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Good idea?

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:01 pm
by Zombie Master

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:03 pm
by gspd
I order these by the dozen.
Works out to less than a buck each, including delivery.
Don't mind losing them or giving them away.
Readings are consistently accurate, believe it or not..
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001 ... 811b6f93-4

A MUST HAVE in your toolkit is one of these:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1630429 ... lsrc=aw.ds
Great for when the service station air chuck is one of those long ones that don't fit motorcycle wheels.
Don't leave it on permanently, they look retarded, and probably cause a slight imbalance.
Just use it to over-inflate your tire a bit (or seat the bead on a new tire) and remove it before adjusting down to the pressure required.

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 5:19 pm
by Zombie Master
I just thought that the 90 degree head might make things easier, specially with the snowflake wheels on my
R100.

But I will order those extensions for my tool kits.

Tubes are a PIA :(

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 12:52 am
by ME 109
A right angle adapter is a must have if you're tubeless snowflake, can't get a gas bottle on otherwise.

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:45 am
by Rob Frankham
Pen type tyre pressure gauges have been around for ever (well certainly for 50 odd years to my personal knowledge). The question has always been one of how accurate they are (and, of course, how accurate they need to be ;) ). The truth is that they aren't very accurate, none I have seen are calibratable and their accuracy tends to suffer from being bashed about in a bikes toolkit for long periods. That being said I do have one and I still occasionally use it as a quick roadside check. Wouldn't want to rely on it for setting pressures though.

I would say that the one below is over 40 years old and, out of interest, I just looked online. A virtually identical gauge is still available from the same manufacturer (PCL). That shows a design continuity that puts even airheads to shame... 8-)
Pen tyre pressure gauge.jpg
Pen tyre pressure gauge.jpg (958.09 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
https://www.pclairtechnology.com/tyre-p ... ed-tpg1h07

Rob

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 5:16 am
by Zombie Master
I wouldn't dare run tubeless with snowflake mags. They weren't designed to be run that way.

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 8:49 am
by ME 109
Zombie Master wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 5:16 am I wouldn't dare run tubeless with snowflake mags. They weren't designed to be run that way.
I decided I wouldn't on the front, but I did on the back for a while. But Ive only had one flat rear anyway.
A pilot activ rear (my go to) is just about impossible to fix a flat on a snowflake and get it seated again with just gas bottles or hand pump.

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 9:48 am
by SteveD
I still use a tubeless PA rear. I wouldn't ordinarily do the roads that Jeff might. I tend to stick to bitumen mostly and the bike has limited use these days compared to 5-6 years back. So far so good. The wheels are powder coated. Rock steady psi.

I find that those pencil gauges seem to co-relate mostly to the pressure hose gauges in petrol stations. No idea idea how accurate they are though. I buy mine from aliexpress too. Never from amazon, never.

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:33 am
by barryh
I use a PCL pencil type gauge and there is no reason they can't be at least as accurate as a dial type pressure gauge, in fact fundamentally they are potentially more accurate due to the simplicity of construction which is a piston and an extension spring where as the bourdon tube dial gauges need a mechanism to convert linear movement of the bourdon tube to rotary movement. Cheap bourdon tube gauges are not very accurate particularly at the bottom and top 10% of there range and this is usually compounded by an unsuitable choice of gauge range e.g. 0-100 psi when a 0-50 PSI range would be inherently more accurate and enough for most domestic use. A pencil gauge can be adjusted by simply unscrewing the head and altering the effective spring length using the spring anchor.

I say the above having been trained in instrument calibration.

Re: Good idea?

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:31 pm
by Zombie Master
I have tested a few digital air gauges, and when comparing them with my best pencil gauge seem to be pretty accurate. I always try to err on the side of too much pressure.