Bicycle Crumbs Reviews: Silca Terra Floor Pump – Richard Pool | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Y’all Silca is going to be mad at me for this one. The Silca Terra Floor Pump is the best pump I’ve used from them, and I own a SuperPista Ultimate. Yup, I said it. So how does the Terra—their lowest-priced floor pump (retail of $145.00)—take down the most expensive pump on the market? They kept it simple, and then they innovated. Let’s check it out below!

Many of the form factors and high quality we have learned to expect from Silca carryover in the Terra. There’s an aluminum barrel, the base is machined nicely and still has good weight, but is more travel friendly. The handle is still lathe-turned wood though it is Ash this go-around. Yet, unexpectedly there’s a fresh and modern color palette with a sand and olive finish.

Now where things get interesting is this pump has a machined aluminum, lever locking chuck, and it’s super high quality. No plastic in sight. It has a thumb screw head that you unscrew flip over and screw back in to go from presta to Schrader. It also has a bleed button. To me, chucks make or break floor pumps. This one is phenomenal. Quick, easy and hassle-free. Lockable with one hand and in tight spaces, down to kids’ wheels. No leaks, squeaks, or air farts. This has always been my problem with the Ultimate, the press-on chuck always seemed to leak air out the side of the valve or needed a hand-held on it for the perfect position.

In simplifying further, the hose is rubber and locks down the handle with a groove and clip system. The magnetic lock on my Ultimate works, but you have to try and make it work. The pump action is smooth and full. Nothing is more frustrating than a floor pump that feels like two-thirds of the pump action is wasted work.

The cherry on top of this cake is the gauge, oversized and easily readable. The custom internals keep this pump accurate down to .5 psi when below 30 psi. Climbing to the high end of the range, it is accurate to 2 psi up to 120 psi. Which: can we be for real here? Who is pumping anything to 120 psi anymore? Even on my Cervelo s5 I keep it below 50 psi. To me, that’s what makes this pump great. It’s perfect for how a lot of people are riding these days. Higher volume and lower pressure is what it’s made for. It’s great for cyclocross season and gravel, and works extremely well for modern road riding too.

After a few months of use the only question I have is: how rebuildable is the Terra? I have no reason to believe I’ll run into issues with its current performance. But, this might be the one advantage of the Ultimate; it’s built to last a lifetime, but it needs maintenance to work properly. The Terra has worked well from day one and I’ve never had to dig into the internals but I can’t imagine Silca would ever make a non-serviceable pump. One thing to note is the chuck can strike the barrel causing small chips, but like any good tool, it will show use. This is just what happens when you mix metal and paint. Simply put, this pump is GREAT—looks great, works great, cost is great, and is a joy to use.

Pros