Ilbiker

How accurate are the pump mounted gauges. I also have a pump/gauge setup, but still wonder how accurate it really is. Has anyone compared their pump/gauge to a separate, known accurate gauge? If so, how did they compare?

Rowan

Pinching can be deceptive, too. Having converted to Conti GP4000S II tyres, I found them to be somewhat softer than the Schwalbe Duranos they replaced at the same pressures when applying the pinch test.

Generally, I top off the tyres with pump that incorporates a gauge every couple of rides. If on tour or a randonnee, I use a Zefal gauge that I carry with me... I have been caught once or twice not pumping up tyres adequately after repairing a puncture with either a pinch flat or just plain slow riding.

Cyclist0084

Floor pump with gauge.

OldTryGuy

Prior to every ride on 700 tires I use a pump with gauge. It's a no brainer for flat protection and ride quality.

Azreal911

my ride has like 26x 2.35 fat cruiser tires sooo i pump them up with a gauge once every two weeks that'll be when they start to get bouncy.

Nachoman

Pump with gauge once or twice a week.
I wouldn't be able to really tell the difference between 90 and 110 PSI just by squeezing.

BobbyG

I commute and keep a floor pump with guage at home and at the office. I top off my AirZound AirHorn before each ride. I'll pinch the tires to make sure they're not unusually low (or flat). Even if they feel good, I will check the pressure with the guage at least once a week or so. In the summer they tend to loose 10-15psi a week. In the winter, they hold good psi much longer. Last winter I put studded snow tires on my my old MTB based commuter. They're 26x 1.6 and I run 'em at 25-30 psi, so they feel kinda soft to begin with. I'll still pinch them out of habit, but the studs sometimes pinch me back.

Jim from Boston

Squeeze or Guage?

I pump my road bike tires about twice a week with an accurate floor pump: 100psi on 25C, 90 psi on 30 C. The 25 C tires are usually at 80 psi, maybe due to release of air as I engage the pump, but they still feel sufficiently hard. I pump my wide mountain bike tires about once a month; they don't seem to lose much.

I do often squeeze my tires, especially the night before if I really need to be somewhere important because I have (rarely) found a seemingly spontaneous flat tire on a road or mountain bike, even after riding it with no problem.

There once was a thread on Bike Forums inquiring if you touch other peoples' bikes. I admitted that I do sometimes squeeze other peoples' tires.

mconlonx

Squeeze. I run 26 x 1.5" tires in the 65-75psi range -- if there's any give when I squeeze the tires, I know they need air.

AlmostTrick

Both, because pump has a gauge. But if I know I recently topped off the tires then there's no need to pump or check with a gauge. Unless there is a puncture, tires don't lose more than a trivial, irrelevant amount in a few days, and can easily be checked with a squeeze... or better still:

Besides a squeeze I also like to press my weight down first on the handlebars, and then the saddle, while observing the tire drop. You can't argue with the results.

Having said that, the narrower/higher pressure the tires, the more often they need to be topped off.


I found my pump gauge to read slightly lower than more trusted gauges and adjust accordingly when I pump.

fietsbob

Your tire Wide or skinny? innertube thick, thin butyl or Latex

Or is it a tubeless wheel-tire?

back to specifics..




./.

MRT2

Pump with a gauge. Squeezing the tire won't tell you much, unless you have a flat tire.

godeacs

Pinch works just fine for me ...usually top off about once a month.

Jim from Boston

On the Road I use the Topeak Road Morph pump. I bought it because it had a foot stand (that easily broke) and now I use it as a hand pump. I find the in-line tire gauge useless though. Too hard to read, too wide a scale to be precise, and too hard to position to get close enough to read so I just squeeze until I get home. Am I doing it wrong?

MRT2

My road morph gauge works pretty well, so I cannot say what the problem is with yours. At home, I use a Bontrager floor pump with gauge that is easier to read.

MRT2

This last summer, my wife's best friend has been riding with us quite a bit. When she got a flat earlier this summer, I wondered whether she was pumping up her tires enough. She said she uses an air compressor that you would use to fill car tires but it has no gauge, so she just eyeballs it, then sqeezes the tire. So after she bought some new tires, I suggested she air up the new tires with the air compressor, using the squeeze test, then we would check the tires with my floor pump gauge. Turns out the tires were only inflated to about 45 psi, on a 28 mm tire. I suggested she use the floor pump and try 80 to 90 psi. And she did, after which she bought her own floor pump.

idiotekniQues

I pump up to 105PSI on my 28's before any fitness ride. If I'm just grabbing the bike to run some quick errands around town totaling a couple of miles I'll just take it and go. I know my tires will only lose about 20 PSI in a week so I'm riding at 80-85PSI then.

memebag

All of my tires loose 10 to 20 psi in a day. They don't keep loosing that every day, just the first day.

It takes very little time to pump them back up, so I always do that.

FBinNY 

Yes, despite being pretty OCD about filling tires, people don't factor that compressing air heats it. So the air you pump in to a tire is warmer than the ambient temp, and as it cools the pressure will drop.

I'm not suggesting that the OCD folks need to be yet more OCD, just explaining a phenomenon.

However the more OCD people might consider that they never noticed the difference between newly pumped tires and those just topped off to the same pressure, and consider this evidence that it all doesn't matter as much as some would make out.

Fastfingaz

I pinch and kick my tires on my cruiser or mountain bike but if I'm using the road bike it's pump and gauge every time those 23's have to be right for every ride,,,

ceridwen

With narrow tires I use a gauge and refill pretty frequently (couple times a week if riding daily). With the fat tires on my cargo bike I pinch most of the time and refill much less frequently when I'm just riding it around by myself. If I'm taking it out loaded I check with a gauge though. As a very lightweight rider the tires have to get quite low on air before it affects handling with just my weight on it but loaded down it can be a major problem far earlier. Not worth taking a risk. Thousands of miles and I've never had a pinch flat despite being less than religious about checking tire pressure. I suspect that is a weight related issue as well (I'm a very petite female).

bbbean 

Yes.

Seattle Forrest

Same story here. Except I use the gauge on my pump, but otherwise, yeah, it was every ride at 110/120, now it's every week at 80/80.

qajaq

One more vote for floor pump with a gauge. For a flat on the road CO2 and a squeeze will do

jefnvk

Pinch before a ride, just to be sure there is nothing obviously wrong.

If a pump goes on, always a gauge.