Just thought I'd share todays estate sale find: a Silca Frame pump with a Campagnolo head. This will make the Kool Lemon Paramount look like a John Deere now, hehe, i will have to get green bar tape now...FYI the estate sale is in Buffalo and they have 2 old Legnano's, Campy equipped, cottered cranks, out of my price range, but they were pretty...

PS: Can anybody estimate its age?

Here are some pics of the Legnano's from the estate sale site if anyone is interested:The company is Rick Kaye

EDIT: Disclaimer-I am not affiliated in any way with the company, I just thought those of you looking for your Grail's might want a heads up...

Congrats on the score. I love these pumps, esp with the metal Campy head.

Hard to estimate age. They made the frame-fit pump for ages. Sometime in the early to mid 70's they discontinued the "flat top" pump, which required an umbrella clip bolted to the tube, and started using these handles that fit inside the frame tubes. That's a great color, BTW. Haven't seen any that shade of green. Nice find.

Now that it's discontinued, I'm really surprised that VO doesn't make their own version of the classic Silca (maybe upgraded with an aluminum main tube). You'd think it would be right up their alley.

Nice grab. I'm always watching for one, I don't have any frame pumps. I have a Silca floor pump though, & love it. It was a Goodwill score, but I forget now, what I paid, probably around $10. Plus it has the old brass fitting, and I've read that those are fairly rare, & highly coveted by those without. In case it's not common knowledge, a Silca floor pump handles high pressure tires easily, I think it goes to 160 psi. EDIT: I almost forgot, I'll offer $25 for the gold Legnano.

Nah, Silca pumps are Italian and Velo-Orange likes the classic French stuff.

anyone know the story about Ad-Hoc pumps? they are French, rarely seen, and seem to command much higher prices than Silcas.

I have an Ad Hoc buried somewhere. I seem to remember it came on my PX-10.

My Silca is a newer version and a bit more stealth than The JD green one. No Campy head :-(

I've had many Silca frame pumps and still do. Though some seem to last forever, others got brittle and split at the threaded sleeve under the handle. The Campy head is elegant and indestructible, but a lot heavier than the Silca head. They both worked OK. When the Zefal HP came out in the 70s, a lot of Silcas were tossed, if I recall correctly.

The Silcas have been around forever. I love them and collect all I can for my bikes. The flat tops were the original design, the fitted ones came later, maybe around 73-75. But they both were still available at that time. I'd guess they had faded out by the mid 80s, which is too bad because they're great pumps, especially with the steel Campagnolo head. If you go to the hardware store you can find little rubber screw covers to fit on the feet of the head if its important.

The Silcas, being plastic, didn't dent like the aluminum Ad Hocs and Zefals. As far as the history of Ad Hocs, I never saw any back in the day, maybe they were confined to France, or were from a period earlier than I was. They do seem to have a great bit of value.

Can't say I've ever seen one mounted like that SvenMN. Interesting. Is it held on solely by the quick release lever?

I cannot say that I know much about vintage pumps except that I seem to have quite a collection of the building up in The Old Shed. These are only a few of what is tucked away out there...



I took this picture a few years ago. I can't even guess how many are in the red cupboard now. Not sure what to do with them. Perhaps Ebay.

I've got a blue-green one that is sorta a 'celeste' color, but it's sun faded. got it with my first flip.. don't really see why people get that excited about them

I carry a small blackburn frame pump that came on another flip in my backpack when i'm riding. i wish i could fit the zefal hpx pump in the pack. i don't like putting frame pumps on frames because in my experience frame pumps mess up paint

QR on the bottom and wedged at the top.

Thanks for pointing that out... I normally have a velcro strap around the seat stay by the brake (left off while cleaning in our "off-season"). Probably not necessary, but extra insurance. There is a significant "dimple" that the QR lever fits into, and it's a two-handed effort to set the pump in place.

I've had pumps eject when hitting a bump while mounted vertically in front of the seat tube. I've never tried the horizontal mount under the top tube even though several of my bikes have pump pegs.