't have the moving parts, so it is hard to put on and remove and the seals wear out rapidly.

On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 3:25:18 p.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:19 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:45:28 a.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 8:53 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5,
wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB


The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and
schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached
it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that
depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back,
almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring
that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm.
It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar
spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing
construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a
place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might,
maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took
a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement
part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small
parts like that.


Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs, nylon
screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor brushes, oilite sleeves
etc - into drawers of a regular plastic parts rack. Not so much for
actual bicycles as the everything else set of building, truck, shop
equipment and so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood screws, clamps
and braces on and on. I agree that buying one such for a right-now
problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where material like file
and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so on provide raw material for
various projects.
My habits are like Andrew's. I rarely throw anything mechanical away
without opening it, if only to see how it works. ("Learn by
disassembling what's already destroyed?") But then, I'll often keep any
fasteners or other hardware bits that my prove useful some day. Why not?

To fix the pump, I opened my little drawer packed full of tiny springs:
https://images.thdstatic.com/product...24-64_1000.jpg
It took me maybe five minutes to find a decent substitute. To be honest,
most of the springs in that drawer were from a bulk bag of miscellaneous
springs I bought long ago. But not the one that worked!

We have a new, small hardware store a nice six mile ride from our house.
They have an amazing collection of miscellaneous hardware, much more
than the nearby Lowe's. But my drawers and peanut butter jars of
salvaged bits have saved me countless trips.

--
- Frank Krygowski

You're lucky. The really nice hardware store in my area recently closed permanently. I don't know if it was due to Covid-19 shutdowns or not. they'll be missed. That hardware store was close enough that I could bring home an 8' x 4' sheet of 5/8" melamine on my bicycle. Graneted, I had to walk the bike home but it sure beat trying to carry that shet of melamine.
Maybe it's time to build a bike trailer?


--
- Frank Krygowski

I wouldn't want to be riding in traffic and towing a bicycle trailer with a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine lying on it. Talk about impeding traffic!

Cheers

On 3/25/2021 4:14 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 3:25:18 p.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:19 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:45:28 a.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 8:53 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5,
wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB


The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and
schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached
it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that
depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back,
almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring
that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm.
It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar
spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing
construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a
place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might,
maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took
a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement
part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small
parts like that.


Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs, nylon
screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor brushes, oilite sleeves
etc - into drawers of a regular plastic parts rack. Not so much for
actual bicycles as the everything else set of building, truck, shop
equipment and so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood screws, clamps
and braces on and on. I agree that buying one such for a right-now
problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where material like file
and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so on provide raw material for
various projects.
My habits are like Andrew's. I rarely throw anything mechanical away
without opening it, if only to see how it works. ("Learn by
disassembling what's already destroyed?") But then, I'll often keep any
fasteners or other hardware bits that my prove useful some day. Why not?

To fix the pump, I opened my little drawer packed full of tiny springs:
https://images.thdstatic.com/product...24-64_1000.jpg
It took me maybe five minutes to find a decent substitute. To be honest,
most of the springs in that drawer were from a bulk bag of miscellaneous
springs I bought long ago. But not the one that worked!

We have a new, small hardware store a nice six mile ride from our house.
They have an amazing collection of miscellaneous hardware, much more
than the nearby Lowe's. But my drawers and peanut butter jars of
salvaged bits have saved me countless trips.

--
- Frank Krygowski

You're lucky. The really nice hardware store in my area recently closed permanently. I don't know if it was due to Covid-19 shutdowns or not. they'll be missed. That hardware store was close enough that I could bring home an 8' x 4' sheet of 5/8" melamine on my bicycle. Graneted, I had to walk the bike home but it sure beat trying to carry that shet of melamine.
Maybe it's time to build a bike trailer?


--
- Frank Krygowski

I wouldn't want to be riding in traffic and towing a bicycle trailer with a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine lying on it. Talk about impeding traffic!

Cheers


My experience with similar is that Large Object rests on the
left (clean side) pedal and Operator walks on the right side
of the bike with a strap from stem to seatpost. Very manageable.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 6:20:08 p.m. UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 4:14 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 3:25:18 p.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:19 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:45:28 a.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 8:53 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5,
wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB


The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and
schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached
it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that
depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back,
almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring
that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm.
It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar
spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing
construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a
place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might,
maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took
a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement
part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small
parts like that.


Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs, nylon
screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor brushes, oilite sleeves
etc - into drawers of a regular plastic parts rack. Not so much for
actual bicycles as the everything else set of building, truck, shop
equipment and so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood screws, clamps
and braces on and on. I agree that buying one such for a right-now
problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where material like file
and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so on provide raw material for
various projects.
My habits are like Andrew's. I rarely throw anything mechanical away
without opening it, if only to see how it works. ("Learn by
disassembling what's already destroyed?") But then, I'll often keep any
fasteners or other hardware bits that my prove useful some day. Why not?

To fix the pump, I opened my little drawer packed full of tiny springs:
https://images.thdstatic.com/product...24-64_1000.jpg
It took me maybe five minutes to find a decent substitute. To be honest,
most of the springs in that drawer were from a bulk bag of miscellaneous
springs I bought long ago. But not the one that worked!

We have a new, small hardware store a nice six mile ride from our house.
They have an amazing collection of miscellaneous hardware, much more
than the nearby Lowe's. But my drawers and peanut butter jars of
salvaged bits have saved me countless trips.

--
- Frank Krygowski

You're lucky. The really nice hardware store in my area recently closed permanently. I don't know if it was due to Covid-19 shutdowns or not. they'll be missed. That hardware store was close enough that I could bring home an 8' x 4' sheet of 5/8" melamine on my bicycle. Graneted, I had to walk the bike home but it sure beat trying to carry that shet of melamine.
Maybe it's time to build a bike trailer?


--
- Frank Krygowski

I wouldn't want to be riding in traffic and towing a bicycle trailer with a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine lying on it. Talk about impeding traffic!

Cheers

My experience with similar is that Large Object rests on the
left (clean side) pedal and Operator walks on the right side
of the bike with a strap from stem to seatpost. Very manageable.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

There's no problem walking the bike with a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine attached to it. However, riding a bicycle and towing a trailer with that size melamine laying flat on the trailer will impede traffic.

I made two large hooks from angle brackets. One hook bolts onto an eyelet on the front fork and t he other bolts onto an eyelet on the rear dropout. A couple of straps with J-hooks secures the top long 8' edge of the melamine to the bicycle frame.

Cheers

On 3/25/2021 7:40 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 6:20:08 p.m. UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 4:14 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 3:25:18 p.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:19 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:45:28 a.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 8:53 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5,
wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB


The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and
schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached
it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that
depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back,
almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring
that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm.
It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar
spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing
construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a
place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might,
maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took
a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement
part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small
parts like that.


Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs, nylon
screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor brushes, oilite sleeves
etc - into drawers of a regular plastic parts rack. Not so much for
actual bicycles as the everything else set of building, truck, shop
equipment and so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood screws, clamps
and braces on and on. I agree that buying one such for a right-now
problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where material like file
and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so on provide raw material for
various projects.
My habits are like Andrew's. I rarely throw anything mechanical away
without opening it, if only to see how it works. ("Learn by
disassembling what's already destroyed?") But then, I'll often keep any
fasteners or other hardware bits that my prove useful some day. Why not?

To fix the pump, I opened my little drawer packed full of tiny springs:
https://images.thdstatic.com/product...24-64_1000.jpg
It took me maybe five minutes to find a decent substitute. To be honest,
most of the springs in that drawer were from a bulk bag of miscellaneous
springs I bought long ago. But not the one that worked!

We have a new, small hardware store a nice six mile ride from our house.
They have an amazing collection of miscellaneous hardware, much more
than the nearby Lowe's. But my drawers and peanut butter jars of
salvaged bits have saved me countless trips.

--
- Frank Krygowski

You're lucky. The really nice hardware store in my area recently closed permanently. I don't know if it was due to Covid-19 shutdowns or not. they'll be missed. That hardware store was close enough that I could bring home an 8' x 4' sheet of 5/8" melamine on my bicycle. Graneted, I had to walk the bike home but it sure beat trying to carry that shet of melamine.
Maybe it's time to build a bike trailer?


--
- Frank Krygowski

I wouldn't want to be riding in traffic and towing a bicycle trailer with a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine lying on it. Talk about impeding traffic!

Cheers

My experience with similar is that Large Object rests on the
left (clean side) pedal and Operator walks on the right side
of the bike with a strap from stem to seatpost. Very manageable.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

There's no problem walking the bike with a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine attached to it. However, riding a bicycle and towing a trailer with that size melamine laying flat on the trailer will impede traffic.

