On 12/19/2018 5:48 PM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Wednesday, December 19, 2018 at 5:23:12 PM UTC, wrote:
On Sunday, December 16, 2018 at 4:10:44 PM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/16/2018 5:15 PM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Sunday, December 16, 2018 at 4:44:11 PM UTC, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/15/2018 4:19 PM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Saturday, December 15, 2018 at 3:04:35 PM UTC, wrote:
I am a fan of the Rennkompressor / Zefal Husky as well.

A while back, I posted the information below on Bikeforums.net

I am a big fan of the SKS Rennkompressor which is about $55. Made in Germany, cast iron base, leather pump cup, parts available. Was also sold for many years as the Zefal Husky. They have used several different pump heads over the years but the old style and simplest one that comes with a presta adapter on a chain is, in my opinion, the best. I have several of them but I also have an use a variety of Blackburn and Bontrager floor pumps that get the job done as well. I've put SKS pumps in the hands of my kids, brother, at my dad's house and my cycling partners so I know there's a working pump. Silcas are durable pumps but overpriced since the company was purchased and moved to USA to become a boutique brand. No longer produced but sold under many brands was the Medai Top Super which was made in Japan. SKS, Silca, Medai all use leather pump cups, whereas most pumps use O-rings. If you're not in a hurry, I'd look around for a used SKS Rennkompressor, Zefal Husky, Medai Top Supe
r o
r,
if you're a presta only person, a Silca. You may have to invest a bit of time and effort into a hose and head but you'll have a good heavy duty pump.

SKS info
https://www.sks-germany.com/en/products/rennkompressor/
Medai Info
http://www.bikepro.com/products/pumps/medai.html

Looks like the common factor is the leather suction cup.

The SKS Rennkompressor sold under the Zefal brand as a Husky is well named: despite its slender appearance, the Rennkompressor is a powerful pump that moves hefty amounts of air quickly.

Master Muzi: Bonus Points for identifying not only the designer (1) of the car, the original manufacturer (hint: though commonly rendered in u/l case, it is in fact an acronym and should be all caps) and model, and the country in which the one in the photo was made, but also the name under which it was sold. Difficulty Level: This is Expert Stuff. LJK Setright will be proud of you when you get it right.

Andre Jute
Brand engineering

(1) Arguably one of the great unsung humanitarians of the 20th century, though not to pedal cyclists.


Great question. I don't know. 1972/3/4-ish from the styling
Acronym, eh? Not Fiat, NSU, Audi, SEAT, Simca- I give up.
What is it?

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

To me it looks like a Polish-made FIAT 125 (rather than 124 or 128). There's not quite enough visual information here to lash out dispositive answers (the 125 was made many other places than Italy), except perhaps to a real small car expert, which I'm not. A fellow who worked for me had a FIAT 124 coupe, which gave its chassis and 1608cc engine to the 125, as his company car and I drove it once but only on a good road, fast, empty and unchallenging to almost any Italian car you care to mention; it reminded me of the 1500 (the Boano-designed 1950s type, not the prewar streamliner), which was a beautiful and responsive car in which it was possible to make surprisingly high averages on B roads. I also had a 100bhp 125S on loan when FIAT was my client and that was a superior car to the contemporary Lotus Cortina (which tended to fall apart). The factory hotrod 125S would not be matched in any department until the bigger-engined 2 litre OHC Cortina GT a decade or more later, which w
as
a rocket and beqeathed its notably competent suspension to the surprising (European) Mondeo, still the best reasonably priced family car for those need a lot of space but who don't need the prestige of a BMW or a Mercedes.

The engineer in question was Dante Giacosa, designer in the 1930s of the Topolino, the most humane car ever designed, and the 500 and 124 as well. I had another of his cars, the 850 Spider with the Bertone body, which was a nippy little commuter and a great drive even on Australian roads that favour big, low-revving motors. Also, an actor in a play I produced drove an 850 saloon which I borrowed once; it was a dynamic little ugly duckling. Giacosa invented the transverse engine mounting and drive arrangements now standard in front drive cars.

AJ
Now let us praise famous men -- Ecclesiastes


Bicycle content from a formerly regular RBT contributor:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/fiat1.jpg



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

The interesting thing is that Fiat used to have factories in many countries in order to avoid the entrance taxes. Shades of Trump trying to get fair trade practices.

Some of those "foreign" factories didn't belong to FIAT. Centrally planned economies would buy FIAT's tooling and set up their own factories, and in that way acquire a competently designed car with a world-class track record. (Anything had to be better than a Trabant!) Even so, their product was rarely of the same standard as the real FIATs. How they managed to screw up the drivability of a car built from the same blueprints and with the same machinery, I don't even want to guess at.

Andre Jute
The Peter Principle may apply


The phrase of the era was, "We pretend to work, they pretend
to pay us."

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