After having this happen to me with my custom painted Silca pump, (how to impress your new friends on a Western Wheeler's ride) I was THRILLED when c02 cartridges were invented. I *think* they may even be on topic, I remember a cute racer boy I dated back maybe in 1982/3 with a custom Klein showing me how quickly he could fix my flat. I was impressed.
The only thing I missed about frame pumps was the loud "thwack" a Zefal makes in contact with a dog's head. I've never been super comfortable with pulling a bottle out in a pack to drink, but boy oh boy, can I hit a dog no matter who is riding around me.
Disclaimer: I really like dogs. Just not embedded in my calf.
Ann Phillips, Decatur GA
"Home of the toe strap threading clinics for people who forgot how."
>Steve Barner said:
>
>If the owner is not being cautious, and if there is nothing to hold the
>piston back, it will
>become a very effective rocket. As long as it doesn't knock someone's
>eye
>out, and if the angle of the pump is right, the handle can take a very
>exciting trajectory, really enlivening the pre-ride ceremonies. I saw
>one
>go across the road into a field on the other side, once. The tire will,
>of
>course, go completely flat and the erstwhile rider, in an attempt to
>preserve his manly pride, will then and ever after refer this model pump
>
>only prefaced with uncouth adjectives.
>
>Steve Sheffield added:
>
>Pump pump pump pump phwing! (as the Impero handle goes flying across the
>
>room in Midvale, Utah)
>
>Yep, happened to me, too.... fixed tire and was finishing pumping up
>when the fraction of a Silca rocketed across the road directly in front
>of a delightfully cute rider who probably thought me a_______.
>
>Ken Wehrenberg, Hermann, MO -- aero versus lightweight anyone?