I made two large hooks from angle brackets. One hook bolts onto an eyelet on the front fork and t he other bolts onto an eyelet on the rear dropout. A couple of straps with J-hooks secures the top long 8' edge of the melamine to the bicycle frame.

I didn't mean you should use a trailer to carry future 4' x 8' sheets of
melamine. I suggested the trailer if you carry other large stuff home by
bike.

We used to pick up two kids from school by bike. I made a trailer to
carry their two bikes there, then to carry their backpacks etc. on the
ride from school to the library, popcorn shop, ice cream store,
playground, etc. and home. It was very handy.

BTW, it did impede traffic. A two wheel trailer is wide enough that a
cyclist can't share most lanes. We used mostly back streets, but did
have to use one busy but low speed street in the town center. We never
had a problem.

(Well, aside from "Where's your helmet?" Such nannies!)

--
- Frank Krygowski

Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 3:25:18 p.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:19 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:45:28 a.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/25/2021 8:53 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5,
wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB



The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and
schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached
it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that
depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back,
almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring
that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm.
It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar
spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing
construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a
place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might,
maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took
a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement
part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small
parts like that.


Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs, nylon
screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor brushes, oilite sleeves
etc - into drawers of a regular plastic parts rack. Not so much for
actual bicycles as the everything else set of building, truck, shop
equipment and so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood screws, clamps
and braces on and on. I agree that buying one such for a right-now
problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where material like file
and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so on provide raw material for
various projects.
My habits are like Andrew's. I rarely throw anything mechanical away
without opening it, if only to see how it works. ("Learn by
disassembling what's already destroyed?") But then, I'll often keep any
fasteners or other hardware bits that my prove useful some day. Why not?

To fix the pump, I opened my little drawer packed full of tiny springs:
https://images.thdstatic.com/product...24-64_1000.jpg

It took me maybe five minutes to find a decent substitute. To be honest,
most of the springs in that drawer were from a bulk bag of miscellaneous
springs I bought long ago. But not the one that worked!

We have a new, small hardware store a nice six mile ride from our house.
They have an amazing collection of miscellaneous hardware, much more
than the nearby Lowe's. But my drawers and peanut butter jars of
salvaged bits have saved me countless trips.

--
- Frank Krygowski

You're lucky. The really nice hardware store in my area recently closed
permanently. I don't know if it was due to Covid-19 shutdowns or not.
they'll be missed. That hardware store was close enough that I could
bring home an 8' x 4' sheet of 5/8" melamine on my bicycle. Graneted, I
had to walk the bike home but it sure beat trying to carry that shet of melamine.
Maybe it's time to build a bike trailer?


--
- Frank Krygowski

I wouldn't want to be riding in traffic and towing a bicycle trailer with
a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine lying on it. Talk about impeding traffic!

Cheers


Mount the 4x8 sheet vertically, then worry about cross winds.

On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 8:53:20 AM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB

The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back, almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm. It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might, maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small parts like that.

Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs,
nylon screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor
brushes, oilite sleeves etc - into drawers of a regular
plastic parts rack. Not so much for actual bicycles as the
everything else set of building, truck, shop equipment and
so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood
screws, clamps and braces on and on. I agree that buying one
such for a right-now problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where
material like file and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so
on provide raw material for various projects.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Man I could use a drawer like that right about now! The head and hose that I ordered just showed up an hour or so ago, and there's no way to fit the hose to the pump. The attachment looks like it would work, but it won't.

Found this page

https://www.blackburndesign.com/spare-parts/

looks like what I need is a #8023442 to either mix and match parts with what I already have, or just use a Blackburn pump head. The $4 list price made me really happy too. UNFORTUNATELY it appears to be discontinued, as I can't find any retailers that actually have it in stock, although I'll call the 1-800 number on that page on Monday to see if they happen to have a few left.

I guess this wasn't such a good deal after all, should have just bought a new Park or Joe Blow (OK, so there's a question there, anyone have an opinion?) and been done with it :/ this is what I get for trying to be cheap. OTOH, I did find a nice Luxman tuner/preamp for $20 once, at the same store even, that turns out sold for about $2000 new back in 1980. I did have to put about $200 into it (really needs a couple device specific accessories to work correctly) and some time fixing it (one op-amp had failed, I want to say at the input to the Tape 1 In?) and figuring out the remote codes (because you also can't use it really without the remote), but it's a cool thing to have, and that's what keeps me looking...

