[TheThinkTank] On Shop tools

[Peter Morsch]

Sherief and all-

Not to be tooting corporate horn, but I've yet to see a more durable pump
than the Specialized "air tool" floor pump
http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCEqSection.jsp?sid=EquipPumps. They
wholesale for 15, sell outright for around 40, and I've pumped so danged
many tires with them I can't count (shop use at the commercial operation I
wrenched with went into the tens of thousands of hours without a break down-
that's pretty burly).

Our Park chainbreaker has withstood some abuse- the trick is to keep it
greased, and to be careful when you swap the (replace-able) pin pusher (ours
finally cross threaded). You can get extra life out of the replaceable pin
pusher tip by filing or bench-grinding down the smushed tip (get it to taper
a bit, and it becomes happily self-centering). Should you BEND the tip, you
can stick it in a vice and "true it up" again, bending it straight with a
pliers.

In general, it pays to pay more up front, especially if stuff's replaceable.

Oh, and you can make presta air-chucks for your compressor (get a Silca
brass Presta head, a short section surgical tubing, and connect it to a
standard, push-button chuck with some small hose clamps... they are long
lasting (and save some pumping effort for 120 psi road tires! make sure you
limit out your compressors output!)).

In Cooperation-
Pete Morsch,
FMCBW
www.fmbikeworkshop.org

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 11:53 AM, Sherief <sgaber at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> This is Sherief from the Austin Yellowbike, and I was hoping to pool the
> thinktank's experience with shop tools prone to breakage and the like.
> We're currently having huge issues keeping up with Chain Tools and Presta
> Valve pumps especially... it feels like not a week goes by without at least
> one of each of these tools breaking.  W/r/t the chain tools, we recently
> switched from the nicer Park tools to the cheapest we could get out of the
> catalog, but with the way those break there's effectively no net savings and
> even when they are functioning the new cheap ones are no good.  We try to
> make sure people know how to use the tools before they do, etc.  But my
> question(s) today is: Do people have any similar experience out there with
> broken/breakable tools-- specifically good ways to prevent these breakages?
> Does anyone have any recommendations for good chain tools /PV pumps that can
> withstand a bit of overeager volunteerin g?
>
>
> Best,
> Sherief
>
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>
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>


-- 
Pete Rasmus Morsch
701.866.0962

Collective Member,
Fargo-Moorhead Community Bicycle Workshop www.fmbikeworkshop.org

There is no happiness if the things we believe in are different than the
things we do.
-- Albert Camus, Philosopher, Writer
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