The first bike pump I ever purchased cost around $30 and was a piece of crap. My second bike pump, a $70 Lezyne floor pump, has served me faithfully for over a year, but frequent use and exposure to varied in-car conditions have lately rendered it a bit...unreliable. So I can see why Silca would set out to create a quality pump designed to last forever. Unfortunately, I can't see dropping $450 for it.
Yes, Silca's Superpista Ultimate Floor Pump is a bicycle pump that costs nearly $500. It's solid, weighing in at a hefty seven pounds, with a base that weighs the same as most traditional bike pumps (my Lezyne weighs 3.75 pounds, for comparison). Its 12,000 PSI hose was originally designed for aircraft and race car brake lines, and its gauge measures go up to 160 PSI with laboratory-level accuracy of plus-or-minus one percent.
Silca employs a number of other details that make its "heirloom quality" bike pump superior to your average tire inflator. Inside the main barrel, a leather washer moves air up and down with a piston rod that uses technologies normally seen in high-end mountain bike suspensions. On top of all this sits a handsome (and ergonomic) rosewood handle.
With all that in mind, the Superpista Ultimate has a 25-year hard parts warranty, which means it could be the last floor pump you ever need to buy. But obviously, it's not meant for just anybody. Silca CEO Josh Poertner sees the pump targeted at "the passionate cycling enthusiast and the racers in the ProMechanics"---people who are going to use a bike pump once or more a day, almost every day of the week, almost every day of the year, in conditions ranging from freezing and wet to sweltering desert. It's less of a BMW-type luxury (that would be the bike you're riding) and more of an expensive chef's knife type thing.
But if you are of the obsessive racer/mechanic persuasion (and rich!), it's not too late to add this pump to your Christmas wish list.
