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Old December 7th 18, 07:30 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Andre Jute[_2_]
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Default SKS RENNKOMPRESSOR: A superior, recommended floor pump

On Friday, December 7, 2018 at 5:37:29 PM UTC, duane wrote:
On 07/12/2018 12:24 p.m., Andre Jute wrote:
WHAT I SHOULD HAVE ADDED TO THE SKS RENNKOMPRESSOR OVERVIEW.

For those too busy or slack to follow the links, there's an important piece of information I didn't mention because it should be obvious, but apparently some commenters didn't grasp the point.

***The Rennkompressor is a full-size stand-, garage- or foot-pump.*** It stands tall even when closed, reaching past hip height on short people, and nearly to hip height on tall people. The barrel is long and thin, which is how it achieves the enormous pressure of 16 bar while still permitting fast pumping on the stages where speed matters. To fill even a 622x60mm Big Apple, an enormous volume of air for a bicycle tyre, to 2 or 3 bar takes just a few strokes because even in the thin barrel the height assures a very substantial volume of air.

When you see one of those fashionable modern so-called stand-pumps against the Rennkompressor you understand instantly that you've been shortchanged: those things are only half the height or less (!) of a proper garage pump like the Rennkompressor... Of course reaching an even remotely respectable pressure on these cafe racer fashion accessories will take umpteen gazillion strokes because the shorts barrel simply isn't all that capacious.

You don't carry the Rennkompressor with you on the bike. It's fabulous too for people who cannot bend too far.

I hope that clears up some misunderstandings without addressing each individually.

BTW, I have an electric compressor with a storage tank for my airbrush and all kinds of valve fittings came in the extensive kit with it, probably a Presta or at least Shrader head as well. I've been wondering if I could use this compressor on bicycle tyres but have done nothing to test it as I pump up my tyres only once a month since a wide variety of inflation pressures are safe now I'm not such a speed freak (I no longer go over 50kph on bad surfaces) and no longer hop up on or down from sidewalks.

Andre Jute
I suppose when I'm 90 I'll have to try those little cylinders of compressed air on my bike. Sigh. Some emanations of modernity are so dispiriting.

On Thursday, December 6, 2018 at 2:26:02 PM UTC, Andre Jute wrote:
A floor pump I really like, to the extent that we have two of them, is the SKS Rennkompressor. It has several available heads, but the best one is a double-hole head with a flip lever; I imagine that it won't last as long as the also available brass and steel heads, and that in a few years the plastic and rubber double-hole head will have to be replaced, but that doesn't bother me, as I have spare parts laid in, and the Rennkompressor is famous for having been rebuildable for about half a century now. It's an aesthetically, kinesthetically and operationally pleasing pump and, of course, its speed leaves those miniature abominations curled up and dying in its dust, which helps a lot if you're trying to fill 622x60mm Big Apples.

On this page
https://www.sks-germany.com/en/products/rennkompressor/
you can see the pump, same as you see on the TdF, all it's four heads -- the one I like, called the Multi Valve, is second from the left (as I say, likely the least long-lived but also the most convenient) and below that you can click for the amazingly complete available replacement parts list.

Mine came from one of the two German dealers I like and cost about 50 Euro delivered to my door in Ireland.

None of the spares I laid in have been required in the ten years or so since I bought the pumps, and people who bought them on my recommendation are also very pleased with the SKS Renkompressor. The only criticism I ever heard is that the analogue manometer dial near the folding footplate is distant and small and not very finely graduated for those who want to pump up balloons and other low-pressure tyres because the pump is primarily intended for putting 15 or 16 bar in narrow racing tyres with a couple of quick strokes. That doesn't bother me, because by the time I want to use the pump I'm wearing my cycling spectacles, which are optimized to making eye contact with a motorist entering from a T-junction 30 or 40 feet away, so I have no problem reading the dial, and I'm a belt and braces man who anyway checks with an electronic gauge as well.

A superior, recommended floor pump.

Andre Jute
There's a reason so many racing teams use the SKS Rennkompressor



I've had this one for 10 years or so:
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ai...=220393-130455

Before that I tried several that were worthless junk. Like you say,
it's nice to find something that does a good job.

For the on the bike pump, I'm doing pretty much what Jay is doing.
Small air stick and C02. I was using the Zefal HPX 2 for god knows how
long. More than 20 years. Very good pump. But it didn't fit on the
Tarmac frames.


That stand-pump looks like the business. You can see that the pump has the right length to work quickly. I wouldn't mind a dial gauge that big.

The last time we had a bike that an HPX would fit on was a Raleigh, an ever-breaking POS that I gave away as soon as my son no longer required it. None of them would fit on the Dutch commuter styles that looked superficially the same or the Trek which was developed on an American mountain bike frame..

AJ
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