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TECH NEWS

Silca introduces mini pump with added Bluetooth technology!

Topping up the air in your tyres? There’s an app for that

Silca is adding a Bluetooth sensor to its Tattico mini-pump so you can get your tyre pressure just right when you’re away from home.

You’re scoffing at the idea? Well, it certainly falls within the ‘do I really need that?’ category, but then, so does a lot of other technology in the cycling world. Plus, the display on a smart phone does look very clear.

The Tattico is an existing mini-pump in Silca’s range, priced at £50, and the straightforward, non-Bluetooth version isn’t going anywhere.

Tattico extended partial.jpg

The new Bluetooth model sends your tyre pressure to an app on your smart phone.

Check out 14 of the best 14 of the best cycling tyre pumps and CO2 inflators here. 

It doesn’t sound like Silca expects you to take the Tattico Bluetooth on your everyday road rides although, of course, you could if you’re very particular and don’t want to risk riding home with your tyre pressure 5psi out following a puncture.

“This mini-pump is a game-changer for endurance, gravel and other riding that often takes place far from support,” says Silca. “Rated to 120psi, Tattico Bluetooth can even take the place of a floor pump while bike-packing, travelling, and other remote rides.”

Tattico only.jpg

Silca says that the design addresses accuracy and durability issues of other mini-pumps by not using a physical gauge and instead using a Bluetooth sensor that’s positioned at the end of the barrel. It sends data to an app called iGauge (Apple obviously didn’t think of trademarking that one) on your iPhone or Android mobile.

Silca claims a reading accuracy of within +/- 2%.   

The system is powered by a CR2030 battery which weighs next to nothing (about 3g, if you’re interested).

Naturally enough, the Bluetooth tech increases the price. You’re looking at £120 for the Tattico Bluetooth.

https://silca.cc/

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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21 comments

Avatar
reliablemeatloaf | 6 years ago
1 like

Hear that wooshing sound? It's the sound of one million millenials rushing to buy this asinine device.

Avatar
adamrice | 6 years ago
3 likes

It occurs to me that they're missing an opportunity with this: they need to set up a pressure-oriented social network, where you can automatically upload share your tire-inflation stats. Of course, it should be called the Bar Room. You could compete with other members over your inflation levels in Bar Fights, and they could have a dating sub-site called the Contact Patch.

Avatar
Comrade | 6 years ago
1 like

What a great idea and don't complain about the cost....just think of it as the price of two bells!

Avatar
Lancesky | 6 years ago
1 like

Here is a serious question:

If my phone is already paired to my GPS device, would I have to spend the extra time to unpair GPS -->pair pump-->unpair pump-->pair GPS again?

On a hot, sunny day I really wouldn't want to bring my phone out, struggle to see the screen under the sun, open the app, and do all that pairing process. 

On a cold, rainy day I really wouldn't want to bring my phone out , struggle to to get the touchscreen to work because a drop of water is on it, and then do all that pairing process. 

 

 

 

 

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to Lancesky | 6 years ago
1 like

Lancesky wrote:

Here is a serious question:

If my phone is already paired to my GPS device, would I have to spend the extra time to unpair GPS -->pair pump-->unpair pump-->pair GPS again?

On a hot, sunny day I really wouldn't want to bring my phone out, struggle to see the screen under the sun, open the app, and do all that pairing process. 

On a cold, rainy day I really wouldn't want to bring my phone out , struggle to to get the touchscreen to work because a drop of water is on it, and then do all that pairing process. 

 

 

 

 

Hey! If you're happy to ride around with the knowledge that you're tyres are not pumped up to an equal and exact pressure, then go for it.

I bet you're not fussed about having the logos lined up correctly or wearing matching kit either.

Is it any wonder cyclists are hated?

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to Lancesky | 6 years ago
1 like

Lancesky wrote:

Here is a serious question:

If my phone is already paired to my GPS device, would I have to spend the extra time to unpair GPS -->pair pump-->unpair pump-->pair GPS again?

On a hot, sunny day I really wouldn't want to bring my phone out, struggle to see the screen under the sun, open the app, and do all that pairing process. 

