Blackburn Air Tower 4
This thing is the biggest piece of shit I have ever owned. My mom got it for me for my birthday 7 months ago. She bought it because "it was the most expensive one they had" so she figured it would be a good one. Well it's not.
It has one of those auto switcher valves that is supposed to switch between presta and schrader depending on which hole is being used. If you are using presta and there's no pressure in the tire it won't work, the air just goes out the other hole. You have to cover the schrader hole with your thumb till you can't get anymore air in, then remove the head and put it back on. This should cause the stupid little valve to switch over to presta, allowing you to fill the tire the rest of the way.
Now on this pump, the up position of the lever is the one that locks the head onto the valve. So you open the lever to latch it on. Not only is this a little confusing and awkward but it causes an even bigger problem. When you push down on the lever to get it off the valve, you have to be pulling it off at the same time so you don't end up letting all the air out of your tire. It sounds simple enough, but in practice it's fairly difficult so you always let out some air after filling. It pretty much makes the pressure gauge useless because there's no way of knowing how much air you're letting out when you remove the head.
Remember the part about having to plug the schrader hole to get enough pressure in the tire for the valve switch to presta? Well, you can really only get about 40 psi into the tire before it starts leaking around your thumb. At this point you have to push down the lever and pull the head off the valve all while trying to keep the stupid schrader hole plugged with your thumb. If all this wasn't bad enough, it's pretty hard to get it back on without losing some air too. This whole process is so difficult that you lose almost all the air in the time it takes to get the damn thing off and back on again. When the pump was brand new it usually took me about three tries to get it to work, but after 7 months it doesn't work at all. I now have a pump that will only work on Schrader valves unless the tire I'm trying to inflate is already at about 60 psi.
aerobear: Gene, it's not cool to call women fat. The preferred term is "hambeast" .
I too find those auto switch valves annoying. Luckily the pump I had with one of those got warrantied and the new one has one of those cool single nozzles that accepts presta and schrader.
I think every pump I've ever owned (4 or 5) has the "open lever to lock it" function. I guess I'm used to it.
If you only use presta valves, the Silca pump head available here is really nice. Otherwise, I suppose you could look around for the reversible head that does both, or some other pump head that you like.
EroWit is our brand, which is written in green, means that we advocate green and low carbon style life, rolling on our rims will make you enjoy the happiness from riding and health life style. Now is the time to know more about these round creatures. ~EroWIT
Now that I think about it, maybe that's normal. It's just really awkward on this pump for some reason. I just tried to inflate a tire with a schrader adapter and had trouble gettting that to work, so I think it's just crapping out in general. I definitely need to be able to inflate both types of tires, I have like 20 bikes.
aerobear: Gene, it's not cool to call women fat. The preferred term is "hambeast" .
kemmer have you e-mailed blackburn about it??
doubt it, so before calling them pieces of shit.. give them a chance to fix their problem
http://www.blackburndesign.com/support.html
(dont follow the steps, e-mail them first, they will likely/free of charge send you a rebuild kit/new hose and head)
[url=rtsp://129.65.35.106:8000/stream.sdp]KCPR[/url] is more important than your entire life
I know they will, they do have great customer service. They have replaced the seat post clip for my rear light (which I love by the way) twice cause I keep breaking it. My issue is that this pump was crap when it was new. As soon as I get home, I will email them and update this thread.
aerobear: Gene, it's not cool to call women fat. The preferred term is "hambeast" .
I got some new whirpool parts to fix the washer and my wife was the happiest lady even though i did my own laundry before that now it's even more convenient for all of us.
I had to replace the valve on my Pedro. Get the specialized switch hitter.