Nate

On 3/27/2021 3:34 PM, N8N wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 8:53:20 AM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB

The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back, almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm. It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might, maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small parts like that.

Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs,
nylon screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor
brushes, oilite sleeves etc - into drawers of a regular
plastic parts rack. Not so much for actual bicycles as the
everything else set of building, truck, shop equipment and
so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood
screws, clamps and braces on and on. I agree that buying one
such for a right-now problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where
material like file and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so
on provide raw material for various projects.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Man I could use a drawer like that right about now! The head and hose that I ordered just showed up an hour or so ago, and there's no way to fit the hose to the pump. The attachment looks like it would work, but it won't.

Found this page

https://www.blackburndesign.com/spare-parts/

looks like what I need is a #8023442 to either mix and match parts with what I already have, or just use a Blackburn pump head. The $4 list price made me really happy too. UNFORTUNATELY it appears to be discontinued, as I can't find any retailers that actually have it in stock, although I'll call the 1-800 number on that page on Monday to see if they happen to have a few left.

I guess this wasn't such a good deal after all, should have just bought a new Park or Joe Blow (OK, so there's a question there, anyone have an opinion?) and been done with it :/ this is what I get for trying to be cheap. OTOH, I did find a nice Luxman tuner/preamp for $20 once, at the same store even, that turns out sold for about $2000 new back in 1980. I did have to put about $200 into it (really needs a couple device specific accessories to work correctly) and some time fixing it (one op-amp had failed, I want to say at the input to the Tape 1 In?) and figuring out the remote codes (because you also can't use it really without the remote), but it's a cool thing to have, and that's what keeps me looking...

Nate


The versatile Topeak sets include an assortment of threaded
end pieces to fit many pumps bases but also a stainless hose
clamp for all the rest:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfr...t/topktwin.jpg

You might try that, reusing the original threaded barb in
your pump base and a hose clamp over that with your new hose.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 4:45:00 PM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/27/2021 3:34 PM, N8N wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 8:53:20 AM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB

The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I attached it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back, almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical spring that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm.. It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is there a place you can find different sizes of little tiny springs? I might, maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem with a spring if I took a pump head apart. But I would have no idea how to find a replacement part. Other than from the manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small parts like that.

Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs,
nylon screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor
brushes, oilite sleeves etc - into drawers of a regular
plastic parts rack. Not so much for actual bicycles as the
everything else set of building, truck, shop equipment and
so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood
screws, clamps and braces on and on. I agree that buying one
such for a right-now problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where
material like file and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so
on provide raw material for various projects.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Man I could use a drawer like that right about now! The head and hose that I ordered just showed up an hour or so ago, and there's no way to fit the hose to the pump. The attachment looks like it would work, but it won't.

Found this page

https://www.blackburndesign.com/spare-parts/

looks like what I need is a #8023442 to either mix and match parts with what I already have, or just use a Blackburn pump head. The $4 list price made me really happy too. UNFORTUNATELY it appears to be discontinued, as I can't find any retailers that actually have it in stock, although I'll call the 1-800 number on that page on Monday to see if they happen to have a few left.

I guess this wasn't such a good deal after all, should have just bought a new Park or Joe Blow (OK, so there's a question there, anyone have an opinion?) and been done with it :/ this is what I get for trying to be cheap. OTOH, I did find a nice Luxman tuner/preamp for $20 once, at the same store even, that turns out sold for about $2000 new back in 1980. I did have to put about $200 into it (really needs a couple device specific accessories to work correctly) and some time fixing it (one op-amp had failed, I want to say at the input to the Tape 1 In?) and figuring out the remote codes (because you also can't use it really without the remote), but it's a cool thing to have, and that's what keeps me looking...

Nate

The versatile Topeak sets include an assortment of threaded
end pieces to fit many pumps bases but also a stainless hose
clamp for all the rest:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfr...t/topktwin.jpg

You might try that, reusing the original threaded barb in
your pump base and a hose clamp over that with your new hose.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

I ordered the Smarthead mentioned earlier in this thread

https://www.amazon.com/Topeak-Floor-.../dp/B06XB1B29N

and it only came with the hardware shown in the picture. The hose fitting stuff was installed on the hose and the Dunlop adapter was the only loose part included. Seems like a step in the wrong direction

There is no threaded barb to reuse, the original hose for this pump must have looked very much like the Topeak attachment, but different. Obsolescence through incompatibility I guess. or TANSTAAFL...

