Pressure gauges

Tideswaters

Just fitted new tires to my e-bike,make of tires or bike not relevant, I have 6 different pressure devices, and there is up to 35% variation in the readings. Given the effort we put into our drivetrains tires, maint of bikes etc isn’t this an outrage and probably dangerous, can the techies at radar do some kind of survey to look at the accuracy of these generally devices that we all rely on to get the most out of our bikes. Is there a recommendation of a consistently reliable gauge for both Schrader or Presta type valves.

This something I consider fundament to cyclists welfare and pocket

webboo

Just use the one on your track pump.

mully79

If a mate pumps his tyre to 30 psi on his gauge and I copy and pump mine up to 30 psi and it feels too hard I let some air out......

You can always have your gauges calibrated but pressure varies with temperature and moisture content so unless you're pumping controlled dried air its going to vary anyway to who evers information you are copying.

Tideswaters

Yes but, I pumped the tyres up with my track pump and then checked the others against that, that should have removed the variables, I then checked the tyres again with the track pump and the tyres were slightly lower than when I first pumped them, expected because of checking with all the other pumps, so I think my question still stands, maybe it’s a more important aspect for leisure riders.
Nigel

MattFalle

I think Nigel has a very valid point and will be watching this thread with great interest.

its a problem that affects us all whether we care to admit it or not.

bravo for raising this.

paulwood

I used to do a job where tyre pressure was important. We used a very expensive gauge and calibrated it before and after each test along with annual testing by an outside company.

Don't overthink it, just use the gauge on your pump. Even if it is wrong (it will be) it will probably be consistently wrong by the same amount. Just find a pressure you like.

I usually just squeeze the tyre with my thumb.

ibr17xvii

I watched a video on YT a while ago from Francis Cade which was along the lines of essential things you need 1 of which was a digital gauge which I have to say surprised me.

Personally never felt the need to use anything else than the gauge on the pump but I guess if pressure is really important to you something more accurate is preferable.

webboo

Do you need to also check the atmospheric pressure as well as tyre pressure and the ground and air temperature as these Shirley effect how hard your tyres feel.

seanoconn

Inflate my car tyres with my not inexpensive digital RAC pump and couldn’t work out why my front tyres had worn weirdly after little over a year. Checked my pump against the calibrated tyre shop pump and mine was low by 6psi (roughly 10%) enough to cost me £160-200 in new front tyres! Bad pressure gauges are no joke!

MattFalle

Its interesting to read the above comments & findings.

I think that Nigel has raised an excellent topic and judging by people's comments on REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES maybe this is something that could/should be raised further?

After all, how many arguments have there been about running tyres at certain pressures to suit tyre size/rider weight/etc when it seems that everyone has been running random pressures anyway due to bad equipment?

photonic69

I usually inflate my tyres to 81.05 Front and 89.75 Rear using a 78/21 ratio of Nitrogen to Oxygen. If I'm hillclimbing I'll use pure Helium.

dennisn

I knew a guy who used to pump his tires to 116 PSI. Why 116? No one knows or really cared but he was religious about it. I asked him why once and he said it was the precise PSI that he had set into his bike computer. He wrote down everything, i.e. today I road 62.51 miles. Sorry, way to .nal for me.