A Tale of Two Pumps

Our story starts somewhere around the year 2001. The nightmares of Y2K had come and gone and I was working in a bike shop in Wilson, WY. At some point during my half-decade at the shop, I picked up a bright orange Pedro's Prestige floor pump. Lots of tools have come and gone from my toolboxes, as standards have done the same, and my maintenance needs have evolved but this one has hung around. It even survived the Dark Years from about 2010 to 2015 where I drifted away from biking for a bit. But while I've gotten rid of my remaining ISIS crank extractors and cone wrenches (sorry, Mike), that same floor pump is still with me, with less orange paint than it came with but a few more stories to tell.

I can say with confidence it's been used more times than any other tool I own. Nearly every time I head out the door on a bicycle, both tires get a quick air check. It gets called into use for every tire installation, big trip, and even the occasional toddler-sized basketball inflation. And the reality is ol' orange has never failed me. It's been a great pump.

Nostalgia and memories aside, it's not a very nice pump to use anymore. Yes, it still compresses air into tires, but the action is rough from dents in the main tube and untold wear inside the barrel, and the gauge is pretty tough to read. But that doesn't really matter, as there's no real accuracy left in it, anyway. The grips are tattered. The base doesn't sit level anymore. We're not in the worst of times, but I've been coming to terms with the fact that it could probably be replaced.

Let's generously call it well-patinated, and agree that after more than two decades, my trusty orange Pedro's doesn't owe me anything. I am - for the most part - over cheap tools.* Tools need to be highly functional, durable, and efficient to use. With some design thinking and the right materials, good tools should be a pleasure to use and in a time when price inflation seems rampant in the grocery store and bike industry, perhaps some nice inflation is exactly where a few extra dollars are well spent.

*I allow some key exceptions to this on tools that get used very rarely. I don't need shop-quality star-fangled nut setting tools, and my Ali-express type bottom bracket press is just fine. When looking for a replacement for the most used tool in my shop, there was really only one name to look at.

SILCA is a name that - for tool nerds - shouldn't need an introduction as a bastion of quality. It's been the name in heirloom quality inflation instruments for bicycles for 107 years. In a similar vein to how in Mercedes S-Class luxury vehicles, features like seatbelt pre-tensioners and reliable ABS are now ubiquitous, SILCA was the first company to use built-in gauges, and manufactured the first high pressure frame pump. But the brand today is, in many ways, only around 10 years old; the SILCA name was purchased out of receivership in 2014 and brought to the USA, growing from now-owner Josh's coffee table into a 12,000 square foot facility in Indianapolis, IN, providing both new products and support for SILCA legacy products.

The modern incarnation of SILCA would carve out a name for itself with the SuperPista Ultimate floor pump, the current version of which sells for an absolutely eye-watering 725 CAD. But it's a product that you can see where the dollars go. Every individual component from the hefty zinc base through the classic SILCA cupped leather gasket to the lathe-turned purpleheart wood handle has been carefully designed and crafted to be both functional and durable. It is peerless, and I'd urge everyone to stop by their local high-end road bike shop and pick one up at least once just to experience the best of times through a sliding a pump guided by an IGUS linear bearing.

The SuperPista Ultimate may be the stuff of dreams, but in my world of bicycles the very traditional 0-160 PSI gauge isn't terribly useful*, and while I like a nice tool, there still has to be a budget. The majority of my tire pressurization needs are between 20 and 35 PSI, with occasional forays above and below these marks.

Fortunately, for the slightly budget-minded among us who don't need 160 PSI, SILCA now makes the Terra, an olive-coloured, ash-handled floor pump with a clever two-stage gauge and an MSRP nearly 75% cheaper than the SuperPista Ultimate. Mind you that does mean it's still $199, or three or four times a modern Pedro's Prestige (depending on your US/CAD exchange rate, duties, etc).

*For an additional $95, SILCA will sell you a 0-60 PSI gauge accurate to 0.5 PSI that's a simple swap, but that's beside the point.

So what's it like to use the Terra? In a word, great. Fit and finish are a big step over pretty much every other pump I've ever used, its heavy enough to be stable, but light enough (and not terrifyingly expensive) that tossing it in the truck to travel is a no-brainer. It strikes a healthy balance between air volume and pressure, and because everything involved in making it is quality, the pump requires relatively little effort.

The gauge is an outstanding feature, giving me precision and accuracy in all the right ranges. If I were to really split hairs, I'd have SILCA make the crossover point be 40 PSI. Everything is just... nice. It's all just nice to use, and highly functional. It's a tool I can grab and be happy with, every time.

Will it stand two decades of use? I have no reason to suspect otherwise, but if I have any challenges or changes, you'll be the first to hear about them.

SILCA has also recently opened a Toronto distribution center, making acquisition and support on SILCA products much, much simpler if you happen to be in Canada. Pick your Terra up here.