Air Pressure Is King: Fat Bikes

The Blackborow DS on the way home from work Saturday.

 We finally got enough snow here over the last several days to make using a fat bike a smart choice. I managed to be able to hit the streets on Saturday well before the plows were out and had near perfect snow conditions. 

Sounds good, right? Well, that all depends on whether or not you hit on the "right" air pressure choice. Air pressure in fat bike tires probably makes more difference in how you ride, or even ride at all, than it does with any other type of bicycle. 

For one thing, you have a massive tire with a lot of volume. This dictates a much lower pressure than you might use in a gravel bike, and extremely different than a road bike would use. Because a fat bike tire doesn't need a very high pressure to work correctly, a little air taken out or added in can make a big swing in handling and ride feel.  

Then you have the way cold air can make your job setting air pressure a lot fussier. Cold air has the effect of lowering air pressure versus what you may have set in a heated garage or workshop. Because a little change in a fat bike tire can make a big difference in how the bike will ride and handle, as stated above, you should account for the change in air pressure cold air can cause. A good way to accomplish this is to set your fat bike air pressure after the bike has been out in ambient temperatures for at least 15 minutes. 

I set my tires up at seven psi knowing this would drop a bit after being outdoors. (I didn't have time before work to set the bike outdoors). I took the gamble, and it worked great. The streets were 100% covered in soft snow at about three to four inches. Same thing when going back home with the exception that we had received another 4" while I was at work. 

The Blackborow DS did really well. I will say the pump you choose to use makes all the difference in the world when dealing with low air pressure. I had been using seven or eight psi as it read on the dial of other pumps but this newer SILCA Terra pump has a lot more accurate low psi capability and it showed up for this ride. My feeling is that seven or eight on the other pumps is actually a bit higher than seven or eight psi on the Terra pump! 

I'll have more to say about air pressure throughout the week, so stay tuned.....

Review: SILCA Terra Floor Pump - Update

(L-R) SILCA Pista Plus, Topeak Joe Blow, SILCA Terra

 Note: Guitar Ted purchased a SILCA Terra Floor Pump with his own money to test and review on Guitar Ted Productions. SILCA has had no prior knowledge of this review and has neither paid nor bribed Guitar Ted for these posts. 

Last Monday I introduced the SILCA Terra floor pump as my next review. Check that link for that article in case you missed it. In this post I am going to compare and contrast my experiences with the SILCA Pista Plus and Terra, (so far), and with the Topeak Joe Blow pump. 

A little background on the Pista Plus and Joe Blow now for context. The Joe Blow pump was not a considered purchase when I bought it. It was an 'emergency' purchase when I was on vacation in El Paso, Texas and realized I had forgotten my floor pump when I left Iowa. As I recall, this would have been around 2007, so I've had this pump for around seventeen years now! 

The Pista Plus I received as an item to review for "Riding Gravel.com" in 2018. I did not pay for the pump and I was allowed to keep it after the review was completed. I wrote up a long follow-up review on the Pista Plus for this site in 2022 which you can check out HERE if you like. 

Both the SILCA Pista Plus and the Topeak Joe Blow pump have been used extensively in day-to-day operations here at Guitar Ted Productions. Hardly a day goes by where I don't use one or both of those pumps. So, I have a very intimate knowledge of what they can do and what their durability is over a long time period. Of course, I just purchased the SILCA Terra floor pump, so I do not know how it will go over the long haul with that pump just yet, but judging from other SILCA products I have owned and used in the past, I am expecting a long use cycle for the Terra with little to no issues. 

So, I want to skip to some pertinent (to me) differences between these pumps and remind you that two of the three are rebuildable. I expect all three will last a long time if cared for properly. Now, I will say that I don't do anything in particular to maintain the pumps I have had with the exception of replacing worn parts when necessary and that only once so far with the Joe Blow. 

Gauges: A floor pump should have a clear, accurate gauge which is durable and reliable. I would say that out of the three here that the Joe Blow is not my favorite due to its tiny numerals and while it isn't terrible in accuracy, the SILCA pumps are better when checked against digital gauges I have. 

Now, "accuracy" in a pump gauge is relative, in my opinion. These are not scientific, high-grade instruments, so the accuracy of them is what it is. If I can get consistent results over a long period of time, then the gauge, whatever it says, is "good". The Joe Blow was, and is still, consistently "good". So is the Pista Plus. The Terra gauge should prove to be similar, but with its dedicated lower range readout, it rises above the other two in readability.

