Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Newly released products at Amazon.com: Zefal Alaskan Bicycle Floor Pump Reviews

Zefal Alaskan Bicycle Floor Pump Reviews
Most popular product on Amazon.com : Zefal Alaskan Bicycle Floor Pump,Alloy high pressure high volume floor pump With analog gauge that reads both bar and psi ASV smarthead with thumblock Inflates up to 230psi

Zefal Alaskan Bicycle Floor Pump

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001NOED3C/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001NOED3C&linkCode=as2&tag=shoesonline0b-20
Product Description : Alloy barrel and large alloy base to keep pump stable during use. Analog gauge shows both bar and psi. A two-step compression system with double alloy barrels allows a high volume of air per stroke with less effort on your part. Thermoplastic handle with integrated soft grips for comfort. Lccking handle so it stays in place when transporting or carrying. I bought one of these pumps 2 1/2 years ago for inflating car tires. The extra volume helps immensely, and if you want a hand pump for car/truck tires, this is probably one of the best on the market.However, there's a problem with the head on this pump. To allow for the extra airflow, Zefal cut a slit in the middle of valve depressor. That's the little pin in the middle of the pump head that pushes in your schrader valve pin. For larger tires, like my small pickup, that's no problem. But for smaller tires, like all of our bikes, for some reason those schrader pins have much smaller heads. So in those cases, the pump doesn't really work. You have to push hard enough to overcome both the air pressure in the tire *and* the spring in the valve. So to put in 60psi, you have to push hard enough for 100psi or so. It's a real pain.I put up with this problem for a long time, since I mostly got the pump for our truck tires, but now the pump is having trouble with those tires too. So I'm keeping the pump, but I'm looking for a new head for it. If you want it for small bike tires you might want to keep looking. If you're using it for high-volume MTB tires, motorcycle tires, or car tires, it's about your best bet, but be warned about that chuck problem.[Edit] The chuck may not be the problem, it might be their lack of instructions. I bought a Topeak head to replace the original, and it seemed to have a similar problem. So I read their instructions (which Topeak did a great job on) and found that it's a two-step chuck. What? So I took the chuck apart to see what they meant. Here's how it works. If you're using a presta valve (narrow, high pressure stem), you just put the chuck on and lock it down as usual. If you're using a schrader valve (the standard one on car tires and most bikes), it's trickier. First, you want to open the chuck lever a bit - 1/4 of the way open is good. Then put the chuck on the valve, and open the lever the rest of the way.Inside the chuck, there's a little locking mechanism. If you don't open the chuck a bit, that lock doesn't work, so a rod inside the chuck moves out of the way - to work on a presta valve. For a schrader valve, you want that piece to stay put, to push in the valve pin on your valve stem. By pulling the chuck lever out a bit, you engage that lock, and that rod in there stays where it should to push in the valve pin.I don't recall ever seeing that instruction with our original pump. If you buy the pump (and it's a really great pump!) try that partially open trick if you're having trouble locking onto schrader valves. I ordered this unit to replace another, similar unit by Zefal which has served me faithfully for many years. What arrived today was a unit missing the packaging shown online and missing the cover for the pressure guage. Indeed, the metal plate for the guage was bent. I believe that this is returned, defective merchandise. I trust the brand, but something is wrong.As a follow-up, I returned this item and requested a replacement. The second unit arrived in a similar condition: previously opened and missing an important part, the rubber cushions on the handle, though the guage was intact. Amazon offered my money back, but relented and sent a third unit. This time I withheld sending the 2nd back pending the arrival of #3. True to form, #3 arrived as previously opened and defective: it was missing the guage cover and molded brackets to hold the hose were broken off. Fortunately it had a complete set of rubber handle cushions. I cannabilized the rubber grips and sent it back in place of #2.Now I am known for finding/being found by defective items, but this really takes the cake. Where is the quality control? Who would knowingly send out obviously defective merchandise 3 times? I think some supervisor should have a chat with those responsible for shipping and tell them to use their two eyes to note such obvious defects as torn/missing instructions, missing guage covers, broken parts, etc. This set of mistakes has cost Amazon plenty in extra shipping and handling.This bad experience will not deter me from shopping with Amazon when the item is unavailable elsewhere (such as this pump), but it will steer me to find a more reliable source. the product came to me with a lot of scratches, dirty, the feet are broken.unbelievable!!!

Buy new Customer Rating: 5.0
Customer tags: Sports, Outdoors


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