Originally Posted by
steelbikeguy
as much as I feel like a Silca frame pump is the one true and pure way to put air into tires, I feel obliged to mention that racers were carrying compressed gas for inflating spare tires a long time ago.
These cylinders of compressed gas (just air, I think) were larger than modern CO2 cartridges, and the French term is "gonfleur". A search for this term pulls up various images, such as this one from Flickr..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/95176013@N08/11910725105/
Gonfleur can also refer to a pump, so some confusion is possible.
I seem to recall various discussions of these in the past on bikeforums, so if someone wants to find out more, it shouldn't be too hard.
Steve in Peoria (still a Silca Impero fan)
Interesting!!
BTW, those size CO2 cartridges have been around for a while. The ones that fit the old seltzer bottles from the '60s are very similar in size and shape, although they are unthreaded. Makes me wonder if some machinist wouldn't have made some inflator back in the day for the "Sparklets" cartridge.
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Owner & co-founder, Cycles René Hubris. Unfortunately attaching questionable braze-ons to perfectly good frames since about 2015. With style.