A Pump And a Saddle

After the Darjeeling trip (read about it here), two of the things I knew I will have to invest in were a Brooks saddle and a Lezyne Microfloor pump. The pump was in fact more necessary because my existing hand pump, I knew, was totally inadequate for the job on a 26"x1.75 tyre. 

In fact one of the first things I did after coming back home was put up my Park Tool Half Pint for sale on Cyclop (a popular facebook group for Indian cyclists). It got sold in moments because I had kept a sensible price of Rs 500 plus courier. 

Next I did some research and realised Lezyne had two models of micro-floor pumps for touring. They come with a pipe and didn't need back breaking pumping to inflate 10 psi. One was high pressure, with or without in-line gauge (HPG or HP); the other was for high volume without gauge (HV). Soon I discovered that the HPG was available in India with Starkenn and in fact at a price that is lower than what one has to pay in England. I immediately ordered for it. That was on Tuesday. 

Brooks was available with Bike Affairs, Hyderabad. But I thought I would buy it later. 

After placing the order with Starkenn started the long and arduous wait for the item to arrive. I was told there is some stock audit going on in their warehouse so it's taking time. 

On Tuesday (that is yesterday and a good one week after the order was placed on Starkenn) I got a message from Guria (my niece living in America) saying she is coming in a week or so and if I needed anything. I realised God is there and He really wants me to ride. Or at least spend on cycling equipment. 

By evening, when I still did not hear from Starkenn, I called them up and cancelled the purchase. I had not paid and opted for COD. 

Next I sent two links to Guria asking her to bring the pump and the Brooks saddle. One from Amazon and the other from REI respectively. As far as I know they are priced $85 and $119. So a total of $204. I asked her to get me the high volume pump without the gauge. 

I wasn't sure if space would be an issue for Guria in her suitcase and told her to go only for the pump, if it was. But this morning she confirmed that she is ordering for both.

May 3, 2019

I knew I would need to buy a thing called Brooks Proofide to treat the saddle. Now Proofide is either not available with any of the regular cycle retailer or available at an exorbitant price in Amazon. I realised getting it by courier will be expensive for Guria and work out to be same for me as buying in India. So more research.

Finally I realised it is available for £ 8.99 in Evans Cycles. Further research and a question to Raja showed that their Cardiff store is not very far from Raja's house and close to his daughter's school. So I told him to get it for me. Asking him to get it by courier would be torture on his pocket. Courier charge alone is £ 5 pounds.

Problem with Raja is he does not accept money for such small items. 

So, I am more or less sorted for now.

Sunday May 12, 2019

Guria arrived on Saturday 2.30 am. I went to their house today and brought the saddle and pump home. The total damage is $216 (x Rs 70). It's a little more than I anticipated because she bought the pump with digital gauge, which is the latest model and quite a bit more expensive. I have no clue why she went for this. This is not a subject she would know anything about to use her discretion. Most likely the store didn't have the required model and suggested or perhaps auto suggested this one, which is fine with me.

I promptly went on with the task of working them both out. Here are my first impressions.

Saddle 

Out of the box, my first reaction was - what a beauty ! It's smooth and flawless. Shiny in a dignified way. I read the short literature and referred to a website on how to treat the saddle the first time. They suggested that you lightly spread the supplied Proofide on both sides of the saddle. Rub it off and then ride the next day perhaps. So I did that. Applying it on the underside is not so easy because of the rails. The amount supplied in the sachet is just about right for one application.

It's looking a little matty now. I installed it on the Surly, after taking off the Griffon. Will possibly ride it tomorrow. Can't wait for the morning. The odo on my Cateye shows 922 km.

Monday May 13, 2019 - Went for a 10 km ride this morning. It wasn't so uncomfortable as people make it out to be. At least I couldn't find it any less comfortable than my Probike Griffon.Therefore I can assume that it will get better. The underside of the saddle is still wet from the Proofide I appliled last night. I guess that is how it should be.
Went for 15 more today, May 14th. Didn't expect any major change. I can feel the saddle better now. Once it starts flexing a bit it will be a great saddle. Let me see how soon that happens. I guess it takes at least 500 km. Since I am on the lighter side it might take longer for me. But I am not worried at all. I am fine with it as it is.

Pump 
Nice pump, though I didn't like its shiny colour. Each stroke increases the pressure in the tube (26"x1.5) by 1 PSI. Sometimes it takes 2. The digital gauge is very nice and useful too but it requires a battery (I don't like carrying electronics around in the rough and tumble of multiple day touring life). I pumped it up from 30 to 45 with about 20 strokes. It's not as easy as they show it on youtube, or at least I am not that strong. Quite hard for me but better than the Parktool Half Pint I had. The handle on top could be a little larger. It's too small. I have to figure out how to attach the pump to the frame. Looks like they expect me to sacrifice a bottle cage. No chance, Mr Lezyne. Or is it possible to attach both the bottle and the pump on to the same set of braze ons? Will have to find that out. It might quite be possible.
I love the screw on feature of the nozzle the most. You cannot damage the valve. Presta valves are pretty dainty. I have blown one so far.

Friday Evening, October 11, 2019

The other day there was a discussion on a cycling group on portable pumps and strongly voted for portable pumps with a hose because the tiny ones are really impractical unless you have very strong arms. The discussion prompted me to try the pump on my 700cx23 road bike. It's also a good idea to actually use mechanical things once in a while. Otherwise they get damaged.

I loved the gauge once again. I loved the smoothness of the barrel and the piston. It is definitely easier  than the earlier Park Tool thing that I had (which was really really small) but filling in the 700x23 is a lot harder, particularly after 25 psi. I used a small towel to properly grip and put pressure on the handle. Otherwise the small handle was hurting my palm. I loved once again that you can do the job while standing, as with a proper pump. I did reach 90 psi all right. But I would prefer not to use it at all ;-) With my Park Tool I could barely reach 40 after a lot of struggle.