Washington Bicycling Hub - Fall '03
Park Floor Pump Recall Alert
By Charles
Pekow
Mr. Pekow, a seasoned Washington journalist, provides Bikexchange.com with continuing coverage of national legislative news on
bicycling issues.
Don’t try to inflate your tires with a Professional Bicycle
Floor Pump before checking the pressure indicator ring. Instead of getting a
smooth ride, you’ll get a mini squall that can cause some damage to your
person. Park Tool USA of St. Paul, Minnesota,
is recalling 4,000 PFP-2 floor pumps because the check valve can fail, causing
the pump to become over-pressurized, “forcing the handle to quickly and
unexpectedly rise upward, possibly injuring the user,” according to the
Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Park Tool has learned of three injuries including a chipped tooth, a cut on
the chin and bruises. The chrome pumps say “Park Tool USA” in white on the
side, were made before August 2003 and include a black indicator on the top of
the pressure gauge. Pumps with blue indicators are not being recalled. Bike
stores sold the made-in-Taiwan pumps between March and August of this year for
about $80. PFP-3 pumps, a different model, are designed differently and not
affected by the recall, says Park Took Project Manager John Krawczyk.
If you have an affected pump, stop using it immediately and contact Park Tool
at pump@parktool.com or call (888)
568-4959 between 5 am and 3:30 pm PST, Tuesday-Friday. But don’t throw out
the pump. Park Took will send a free replacement pump but you’ll need the
gauge, hose and head from the old pump to put on the new one (installation
instructions will come with the replacement). “We’re doing it this way
because we need to know the old pump is disabled,” Krawczyk explains.
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