Things I want to like…

I’ve wanted to start this for quite some time. “Things I Like” – self-explanatory. “Things I Don’t Like” again, very self-explanatory. And “Things I Want To Like” – this category contains things that I want to like but due to various circumstances fail in my expectation or in their ability to work/please/last.

I’ve had it for about 6 months or so and have had to replace the presta valve grommet, the gauge needle is stuck at 20psi, and the thing just plain feels like crap when attempting to inflate tires. The pump’s central plunger pushes air through the center chamber, like a standard pump, but then the air comes up the sides around the center chamber and then through the gauge and out the hose. Think of a cylinder within a cylinder. The net effect of this is that it feels like air is going into the tires in a delayed sequence. Pushing on the main handle causes air to fill the outer chamber which finally comes out the hose. Kind of like watching ill-timed voices in an old Godzilla movie.

I guess I’m the only one I can blame in this purchase since I bought a Park mechanic’s floor pump when I was at Haro and that thing worked like poo too. As the bearded lady can testify, that thing saw more air time in the air than air time on a valve stem. But I was lured by the “only pump guaranteed for shop use” line. Well, I guess I’ll be taking Park up on that guarantee. I wonder if I can get credit on some kind of tool – which they are actually quite good at producing.

If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s that Park should focus on hand tools and leave pumps to the pump people, like Silca. My Silca track pump is over 20 years old and works as good today as it did when I bought it. After all, there’s something to be said for maintaining your company’s focus on what you do well.

(What’s playing: Cavendish won the sprint, so it’s on to MPR’s The Current and Yeasayer Sunrise)