It is more about how well I can read the darn things when I am pumping up a tire in a dimly lit basement in a 100 plus year old home. I've added lights, but my environment down there is tough. So out of the three  gauges, in my estimation, the new Terra pump wins because I can actually see the thing easily. Especially in the range I typically pump tires to, which is under 40psi. 

Pump Heads: The other critical aspect which I deem as very important in a pump is the pump head. How easy is it to use? Does it work equally as well on Schrader and Presta valves? 

The Joe Blow pump has a dual-headed design. You push the head on and flip the locking lever appropriately to the position pointing away from the valve. Grey is the Schrader side, black is the Presta side. 

The Joe Blow never worked well on the Schrader side, and many pumps like this, including many so-called "Smart Head" designs, which I have used in the past, are garbage. You have to work very hard to get a positive attachment to a Schrader valve with the Joe Blow and many times I just couldn't get it to work. 

So, subsequently I end up just using this pump for Presta valves. It does those quite well, but so do a LOT of other pumps. It is always the Schrader valve that trips up many floor pumps and it can become quite a frustration. 

On the plus side, as mentioned, the Joe Blow can be rebuilt, and usually that means the pump head has replacement parts. That pump head is subjected to a lot of wear, especially with regard to the rubber inserts under the plastic caps on the head. I thought it was pretty amazing in 2019 when I was able to get parts for a pump which was over ten years old from Topeak.

The Pista Plus has what looks like, at first glance, to be a traditional track pump head for Presta only. In fact, I did not realize the Pista Plus could be used on a Schrader valve for a long time! 

But of course you can do this with the Pista Plus. It is a brilliant pump head. It unscrews where you see the knurled, larger diameter portion of the head, leaving the Schrader attachment exposed, which then screws on to your valve. 

I like that the pump head actually screws on because having to use a friction sealed head, like the Joe Blow, often pushes the valve stem back into the rim, or causes stress to the base of a Schrader valve tube where the stem meets the tube. This can cause tube failures. At the very least the valve getting pushed back into the rim well is frustrating. So, I give high marks to the Pista Plus for the Schrader valve interface. 

The Presta interface is much like any other SILCA track pump and relies on friction created by a rubber insert to stay on and seal the head to the valve. These typically wear out over a period of time. Of course, the whole pump head and pump itself is rebuildable via SILCA's admirable dedication to spare parts stock. However; I might have preferred a screw on head for Presta as well as the Schrader side which would eliminate the friction interface, which, honestly, can be a pain to push on and off on some valve stems. 

The Terra pump head is actually straight off the Tattico mini-pump SILCA designed and sells, which is an excellent mini-pump, by the way. The head slips on easily to a Presta valve and the lever locks on to the valve stem with great force. I do have somewhat of an issue with how tough the locking lever cams over, but perhaps that will relax with time and use. We will see. 

Schrader interface is also just as easy and to access the Schrader side you simply unscrew the bronze colored end and flip it 180°, screw it back in, and that's the Schrader interface which works just like the Presta side does. Each end is also marked in case you cannot tell which end is which, and this is a nice touch. 

Out of the three then the Terra is the nicest in terms of pump head and ease of use. Longevity and parts replacement isn't known at this point, so I cannot speak to that. Currently SILCA does not show parts for the Terra or Tattico pump head. That may be something SILCA provides as these pumps age, but as for now the rebuildable aspect for Terra pumps does not seem possible. That gives the Pista Plus and Joe Blow the edge there. 

Weight: I know that weight of a floor pump might not be top of mind or even a concern at all for most folks, but perhaps someone will find this interesting. The weight of the Joe Blow is 1.75kg or 3.86lbs. The Pista Plus comes in at 1.55kg or 3.42lbs. The weight of the Terra Floor Pump is 1.11kg or 2.45lbs. That may make a difference if you are flying and taking a floor pump, or you might just like the fact that the Terra is easy to grab and carry due to its weight, or lack thereof. 

I'll have a final look at the SILCA Terra Floor Pump coming soon.

Review: SILCA Terra Floor Pump

 Note: Guitar Ted purchased a SILCA Terra Floor Pump with his own money to test and review on Guitar Ted Productions. SILCA has had no prior knowledge of this review and has neither paid nor bribed Guitar Ted for these posts. 

