Re: [CR] Silca or CO2?

(Example: Production Builders:LeJeune)

Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:23:05 -0700
From: "Steve Whitting" <ciocc_cat@yahoo.com>
To: Eric Keller <keller.ee@gmail.com>, Ken Freeman <kenfreeman096@gmail.com>
Cc: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] Silca or CO2?


My current Silca Impero frame pump (purchased in the late 80s for my Ciocc) stll works just fine.  The white plastic has taken on a very light tannish hue, but is otherwise intact.

Silca Impero was the pump-of-choice on most top-of-the-line-bikes in the 1970s-80s.  Unlike C02 pumps, they don't ever run out of gas.

Steve Whitting
"The Ciocc Cat"
Prairieville, Louisiana USA
Website at http://ciocc-cat.angelfire.com/


--- On Mon, 6/29/09, Ken Freeman wrote:


From: Ken Freeman <kenfreeman096@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Silca or CO2? To: "Eric Keller" <keller.ee@gmail.com> Cc: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Monday, June 29, 2009, 7:56 PM

I have a few Silca Impero frame pumps that I haven't tried to use except to see if they deliver pressure (they do!).  I recall it took some technique to actually fill a tire with them.  I need to do a little practicing and again learn what it takes.

Ken Freeman Ann Arbor, MI USA

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Eric Keller <keller.ee@gmail.com> wrote:
> All my Silcas have died of old age, or in one case, being run over by my
> wife.
> It's more than a little sad, they are very good pumps.  I still have a
> stash of
> Campy heads for them though.  If it's taking a long time to pump up a tire
> with a Silca, it's possible that the main tube has developed a hairline
> crack.
> That's how my first one died.
>
> I now use a combo CO2/pump.
> Eric Keller
> Boalsburg, PA
>
> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM, David
> Manderscheid<dmanderscheid@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I had a flat while riding my 76 Masi yesterday and it took forever, it
> > seemed, to get a rideable pressure in my spare sewup using my silca with
> > campy metal head. Fellow riders were amused and suggested I enter the
> modern
> > age and use CO2 cartridges. Are they safe for sewups? Any gotchas?
> >
> > Thanks
> > David Manderscheid
> > Lincoln, NE