04/08/2026
Yesterday evening I set out on my 1972 ‘Cyclo Grandini’ made by Youngs of Lewisham and heard a crunchy sound, I was horrified to look down and see my classic Zefal HPX 3 had somehow slipped and the pump head was getting mangled in the chainring. I was clipped in and came to an emergency stop on a narrow road in St Paul’s. It really looked mangled and really thought it was a gonner :-( until I had a bright idea! This was a job for Sugru! I managed to get the head off its retaining thread, remove and clean all the interfacing parts in isopropyl alcohol then created a Sugru ‘washer’ and was able to ram the thread down to the business end of the pump and reconnect it with the head. Sugru is very malleable when it comes out the packet, but then begins to lose its plasticity as soon as it comes into contact with air. Sugru comes in black of course by I only had white. In 24hrs when the Sugru has ‘gone off’ - becoming a strong elastomer - I will find out if the fix works and will last? Fingers crossed anyroad.