SILCA is an icon of cycling known best for their ubiquitous floor pumps. The best known of those being the Pista, the original portable floor pump. Made in Italy for decades the company now is owned by Josh Poertner who purchased the SILCA from the original family owners of the brand. 

I've had the pleasure of owning several SILCA pumps and I have reviewed the Pista Plus before. That pump became my 'go-to' pump since that review and I have used it consistently with excellent results. 

So, when it "disappeared" recently and I could not find it I was distraught, to the degree that anyone should be distraught over a floor pump. Which is probably less than you should be upset about anything, most likely, but perhaps mechanics out there will understand what it is like to misplace a favorite tool. It was like that for myself. 

So, after deciding that the Pista Plus was gone for good I hopped online and searched SILCA\s site for what they had available. I landed on the Terra Floor Pump since it is optimized for the lower end of the pressure scale and because it has a big dial with larger numerals that old eyes can see more easily. Hey! It's a thing!

Of course, the day after I ordered the Terra I found my Pista Plus pump.......(sigh!)

But whatever! I am here with a new pump and thought I would share my experience with it. Now that I have the Pista Plus back in my hands I can actually compare and contrast the two pumps, so all is not lost.

What It Is: the Terra Floor Pump is SILCA's rebooting of the Terra concept from the late 80's with new non-linear gauge scale technoilogy. What that means is that the pump is optimized to read more accurately up to 30psi, the range where most people woul be using MTB tires, fat bike tires, and even larger volume gravel tires. 

Note how half the gauge's needle sweep is dedicated to the range below 30psi. SILCA claims that this lower range has a 0.5 psi accuracy while at 120 psi the pump has an accuracy of 2.0psi. 

The pump is made with an aluminum shaft, base, and an ash handle. The pump has a gauge face diameter of approximately 75mm, so it is fairly easy to read the scale. The pump head uses SILCA's award winning Tattico locking pump head design with a reversible head to switch from Schrader to Presta valve use. 

It is notable that the Terra Floor Pump utilizes an all-metal construction with the exception of the wooden handle. 

The pump is approximately 26" from the base to the top of the amber tinted ash handle. The pump has a muted light flat sage colored green shaft and darker flat green accents on the pump head and base. It is a handsome, light weight floor pump. The price is $145.00 USD. You can check out the Terra Floor Pump on SILCA's site HERE.

First Impressions: The Terra pump looks classy and I like the flat green two-tone look. I am most interested in the gauge and low-end pressure accuracy of this pump. I almost never pump anything I have here for a bike over 40psi, and most of the time I am using something between 30psi and 40psi for gravel. My larger sized tires, such as the Gryphon Mk3, with the 29" X 2.8" tires, I run at around 20psi. Fat bikes, of course, are even lower psi than that. 

The hose is a nice length. Not too short but not ridiculously long either. The Tattico pump head I am somewhat familiar with having tested a Tattico mini pump before. The locking mechanism on the head has a pretty aggressive ratio for the cam action and it is a bit difficult to activate, in my opinion. The pump head is easily reversible for switching from Presta to Schrader and back again. No extra parts to fiddle with there.

The Terra has a slightly longer barrel and pushes a bit more air than the Pista Plus. This makes sense as the Terra is aimed at high-volume, lower pressure tires. My first time using the Terra showed me that it is super-easy to get to your desired pressure and that big gauge with easy to read numerals makes seeing what you are doing an enjoyable effort versus my squinting to make out the much smaller gauge on the Pista Plus. 

The Tattico pump head may seem like a trifle to you, but if you think this way it is almost guaranteed that you have not used one. The interface with a valve is positive and precise. No wiggling or any big outlet of pressure as you place the pump head on the valve. As stated, the locking lever takes a bit more effort to cam over, but it is solid and feels very positive versus many other pump heads I have had the displeasure of using. In short, choosing the Tattico pump head was a wise choice by SILCA for the Terra Floor Pump. 

So Far... My initial impressions are very favorable at this time. I still don't know how well the Terra will do with a tubeless set up, and I want to explore daily usage before I say anything more. I will also be doing a side-by-side comparison with the Pista Plus from SILCA in the future. 

My guess is that the Terra Floor Pump will end up displacing my favor for the Pista Plus, but let's wait out the review process here and make sure.