A CHEAP SCHRADER ADAPTER FOR PRESTA PUMPS
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I'm a big fan of the Silca floor pump. It's simple, reliable and easily 
repairable. I bought mine used in 1985 and have been using it on a 
regular basis since then. It ranks right up there along with my Svea 123 
stoves among my most trusted bits of equipment. 

The basic Silca head is made for presta valves and in my opinion, it 
does fine for that. Every couple of years, I need to replace the rubber 
inner washer, but is the sacrificial wear item in the pump. 

If all of the bikes in family collection were presta, life would be 
simple. But they aren't, which means that I have to inflate plenty of 
schrader valves too. 

My solution is to make home made presta/schrader adapters. To make them, 
you need 3 things: 


a) A junk presta tube, preferably one with a long valve stem
b) An cheap replacement schrader hose, available at many bike or 
   hardware stores
c) An small hose clamp

To make the converter, do the following... First, cut the presta valve 
out of the old tube.  I use an Exacto knife and try to cut as much of
the old tube off as possible.

Next, cut the schrader hose with a sharp set of clippers about 4 or 5 
inches up from the schader head.

Lastly, insert the presta valve into hose and secure with the hose
clamp.  The finished product should look something like the image at
this link:
http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/dirtbag-bikes/rants/adapter.JPG

I generally keep one of these with each bike, since most of frame pumps
are set for presta. I also keep several of these converters laying 
around my home shop, including one that is always in the floor pump.
That way, folks in the family who don't like to deal with presta 
in anyway can still pump up their tires without my help.  The following
link shows my floor pump as it usually sits in the barn.

http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/dirtbag-bikes/rants/pump.JPG

Copyright by David Mann, 2009