My old Blackburn had their swapping head, and the pressed on part under the head broke. (It was a plastic part, and Blackburn used a rather non-standard size hose as I remember)
I tried just about everything to fix it, and expected, like Silca, to get a ‘kit’ to fix it, but they sent a new model. It works really well, but I seem to reach for that Silca anyway…
I’ve emailed a picture, and the next step is they ask for a shipping address and send me a new pump. No receipt or anything needed.
However, their lack of spares to rebuild pumps is an annoyance.
I grabbed the Silca Terra in the sale. I’m happy with it. If I could make a change, I’d go steel rather than alloy for construction. I’d like it to last me decades.
Swapping head, it was all plastic, and had a large flat ‘lever’ that switched the air flow from one to the other. Well, there is a huge threaded collar at the base if that, and it covers the pressed black plastic connection to the swapping head, and it’s that pressed part that failed. Yeah, I thought a hose assembly, and possibly a new head, but it was a new pump. Given the age of the pump, I would have been surprised they had parts, but actually expected a new hose and head, not a new pump, but wasn’t given that chance. I did honestly try to repair and donate the old one, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Yes, SOLID warranty. I had a ‘lifetime warrantied’ Thule backpack that the zippers failed on, and had to have the original sales receipt to get the warranty service, instead of the raspberries I ended up getting. Miffed, I asked the person if they saved the receipts of everything they ever bought. They seemed annoyed by my question, and said that a credit card statement could be acceptable, if it showed the store it was purchased through. Yeah, a credit card I had 10 years ago, and gave up when the business closed? Oh, that one… Warranties aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, so having a company honor one with no drama is OUTSTANDING!!
I also have a Blackburn workstand and tray too. It’s kind of short, but solid, after all these years.
The Terra’s pressure range is much better for my bikes than the Pista’s. Even on my road bike I don’t go over 65 psi. And the ability to air up my mountain bike with 0.5 psi precision rather than 2 is so worth it.
I’m not sure how many customers need their pump to go to 200+ psi. The range 0–80 psi seems much more important. I’d be happy to have slightly more resolution up to 40 psi (for gravel bikes with wider tires).
Yes, and the chuck seems to be installed permanently to the hose. Not sure if the chuck can be replaced. But I trust Silca’s warranty.
Yeah I bought the 181 version and added a Prestacycle press-on head and it’s great. Checked the pressure against my Topeak Smartgauge and they’re lineball. The only time I’ve used any of my old floor pumps since I bought the Makita was the Bontrager dual champer pump to seat tubeless tyres.