Check Your Tire Pressure

[johnakay]

don't think I wanna pay that kind of money £130.
I rather kneel and check them my self cost? ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERO

 

[dog]

don't think I wanna pay that kind of money £130.
I rather kneel and check them my self cost? ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERO

To be honest, I didn't want to pay that kind of money either. BUT then again, I didn't want to have lose the time and air pressure for daily checks with an air gauge even more. I did just remember one thing I DON'T like about my particular TPMS. The display alternates between the front and rear tire and I have the keep checking to see the pressure in both tires sometimes. There's a newer one that doesn't have the unhelpful picture of a bike showing front & rear; but just a constant display of both values at once -- MUCH better for a quick glance.

By the way, this thing does have a fairly loud audio alarm if the pressure falls below a preset value, but I have trouble hearing it with freeway wind noise and my earplugs in. No problem hearing the alarm with earplugs on the neighborhood streets though.

 

[Harald]

I'm guilty of only checking once a week, despite riding virtually every day all year long. After over 30 years and over a quarter million miles ridden, I've gotten a pretty good sense of when a tire is low by how the bike handles. Worn tires bring on that "truck like" steering effort and a low tire is very similar or even worse once pressure gets real low.

But long term low pressure can cause poor wear characteristics like cupping on front tires and might not get noticed, so I do the weekly check (or more often if I know that a tire has a very slow leak). I change my own tires and do a thorough job of scrubbing the bead seating area of the rim and therefore don't usually have any slow leak problems.

A TPMS would be great to have because it would show that nail you picked up before you might notice the poor handling. I have a Garmin 660 GPS, but if I was buying one today I would consider the new 590LM because it has TPMS capability built in! Motorcycle GPS | zūmo®

BTW, anyone looking for metal valve stems for a great price, check this site out: kurveygirl.com - Dzus, Vesrah, Brembo, Spring Clips and More - 3/4" Short Metal Valve Stem - Set (2pcs) . I've had these on my FJR1300 for over 70,000 miles with no problems. The short stem makes it easy to get my angled head tire gage on there.

 

[elizilla]

I use these for exactly the problem the original poster mentions. Modern tyres look perfect even when they are badly deflated. people knock these valve caps for various reasons (wheel balance, risk of failure etc) but I have been using them on 4 cars and 4 or 5 bikes for the past 5 years and no problems so far. On two of my past bikes and my wife's car they often show unexpectedly red (she has Toyota and the rims corrode and leak). I don't use them as a replacement for checking 36 and 42 psi reasonably regularly, but I glance at them before every ride to see if I have got a slow puncture.
Mike
View attachment 16587

I ran those for a long time and never had any of the problems people claim they cause. I got tired of having people insist on telling me horror stories, so I stopped using them, but I still think they're great. I might start using them again.

 

[Naked_Duc]

I agreed with many of your comments on checking tire pressure regularly. Although checking prior to every ride seems to make sense, it may not be practical since I commute on the NCX everyday. I do think it would be good for me to make that as part of my bi-weekly chain maintenance routine. I would also do a visual inspection on a daily basis, in case I get a nail in the tire. Maybe a couple of kicks at the tire to make sure it's not completely flat.

Cheers

 

[mike5100]

Hey Mike, got a link for those?

Adam - the place I buy them from is on the UK version of the famous auction site but you will be able to find them in the USA by entering 'tire pressure safety indicator valve' (please note the mis-spelling of 'tyre' that you will probably have to use in San Francisco

Mike

 

[xrlke]

I check mine at every week, along with the car and truck tires. The guys I work with think I'm nuts, but o well.

 

[Whiteknuckle]

i check tires weekly before ride (fair weather ride only on weekends - the BWS125 does the bad weather duty) also do "preflight"
fluids/oil etc - i check lights / signals before every ride

for the longest time i used the cheap pen-type gauge. Decided to get a better dial type by Accugauge. Was surpised to find a big difference in readings.
(on my ex-Ninja 650) the pen-type was set at 32F 36R, The accugage would read 3-4 psi lower. Did not know what to believe so i got a 3rd lcd gauge.
All 3 read different - decided to just go by what the accugage says

 

[AdamW]

Thanks, Mike!

 

[Cyclerosis]

I finally decided to replace the stock Metzelers for various reasons. Squirrely cornering being number one, but also because of the chronic loss of air, mostly in the rear. When I spooned off the rear tire, I found two spots on the rim, where the bead is seated, that had bubbled with oxidation. There were also corresponding spots on the tires. I confess I've never properly checked for the leak, but after making this observation I have to conclude these spots were the number one suspects. I used some 0000 steel wool to flatten out the bubbled spots and thoroughly cleaned the entire bead seat. After mounting the new Pilot Road 3 on the rear, I inflated to 60 psi to properly seat the bead and used soapy water to check for leaks. Not a bubble! Hope the front tire goes equally well. Now, if only I could find the new wheel weights to balance them!