So, half an hour ago it was 8.30pm and it was time to go to the gym.
My town bike tyres need pumping up so I pull out the Sapo stirrup pump.
I've had this unit for a number of years now, using it on my racing
bike. This is only the second time I've used it with Woods valves.
So, I pump up the front, no problem.
Then I come to do the back. Well, problem. Obviously, it doesn't grip
a Woods valve very well, and it seems because of it it's tilting very
quickly and seems to be letting air out of the tyre.
So I push it on a bit harder...which is a mistake. The pump head it
turns out can stretch and it takes the entire value in, right down to
the wheel.
So I try to pull it off. No go. Won't move. I pull, push, prod - and
pull the pump tube off of the head.
The pump head is now sitting on the valve.
I disassemble the head in place and remove it from the valve. I then
rebuild the head and reattach the tube.
However, the tube isn't bonded to the head in any way. How it works is
that the head has a spike at the top, the tube goes over it, and Sapo
have clamped a metal ring around the end of the tube to make it
airtight.
Having been pulled off, it's no longer airtight, even though I've pushed
it back on and done my best with hand pliers to re-compress the ring.
So, I can't fix it at home tonight, so there goes going to the gym (I'm
too late anyway, having spent the last half hour fecking about with this
pump).
It might be fixable at a bike shop, if they have a tool to pinch the
ring back into airtightness - but I'm not hopeful. I think you need a
very particular tool - anything like pliers, are you compress in one
direction, you open the ring up at the right angle.
My thought in this is that the tube should be integral with the head.
Having it attached it this way is cheap and nasty - when it comes off,
the pump is ruined.
So I'm a bit fecked off now. No gym, no pump, no bike (rear tyre
totally flat) and I likely have to buy another pump.