If your bike has Presta valves on its rims or tubes, you'll know that pumping the tires can be a fiddly business. The Zilch floor pump is claimed to address that problem, with head seals that don't even touch the valve stem until it locks on.
With most pumps, the head initially has to be shoved onto the valve in order to push its rubber seal all the way down, then locked in place. Even when locked, however, it may still wobble back and forth, potentially bending the valve core in the process.
Once you've finished pumping and have unlocked the head, you still have to knock/yank the thing off the valve. As you do so, a short (but significant) blast of air will come out of the tire.
None of these things are apparently an issue with the Zilch, which is manufactured by Florida cycling gear company Radian USA. The product is currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign.
At first glance, the Zilch's head looks a bit like the spray-head attachment for a garden hose, complete with the hand lever. As you lower that head onto the valve, its opposing diametral seals don't even make contact with the stem, as they're held off to either side. Squeezing the lever causes them to close in, securely grasping it in an airtight embrace.
You then just starting pumping as you would with a normal floor pump. Because the head is secured onto a full 8 mm (0.3 in) of the valve, it shouldn't wobble or spontaneously pop off. When the pumping is complete and you do want the head to come off, you just squeeze the lever again to withdraw the seals.
No air will shoot out of the valve, although the pump hose itself will give a little puff.
When not in use, the Zilch's head hooks onto the pump handle and is secured there by an integrated neodymium magnet. Two Schrader-to-Presta valve adapters are stored inside the hollow handle, along with a ball needle adapter. And if the pump falls over, rubber bumpers at either end of the handle will protect your hardwood floors.
Assuming the Zilch pump reaches production, a pledge of US$95 will get you one. The planned retail price is $130.
You can see it in use, in the video below.
Sources: Kickstarter, Radian USA
