Hating SKS

[tyreon]

Ever hate something promised that it isnt?

I was alive when Jimmy Saville  used to advertise for BR. I didnt hate JS but BR. It had Sir Jim relaxing on a train with a ditty song saying how relaxing and comfortable and easy such journeys are. They were HELL. Late,overcrowded,cancelled or thrid world cattle trucks. They just werent as advertised.

Soon,other companies and politicians offered Heaven,but then never delivered.

But recently I replaced a dual headed SKS trsck pump head with another because the old(but relatively new)track pump head didnt seem to work. I bought the new dual head track pump head....and that doesnt seem to work.

Oh,yeh,you gotta break the seal by putting your thumb across the presta head outlet to relase the wothchamacallit to make it switch over to the schrader vale. Do what? Yeh,that or place the head in water and blow and....story goes on for 99 pages. Has anyone got an axe spare. WTF! I'm olde.my wofe's getting on,I have a bad back,my garden alley is often a Siberian wind tunnel. WTF! Does anyone make anything that works thesedays.? I've only just blown up my town bikes tyres to the recommended pressures: I'm exhausted. I was within an inch of having to take my bike by car down to the cycle shop to have my tyres inflated. That's goodbye an hour. Instead I had to faff around for 30 back breaking minutes to get another gizmo that attaches to the shraeder valve that then attaches to the SKS dual head and the pumps tubing. Wottacarryon.

Is SKS havin a laugh? Anyone out there with any other simple job that works on both shraeder and presta valves that doesnt involve dying before your tyre is inflated?

[mickeg]

I am not familiar with SKS pumps.

My several year old Toppeak Joe Blow works fine with both valve typs.  Looking at their current offering, they changed the chuck.  Mine has a gray chuck for presta, black for shrader.  Now, both are black and labeled with P or S.

There is a lever that you turn away from the tire to tighten the chuck on the valve stem.  Works best if you cover the unused chuck with your thumb or finger tip when you press it onto a valve stem to reduce loss of air before you turn the lever.

There is a 48 second video that shows how it works on the USA Amazon site:
www.amazon.com/Topeak-Blow-Sport-Pressure-Floor/dp/B077KXQ995/

[Andre Jute]

I'm surprised that you have trouble with anything SKS makes. I have quite a bit of their gear, and it is likely that almost everyone on this forum has at least something from SKS, even if they don't know it. (Those baffled by this remark could ask who made their mudguards.)

We liked the SKS Rennkompressor so much that we bought a couple more. It's a tall orange pump much used by professional racing mechanics, hence the name. Far too large and awkward to take along on a bike for roadside use. It stands at the top of the SKS range of pumps, priced accordingly but worth it because a full panoply of spares and rebuild parts for this ancient design is available for pennies if unfortunately priced accordingly; there's also a more modern-appearing version painted blue with a choice of digital and analog pressure readouts, but I don't see the point of replacing pumps that are working perfectly. It used to come with a choice of four heads, now three, including the most useful for cyclists, which has both Presto and Schraeder ports, operated by an over-centre flip lock. Absolutely no problem with mine in roundabout fifteen years; in fact, I appreciate its height as I don't bend so well any more. It moves a high column of air, so it is a boon for the 622x60mm Big Apples I use, even though it was designed for quickly pumping up high pressure narrow racing tyres.

In particular, the right head for a cyclist is black and orange, and there's no faffing around: you just push it on the valve in the correct hole to match your valve and flip the lock. But at least one of the other two heads, all interchangeable with the ones we have, is a pre-War design of brass with a serrated nut on it that I took one look at and rejected as hostile to my skin; I do however know a four-seasons Dutch cyclist who prefers this design as the simplest engineering and therefore the one least likely to give trouble. The heads come with the tube attached, so they are attached to the pump end. The available heads are shown here:
https://www.sks-germany.com/en/products/rennkompressor/
and the one most cyclists would need is this one:


Thorn HQ has stock at SJS, see this link:
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/pumps/sks-rennkompressor-floor-pump-mv-head/
and scroll down for the various alternative heads.

[Tiberius]

tyreon Sir.

I can't really help you with your pump but I just had to post this reply.

I'm guessing that you don't live in the north of England? I say that because the railway service here is MUCH worse than it ever was in the days of British Rail/Jimmy Savile.

[julk]

I use the one shown by Andre and it works well for me on a variety of bikes.
Julian

[tyreon]

You have it there Andre. That's my one. And my one before the one I have now!

The trouble is when I go to pump the air doesn't come out to go in from the schraeder outlet,but comes outta the Prestatyn fitting. I am told to cover the Presta outlet with a finger to pop the small ball inside so as to pop  the air  flow into the schraeder outlet. Tried. Several times. It don't work,and as I have to pump whilst covering the other outlet my OH has to help.

Still no go

I did manage to inflate the tyre using another gizmo that attaches to tube valve  and sks pump head,but what a palaver. The locking system doesn't seem too good either. I might have it wrong,but if I have I've bin doing it wrong for 40 years.

Got over the frustration now...until next time.

Frustrating...

[Andre Jute]

I've never run into that trouble but it must be said our pumps, though quite a few years old, aren't heavily used -- I use the one nearest my bike once a month.

