Silca Hiro’ Side Lever Locking Disc Chuck (V2) (Carbon Steel)

The Side-Lever Locking Chuck is classic SILCA quality and manufacturing in every detail. Made from fine carbon steel, 100% rebuildable, and utilizing a high-tech elastomer gasket design, the 254, which is already available for replacement sale and like all other SILCA gaskets, will remain available for the next 25 years and probably longer.

• Full metal construction, guaranteed for 25 years and covered by SILCAShield
• Can effectively seal on valve stems as short as 10mm!
• Uses SILCA 254 High-Tech Elastomer gasket
• Adjustable gasket pre-load allows for customizable fit on any valve as well as compensation for gasket wear
• Spring loaded lever for better force management and positive on/off feel.
• Male Schrader thread fits into any Schrader chuck, or use SILCA Thread-On Schrader Adapter to fit to bare hose
• Bullet-proof high-pressure, disc compatible chuck for high pressure situations.

The Hiro Chuck is a finely crafted tool for those obsessed with the details as well as the experience of cycling. It is a tool which rewards knowledge and understanding of how it works, please expect to spend some time acquainting yourself with the function of the Hiro before you use it. It is not a screwdriver or a hammer, it is an intricately machined, high-precision device with very unique features and user adjustability, learn how it works and you will find great pleasure in it’s operation. You will smile every time you use it and you will amaze onlookers in the track infield at your ability to achieve any pressure without holding it in place, and you will someday hand it down to your children, who will replace the gasket and use it for another 25 years. Passion. Precision. Performance

Years ago I was working with the Team CSC at the Dauphine Libere when I noticed one of their mechanics using the most amazing little chuck to manage the disc wheel inflation. Unlike anything I had seen before, it was all metal and used a ‘lollipop’ lever on the side to lock onto the valve stems in disc wheels. He explained to me that these were made in Japan, and were coveted by all the Euro Pro mechanics as they were very hard to come by, and even harder to get replacement parts for. He followed all of that up by refusing to let me or any of the other mechanics even touch the thing!

Fast forward 10 years and I’ve been fascinated with creating a better, disc wheel compatible locking chuck. One which can hold 300psi (not that you would EVER do that..) one that was made from even finer materials, like carbon steel, and one that had the history and legacy of SILCA behind it so that it could be purchased and used knowing full well that replacement parts would be available for the next 100 years.

When I took the SILCA side-lever prototypes to Europe, the mechanics were very clear in their demands: single hand usage, 250+psi capability for road and track situations, and at least a year of service before replacing gaskets (the equivalent of 10 lifetimes of use for the rest of us), and NO hose clamps! We worked tirelessly on these requirements as well as on innovating some new features, like a unique rotating head which allows the chuck to more easily align with the valve stem and eliminates hose twist regardless of wheel orientation. We decided on carbon steel as the primary material for it’s environmental friendliness compared to chrome plated steel and for it’s extreme durability and chemical resistance when compared to all other metals. We obsessed over the right amount of knurl, rough enough to be handled very precisely even when covered in grease or wet, yet not so much that those of us with office jobs during the weekend up with shredded fingers. By the end of the prototype period, the mechanics nicknamed the chuck ‘Hiro’ partially as a nod to the Japanese heritage, and also due to the shared pronunciation with the English word ‘Hero’. As one of my favorite team mechanics would joke, ‘I have 5 minutes to fill 9 disc wheels to 9 different pressures using compressed Nitrogen before the TTT…I need a ‘Hiro’!