On Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 2:12:22 PM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/5/2018 3:57 PM, news18 wrote:
On Wed, 05 Dec 2018 15:15:50 -0500, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 12/5/2018 1:38 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 12:52:54 PM UTC-5, Mark J. wrote:
On 12/5/2018 9:22 AM, wrote:

The HPX was great. Too bad they ceased production.

Huh? I thought I saw a newly-stocked one in my LBS just last week.
Did you mean the \mountain\ version was discontinued?

Mark J.

I bought several of them off of the Internet but they mostly were worn
out. The French used a lot of natural rubber which rots.


It's still on the Zefal website.

http://www.zefal.com/en/traditional-pumps/32-hpx.html

And what a weird retronym, to now call it a "traditional" pump.

I call it a pump.

Well, it is. It works the same way as most hand bicycle pumps I have,
from the brass to the plastic to the aluminium of the HPX.
You with draw the rod and the washer "shrinks" to allow air into the
resulting vacum and when you depress the rod, the plunger expands and
drives air out the connector. The only difference is the material of
construction; brass and wood, all plastic, and aluminium and plastic.

The only oddity is the plastic "fingers' on the HPX to have one end mate
to a part of the frame. The Zefal MTN bike pump is just a fatter, shorter
version of the old brass pump.


Well, yes, but in fairness the distinguishing feature of HPX
is a very functional simple method to compress the valve
seal tightly by throwing the lever. The flip side of that is
simple, easy release (the lack of which riders bitch about
with certain other pumps).

Ingeniously, the head disassembles easily with fingers,
another positive design feature IMHO.

Not to discount your note on Zéfal wings, the first
replaceable nylon frame interface, but that wasn't all HPX
brought to us.

Plus, you could flip the washer around and turn it into a Schrader valve so you could be a Joerg-like super-helpful person and pump the flat tires of the hapless people with Schrader valves found stranded on the trail -- dying of dehydration and starvation, miles away from the nearest brewpub.

My problem with the HPX was that the lever on the head could go flaccid and get caught on stuff. I suppose that was the function of an old or improperly tightened washer retaining ring, but IIRC, I had that problem even when the ring was tight. Otherwise, the pumps worked well.

However, I prefer the RoadMorph on my commuter. I like the built in gauge and the fact that it is a mini floor pump. No worry about fretting the valve stem. On the super-fast bikes, I use mini clown pumps and CO2 cartridges -- so I can fill the tire fast and chase back on to the peleton! Really, though, when you're wiped out from riding hard and get a flat, it is really nice to not have to pump anything -- particularly 500 strokes on the clown pump.

-- Jay Beattie.