On a cold, rainy day I really wouldn't want to bring my phone out , struggle to to get the touchscreen to work because a drop of water is on it, and then do all that pairing process. 

seriously though, it is something you have to consider. I've just bought new bluetooth-enabled spokes so that I can monitor them in real-time for equal tension, and have them self-correct so that they are always optimal. It saves 0.01 watt/hour. What I forgot is that I only have one iphone, and it can't pair with them all, so I've had to buy another 71 and will need to get Simon M to run up a few jerseys for me with the extra pockets. 

The annoying thing is I'll obviously have to replace them all as soon as the iphone 8 comes out in a couple of weeks, so some poor people will get nearly-new iphones for practically nothing.

 

Avatar
Mungecrundle | 6 years ago
0 likes

Doh! I've got this all wrong haven't I? It's not about what you actually need, it's about what someone in marketing tells you that you need isn't it?

Avatar
ConcordeCX | 6 years ago
4 likes

I'm not going to buy one until it can send a tweet to ring my bluetooth-enabled Spurcycle bell when the pressure's right

Avatar
Grahamd | 6 years ago
1 like

I lost a £30 pump last year, which was attached via a similar bracket. That was bad enough, imagine loosing £95 the same way. Ouch!

Avatar
Mungecrundle | 6 years ago
0 likes

Respectfully suggest that for £95 one could buy a decent track pump with an accurate guage to keep at home, and a cheap out and about, pump up your tyre to get you home in a fix, doesn't really matter if you lose it on the way round mini pump or CO2 inflator for the tubeless brigade.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to Mungecrundle | 6 years ago
1 like

Mungecrundle wrote:

Respectfully suggest that for £95 one could buy a decent track pump with an accurate guage to keep at home, and a cheap out and about, pump up your tyre to get you home in a fix, doesn't really matter if you lose it on the way round mini pump or CO2 inflator for the tubeless brigade.

Yeah but your track pump, cheap out and about pump or your CO2 inflator will not be "precision-engineered", nor will they offer you a lifestyle.

Newbies!

Avatar
kitkat | 6 years ago
1 like

Call me when they add a CO2 adapter to it

Avatar
srchar | 6 years ago
0 likes

If you really need this, you can already get bluetooth bicycle TPMS that look like big valve caps for less than the cost of this pump, so you could monitor your tyre pressure even when you don't have a pump connected.

Avatar
japes | 6 years ago
0 likes

i think it would be quite handy to know what pressure my tyres are

just me?

 

(not for £95 though)

Avatar
adamrice | 6 years ago
6 likes

Often while fixing a flat on the side of the road, with my left hand holding one end of my pump and my right hand holding the other, my third hand has felt bereft, unable to contribute to getting me rolling more quickly. Finally, it can contribute by holding up my phone and showing the pressure.

Avatar
armb | 6 years ago
1 like

It's neat, but it's not £95 worth of replacing my existing pump and gauge neat. (Though I don't bother taking a gauge on a ride either.)

Avatar
Simon E | 6 years ago
1 like

" it certainly falls within the ‘do I really need that?’ category"

Understatement. It's a 'solution' looking for a problem or someone gullible enough to buy it.

Edit:

" the design addresses accuracy and durability issues of other mini-pumps "

I'm fortunate to have two hands, with a thumb and finger on each. These have proven far more reliable than any gauge you can buy in (or steal from) a shop. So far I've never left them behind at home or at the roadside.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to Simon E | 6 years ago
0 likes

Simon E wrote:

" it certainly falls within the ‘do I really need that?’ category"

Understatement. It's a 'solution' looking for a problem or someone gullible enough to buy it.

Must hold back, must hold back...

Avatar
handlebarcam | 6 years ago
4 likes

Well, it had to happen, eventually. As will, at some point, a Bluetooth bladder sensor to inform people via a mobile phone alert when they need to go pee-pee.

Avatar
nigerian prince | 6 years ago
4 likes

lolololololololololololololololololol hurghhhh

Avatar
StraelGuy replied to nigerian prince | 6 years ago
1 like
lork wrote:

lolololololololololololololololololol hurghhhh

Crying laughing here, funniest comment for ages!

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