Nate

N8N writes:

On Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 4:45:00 PM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/27/2021 3:34 PM, N8N wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 8:53:20 AM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/25/2021 1:04 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 9:30:21 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 10:14:09 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/23/2021 7:53 PM, wrote:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...UaAsCkEALw_wcB

The best pump hose/head available. Topeak. Both presta and
schrader. I have it on my Silca pump body in the garage. I
attached it using a small hose clamp.
Funny thing. I have that same hose and pump head, attached to an old
Nashbar floor pump. Today I tried to use it to inflate the Schrader
valves on my wife's folding bike. No dice; I think it failed to depress
the Schrader valve pin.

This has has happened before, but in the past just shaking the head
(which yielded a slight internal rattle) seemed to fix it. Not today. I
gave up and pumped using a Zefal HPX, and put the floor pump on my work
table to inspect tomorrow.
Followup: In my Topeak pump head, there's a slotted plunger that depresses the
schrader valve's pin. It's essentially a tube, open at the back, almost closed off at the
end that contacts the Schrader pin. There's a tiny helical
spring that sits in the back of that
tube, about 4mm diameter, maybe 15mm long, wire diameter about 0.2mm. It's roughly the
size of the spring in a retractable ball point pen.

Well, it was corroded and broken. I was able to find a similar spring, maybe a bit stiffer.
The pump head now works.

- Frank Krygowski

My experience in fixing stuff is limited. Other than fixing
construction, electrical wiring, plumbing in houses. But is
there a place you can find different sizes of little tiny
springs? I might, maybe, possibly be able to diagnose a problem
with a spring if I took a pump head apart. But I would have no
idea how to find a replacement part. Other than from the
manufacturer, and I doubt they sell small parts like that.

Here we just scavenge and sort that kind of thing- springs,
nylon screws, circlips, aerosol caps, electric motor
brushes, oilite sleeves etc - into drawers of a regular
plastic parts rack. Not so much for actual bicycles as the
everything else set of building, truck, shop equipment and
so on. Miniature screws and nuts (2mm and under0 are in a
plastic snap-top container, sheet metal screws and wood
screws, clamps and braces on and on. I agree that buying one
such for a right-now problem would be expensive and frustrating.

I also keep a steel drawer of 'nice but broken' where
material like file and wrench steel, hardened shafts and so
on provide raw material for various projects.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Man I could use a drawer like that right about now! The head and
hose that I ordered just showed up an hour or so ago, and there's
no way to fit the hose to the pump. The attachment looks like it
would work, but it won't.

Found this page

https://www.blackburndesign.com/spare-parts/

looks like what I need is a #8023442 to either mix and match parts
with what I already have, or just use a Blackburn pump head. The
$4 list price made me really happy too. UNFORTUNATELY it appears
to be discontinued, as I can't find any retailers that actually
have it in stock, although I'll call the 1-800 number on that page
on Monday to see if they happen to have a few left.

I guess this wasn't such a good deal after all, should have just
bought a new Park or Joe Blow (OK, so there's a question there,
anyone have an opinion?) and been done with it :/ this is what I
get for trying to be cheap. OTOH, I did find a nice Luxman
tuner/preamp for $20 once, at the same store even, that turns out
sold for about $2000 new back in 1980. I did have to put about
$200 into it (really needs a couple device specific accessories to
work correctly) and some time fixing it (one op-amp had failed, I
want to say at the input to the Tape 1 In?) and figuring out the
remote codes (because you also can't use it really without the
remote), but it's a cool thing to have, and that's what keeps me
looking...

Nate

The versatile Topeak sets include an assortment of threaded
end pieces to fit many pumps bases but also a stainless hose
clamp for all the rest:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfr...t/topktwin.jpg

You might try that, reusing the original threaded barb in
your pump base and a hose clamp over that with your new hose.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

I ordered the Smarthead mentioned earlier in this thread

https://www.amazon.com/Topeak-Floor-.../dp/B06XB1B29N

and it only came with the hardware shown in the picture. The hose
fitting stuff was installed on the hose and the Dunlop adapter was the
only loose part included. Seems like a step in the wrong direction

There is no threaded barb to reuse, the original hose for this pump
must have looked very much like the Topeak attachment, but different.
Obsolescence through incompatibility I guess. or TANSTAAFL...

Sorry to hear that. I have to admit I didn't actually order from
Amazon, I ordered from these guys:

https://www.modernbike.com/topeak-tw...-hose-adapters

I can't remember what came with it, except that it fit in easily in
place of an existing Joe Blow pump head.