Frame Pumps

[Gordon Stam]

They are important to me. Combined with a patch kit and maybe a spare tube they can provide a reliable, manual way of getting air into your tire and you back on your way. But it seems they are harder to find these days - or at least getting a quality one to fit a Rivendell can involve some sleuthing. I have a nice Blackburn that fits my Romulus really nicely (no picture or that yet) but my Clem is a different story; my Charlie Gallop too. So here are a couple solutions that I've hit on for both the Clem and the Charlie.

Clem first: I have been using a #4 Zephal HP that I had stuck behind the seat tube, attached with a couple small Voile straps. It stayed in place but it looked kinda like a kludge. Last week I was at the LBS and, lo and behold, there was a #1 Zephal HPX! I thought they were discontinued but Mark had a few for sale. I took one out to my Clem and damned if it didn't look like it almost fit in between the upper tubes (see pic) - but not quite. It was only $40 (cheap these days) so, figuring I could modify it, I bought it. With a bench grinder and various sanding, buffing, and polishing bits on a rotary tool I managed to get the end carved down and to get it fit (see pic).  

Charlie Gallop: I've got a 61 CM frame and I've looked at that frame pump peg with some skepticism. The spacing is said to be 20 inches and Rivendell sells a frame pump that will probably work fine (and at $45 still not a bad deal). But it turns out that a #4 Zephal HPX, the very same one that was attached (poorly) to my Clem, fits!  (see pic). 

So there you go - a couple of pump solutions to a coupe of unique Rivendell frames.

What frame pump do you folks have? Do they fit?

Here are links to the pics,  on my Google Drive. I have yet to figure out how to reliably post picture to this forum so let me know if these are accessible and if not, what suggestions you might have to make them so.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kJzooWohejQD46o6Bbqoxld7_ZOl8eyO/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cJYYmIrK_yIoWjHot63mhRpIXGdROHBk/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MtRZyQaErvJ4erk1gUAZhJpXx89_wckT/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kkXt8gZluO6bwkfjr3YH2FYe2Uf0Z6qZ/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sAQmDqFOypnhkfCwCSsWUsQCuLpXRO_2/view?usp=sharing

[Ben Miller]

Hi Gordon, 

I love full-sized frame pumps! Unfortunately I can only seem to access to the first photo :(

On my Roadeo, Ram, and Hunq I have Zefal HPX pumps from back when they were still widely available, all properly sized. More recently I've had some success with getting vintage Silca frame pumps off eBay. All of them needed the main head gasket replaced and benefited from some light oil on the internals, but pump pretty well now, just not quite as good at the Zefal HP's, but the look pretty :) One came with a clamp that acts like a pump peg and I use that for one of the frames (that is sans peg). I think you can get those separately off eBay and use them on frames with no pegs, or if you want to mount the pump in a location other then where the peg is. Look for "Afa pump mount" or something similar. 

 Haven't used the new Riv Mike Plumper frame pumps, but I'm glad they exist!

[Gordon Stam]

Hey folks, I changed the access on those pictures so that everyone can see them now. I didn't realize I needed to do that. Henceforth! 

[Patrick Moore]

Deliberately ironic (“road bike for dirt”) but very effective: old-time Silca Impero on dirt road Matthews bike. In fact, it works better on fat, low pressure tires than on narrow, high pressure tires:

Patrick “That’s what I told Chauncey to make me: a ‘road bike for dirt’” Moore

On Mon, Dec 15, 2025 at 9:00 PM Gordon Stam <gds...@gmail.com> wrote:

… What frame pump do you folks have? Do they fit?

[Gordon Stam]

The Romulus with a Blackburn frame pump. Let me know if you don't have access to it.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RCUIg_DVcpG2-A9FAdSTtYYiEc7yHEOe

[Gordon Stam]

Boy, I may be in the remedial class when it comes to posting pictures on this forum. Any help would be appreciated but the condition may be terminal.

The previous link went to a folder. Good luck opening it, but if you do it's a collection of pictures of the Romulus and its Blackburn frame pump. The picture I had intended to focus on is this one:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CJm_YK1Gg3LVXUFkAiwabgGu0DLSebK6/view?usp=drive_link

[Nick Payne]

When I built up my Appaloosa, the top tube on that is a fair bit longer than on any of my other bikes (I fitted a 60mm stem in place of the 100/110mm that I have on other bikes), and none of the Zefal or Topeak frame pumps that I already had were long enough. So I bought one of the Silca Impero frame pumps in the appropriate length (I think it was the X-large size).

Nick Payne

[Mike Rossi]

I also use a Silca Impero (XL) for my Platypus. For some of my others, I have various sizes of the MikeFrameplumper. The Riv geometry page lists a 53 Atlantis as needing a large, but there’s no way. Not if you’re using the frame pump peg. I have a medium in there. The large fits my 56 lugged Susie. And I have an XL for the top tube of a 54 Surly CrossCheck. 

Mike

On Dec 17, 2025, at 6:26 AM, Nick Payne <njh...@gmail.com> wrote:



When I built up my Appaloosa, the top tube on that is a fair bit longer than on any of my other bikes (I fitted a 60mm stem in place of the 100/110mm that I have on other bikes), and none of the Zefal or Topeak frame pumps that I already had were long enough. So I bought one of the Silca Impero frame pumps in the appropriate length (I think it was the X-large size).

<PXL_20201102_015455750.jpg>

Nick Payne

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[Patrick Moore]

I’ve used one of the new Silca frame pumps once for a low volume highish pressure tire — borrowed from a fellow rider — and IMO they’re the best-working frame pumps ever built; at least, of the dozens of different kinds I’ve used.

Very nice fender line, too.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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[Gordon Stam]

Good to hear on the new Silcas Patrick. While I'm going to give that old Zephal a go when I build Mr. Chuckie, if for no other reasons than for it's sentimental value, and that it miraculously fits, I'm going to keep that Silca in mind. It looks like the new Impero Ultimate II comes in at $100. Ooof.

[Andrew Scherer]

All frame pumps, all the time. My bikes are in the 62-64cm range and I have a mix of HPx4s and a few vintage Imperos on more classic builds. Most of them are along the seat tube but my Mercians have pump pegs on the head tube so those are along the top tube. My giant Homer has a pump braze-on on the NDS seat stay and I have a Topek Road Blaster there. It's easily as good as the Zefals, I bough a couple when they went off the market.

That's my wife's Motobacane Grand Jubile Mixte in the background. No pump, I'll do her pumping if necessary :-)

Andy Scherer

Manhattan & Woodstock NY

[Kim H.]

For all of the years I rode my road bike, a converted sports touring bike, 1973 Cilo Sprintx, I favored the Silca Imperio frame pump. Over time, I had the Zephal HP pump. It was alright. In more recent years, I have grown to favor the most, the Topeak Road Masterblaster Aluminum Frame Pump. It is simple and easy to maintain. I use plumber's silicone grease on the aluminum shaft for lubrication as recommended by a RBWOB group member. 

With owning a Rivendell Clem, I had to customize my own frame pump mount for my Topeak frame pump. I wish Rivendell would add a frame pump peg on their Clems, with on the backside of the seat tube or on the seat stay.

Kim Hetzel.

[Bernard Duhon]

My Rodini like Waterford. When you got a pump peg you gotta have a frame pump. This is a 90-ish zephal You can buy rebuild kit which I did recently. Works like a charm.

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From: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Andrew Scherer <andy.s...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2025 9:08:54 PM
To: RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [RBW] Frame Pumps

 

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