It sounds like you need a new head which, since it is only available attached to the tube, means you're going to be out of twenty quid plus postage from SJS. Ouch!

[martinf]

I have 3 of the SKS stirrup pumps.

One is between 30 and 40 years old. It has a wide barrel. I fitted this with a dedicated Schrader valve head (probably no longer available) after my  Schrader valve foot pump broke about 24 years ago. I use this pump for inflating the tyres on my wheelbarrow, the trolley that I use for moving heavy items of furniture and on hire cars or vans if the tyres aren't properly inflated when I get them.

The second one has a narrow barrel, like the current Rennkompressor, and a brass head for Presta valves. It's about 24 years old, I use it for all the family bicycles. There is a rubber washer inside the brass head that gradually wears out when used fairly intensively. Until a few years ago I could get spare washers at my LBS, but after that closed I ordered several at a time to save on shipping costs.

The third one is more recent, also narrow barrel, and came with the orange and black dual head. This one is at our island flat and gets less use. 

[Danneaux]

I have occasionally had problems with my inflation-related SKS products and found my (US) headquarters to be responsive in handling my claims placed during the 5-year warranty period that covers non-electronic products and 2 years/6 months on electronics. Each time, the product -- mostly digital tire pressure gauges with electronic faults -- were replaced promptly and without a quibble. One time, they replaced a broken set of mudguards like-for like, even funding the postage to get them to me. I didn't have to send my old items back...documenting the fault with text and photos was enough.

I did have one problem with the inflation head on my 12 year-old Rennkompressor floor pump -- the pivot pin for the thumb lock kept working itself out, leaking air 'round the chuck seal. Quickest solution for me was to replace the pin with a long-shank stainless allen head bolt and nut with washers and a nylock nut. Problem solved.

Oddly, the German homesite for SKS shopfinder doesn't appear to list a UK dealer...
https://www.sks-germany.com/en/service/shopfinder/

Their warranty/service contact page is here in case you want to make an inquiry...
https://www.sks-germany.com/en/company/contact/

Do note, they exclude "wearing parts" -- hence my going with a DIY on the thumb lock pivot pin rather than making an inquiry.

As a tip, I found service much more responsive and speedy making contact through SKS' Facebook page via Messenger for my US inquiries...
https://www.facebook.com/SKSUSA

Best, Dan.

[WorldTourer]

SKS mudguards are, as we on this Thorn/SJS forum know, legendary. However, everything else the company makes like pumps and multitools seems not particularly competitive over plenty of other brands. For pumps, the excellent Lezyne mini pump that I own has shifted my brand loyalty there should I ever need to buy a floor pump.

[martinf]

SKS mudguards are, as we on this Thorn/SJS forum know, legendary. However, everything else the company makes like pumps and multitools seems not particularly competitive over plenty of other brands. For pumps, the excellent Lezyne mini pump that I own has shifted my brand loyalty there should I ever need to buy a floor pump.

The two Lezyne pumps I have are good, and have already lasted much longer than the cheaper pumps they replaced. I have a very small Lezyne mini-pump with the flexible screw-on connector, reversible for Presta and Schrader. This goes with my everyday toolkit on nearly every local ride and is used as a "get me home" pump.

I have a Lezyne "mini" floor pump for tours where I may need to top up tyre pressure.

[Andre Jute]

Schrader

I too think Schrader without the extra "e" is correct but my spell-checker is bolshie.

I received a Topeak Peak DX pump with tube fitting (to go under a water bottle cage fitting, clever space saving) as a gift in the box of "Welcome kit" with my Utopia Kranich and have carried it ever since as it is the one actually useful mini-pump I own, the rest being simply a waste of time and effort (except a cheap brand with a gauge I bought at Lidl for less than tenner, which pumped excellently but was fragile plastic, step on it once and goodbye). After all the money and time wasted on finding a good minipump, I've had occasion to use the Peak DX perhaps half a dozen times, most of them on other people's bikes.

[davefife]

https://images.app.goo.gl/1Ez4uy9YKHjHy1QN7
Here at Dave's bike Shed (year 14 of trading!) I have used since day one a sks renn, i now use the above head as i struggled for a few years with that fitted to the pump originally (orange and black shown earlier); when required to inflate maybe a dozen tyres/day you have no need or time to faff with tools.
It works, i'm perhaps on my 3rd Beto head and always have a new one ready to fit, its low cost as well.
D

[Mike Ayling]

All our bikes have presta valves and our floor pump is a 35yo Silca with a single Presta chuck which I have replaced once.

My on the road pumps are a variety of Zefal HPX models.

[B cereus]

All our bikes have presta valves and our floor pump is a 35yo Silca with a single Presta chuck which I have replaced once.

My on the road pumps are a variety of Zefal HPX models.

I won’t be replacing my ancient Silca Super Pista pump just yet. I’ve owned it since the early eighties and unlike most modern pumps it relies on a leather cup washer to maintain pressure. Spare parts are still available, albeit at eye wateringly expensive prices (both replacement leather cup washers and the rubber seals for the push on brass chuck are currently £13.99 each from SJS) Fortunately I managed to buy half a dozen of the chuck seals for 50p each at a cycle jumble some years back and I made a simple tool to produce my own leather cup washers.