Advice on tyre pumps on a Vincent

BlackLightning998

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Hi all,

I thought the original equipment was a Briton/Britain - but a chap I know says he has a 135/8 in length, manufactured by 'Apex', the model is a 'Thapex'.

Is this the real thing in terms of having been supplied new with a Chinese Red Rapide that his father had?

Thanks all

Stuart
 

Hugo Myatt

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Stuart,

I have a Thapex pump 14 inches (13 5/8" compressed but without connector) which I must have acquired over the forty years of owning Vincents and buying Vincent bits. Whether it actually came with one of the bikes I don't remember. However I have always assumed from the design and quality it was pre-War. It has a Twenties/thirties look about it.
 

Hugo Myatt

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Tyre Pump

I've just had a closer look at the pump. The handpiece appears to be made of Bakelite. The maker's emblem is repeated four times around the handpiece with each altenate one upsidedown so that it can be read which ever way up the pump is held. The emlem is a rather ornate scroll which reads THAPEX, underlined then APEX INFLATOR Co. Ltd. and below the scroll MADE IN ENGLAND
 

BlackLightning998

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Wow - great, thanks very much

Look good and not too (ish!) expensive for original.

Now, were they originally supplied on a Vincent though??????????
 

Rapide

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Britton pump

My understanding is that the post war vincents used Britton Pumps as the standard equipment. Various books indicate that this is correct.However I am no expert so can only go on what I have read. I would like to obtain a britton pump myself so if anyone has one I would be pleased to hear from you. I would prefer a used (not refurbished) one as this would be inkeeping with the condition of my bike!
 

Hugo Myatt

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Whichever pump you go for I would strenuously suggest that you fit a Jubilee clip to the pump body and once it is fitted to its mountings slide the clip up against the hand piece and tighten it so that the pump cannot compress. Failure to do so often means that when you hit the first pothole the pump will vanish. Believe me, you will not hear it go. You will not see it go. The first you will be aware of it is when you notice an expensive looking space under the tank.
 

BlackLightning998

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Try a cable tie

My bike has had a few bits drop off too!!

I have a VOC Spares Shop replica pump - cable tie keeps it in place and also stops the casual person helping themselves to it too, unlike a couple of other bits that seem to have gone missing.

Stuart
 

Hugo Myatt

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Knicking

They are still at it. Three months ago, Sunday, Pinner High Street, parked the outfit to get Sunday papers, when I returned Miller headlamp rim, light unit and gubbins all gone.
 

nkt267

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Parts suppliers have to get their bits somewhere;).Seriously though these STOLEN parts most likely end up on the 'online auction site'(no advertising allowed here).If they end up on some thieving b*****d's bike then I hope their wheels fall off on the motorway and they don't have recovery insurance.(I restrained my language for the sake of the ladies reading the forum)F!*^@..John
By the way how many people actually have used a bicycle pump to pump up their tyres?:confused:
 
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