meic wrote:The Joe Blow has a nice visible red arrow head on the rotating bevel that you can set at the required pressure, then it is easily seen when it lines up with the needle of the gauge, even at that great distance.
Unless you have a partner who resets it to her desired tyre pressure
Vorpal wrote: SKS publish their parts lists on-line, so it's quite easy to see what can be replaced.
finding a stockist is another matter though; for example in the UK SJS have a lot of parts but even they don't stock all the theoretically available SKS spares.
thirdcrank wrote:What I think of as the original SKS was a sort of industrial-grade piece of equipment with every part numbered and listed and (theoretically) available separately as a spare part: entirely functional with no concessions to style or anything else. Robust....
yes; I didn't emphasise this point before, but those Rennkompressor parts which are not available are extremely unlikely to break or can be fixed using other means. A similar argument applies to older Silca models.
On the "own brand" aspect, unlike the one shown in the SJSC pic above, the dial of mine just says "Made in Germany" in tiny lettering and isn't branded SKS. While I could well imagine that SKS buy in their gauges and have them labelled by the gauge manufacturer, it still seems to make the spare part more brand-specific. It's the direction a lot of things are heading in a throwaway society.
Bonefishblues wrote:... Hasn't yours got the turney-pointy indicator needle thingy?
Yes, but standing up, I don't find it easy to see small detail by my feet. That's not the guage, but the needle. I suppose it's something to do with varifocals but mine aren't set up for reading something near my feet. Perhaps the same detail at eye level but 5 feet away would be ok. I'm not saying illegible, just "not at all easy to see." Shelling out megabucks, you want it right, or rather I do.
A bit Heath-Robinson, perhaps, but have you thought about clamping a fresnel lens to the main cylinder above the gauge? That should help you to see it much more easily.
mattsccm wrote:How are your eyes? My Renncompressor is great but I work in PSI and can't read the numbers as they are smaller than the Bar ones. Hmm Anyone got an old Silca they don't want? The plastic bit inside mine has died and can't be bought.
IIRC the plastic bit sometimes cracks. IIRC it is possible to refangle the piston assy such that it retain the plastic piece as a low-friction guide (good), but the washer is clamped by two half-thickness nuts and washers, without the clamping load or the air pressure load passing through the plastic piece.
One thing that causes the plastic piece to crack for sure is swinging like a chimp when tightening the nuts that secure the piston assy.
BTW if you are struggling to see the numbers, but you can still see the needle on the gauge, just make some paint marks (or apply pieces of tape or something) on the periphery of the gauge so that you can set known (favourite) pressures accurately.
cheers
An elegant way to do that which is employed in industry, is to cut a circle of thin red acetate of the exact diameter to fit under the gauge glass bezel and then cut a wedge out and insert a piece of green acetate in its place ( so it looks like a pie chart). The width of the green wedge sets the tolerances of max/min pressure that you are looking for. Its then very easy to quickly see if the needle is in the green = OK or in the red = too low (or too high).
Of course, if you have more than one bike, or differing tyre pressure requirements, it doesn't suit.
Last edited by Airsporter1st on 13 Sep 2017, 9:36am, edited 2 times in total.
Re my specs, as I posted above, I have varifocals and that may be part of it. For anybody who doesn't know how they work, they are optimised so the different areas of the lens do different things like distance vision and close up work. Reading something near your feet isn't catered for. Let me say, I do manage and my only reason for mentioning this was as something to be aware of when shelling out on a long-term purchase. Not a big deal but something to be aware of. I see that others have experienced something similar. It's never prompted me to start a thread seeking help.
Many thanks for so much info. I tried a five year old Joe Blow this morning, to see what I thought of the head, which was fine. On the basis of that and the positive comments on here, I've ordered the Sprint version for the higher level gauge and longer hose. Collect from Halfords tomorrow, time to see if I get the CUK discount, but at £36 it still looks like a decent buy. As the main criteria was longevity, look out for the review in a decade or so...
I'm returning to this because I'm thinking of gradually passing my family mechanic duties to my elder grandson who will be twelve in the New Year. He's stronger than I am and nearly as tall.
The criteria are that it needs to fit both types of valve without complicated rebuilding of the head and robust enough to withstand youthful mishandling while remaining reliable.
From rereading this thread, it looks as though the Joe Blow Sport fits the bill. If I have understood it correctly, its head has both types of output, selected by switching a lever. I see that the current version is a Mark II. I'm impressed by a couple of reports of long-term use by long-term forum members above but can anybody comment on whether the apparent change from Mark I to II is an improvement or a corner-cutting move?
That may be why Halfords are selling the Mk II relatively cheaply. If there's much difference, I can't see it. The Mk II certainly meets my criteria as above.
Just saw this (oops) after posting a query in the Goods and Services section about track pumps. My main query is about how much force the different pumps need - my old SKS pump has had it and I got a replacement from the LBS which is much harder work. It will do for now (was not expensive and does the job fine) but I want something which doesn’t need so much weight on the handle.
I see that the SKS Renncompressor seems well thought of - is that easy (low force needed) to use? I am sure that barrel diameter must be a major factor (balance between speed of inflation and pumping force required).
