Just a few weeks ago, Silca’s Josh Poertner sent over images of his new valve extenders. Now, he’s got something to grab hold of ’em and pump ’em full of air. Here’s the lowdown straight from the source:
SILCA today launches ‘HIRO’ a stainless steel locking chuck for presta valves. The Hiro chuck (sounds like ‘Hero’) is inspired by the vintage Japanese chucks used by Keirin mechanics to achieve high pressures in a demanding environment where hundreds of tires may have to be inflated to high pressure each and every night.
SILCA began the HIRO project with the goal of creating an heirloom quality tool focused on one handed operation, high pressure capability, disc wheel compatibility and long gasket life. Hiro features adjustable gasket preload which allows it so compensate for any variety of Presta valve designs as well as gasket wear. When the time comes, the gasket can be replaced in seconds with a SILCA 253 replacement gasket.
They’re completely made in the USA and come with a 25 year warranty, exclusive of the gasket. Price? Well, let’s just say you should have a good pump worth of it…
Retail is $110 each, so you won’t want to put it on a cheap pump. For this, you get a part with a rotating head to eliminate hose twisting and binding, one-handed operation, the capability to handle 300 psi, and looks of insane envy.
The threaded end fits into any Schrader chuck, or you can get Silca’s thread-on Schrader adapter that fits onto a bare pump hose to fit it to your own floor pump. Definitely, definitely want one of these in our workshop!
