bike pump with gauge

Bike Pump with Gauge – Are there any advantages?

If your a regular bike user then you might be interested in not carrying any excess weight especially if you don’t have to and do you care about your safety. If the answer was yest then you might want to consider getting a bike pump with gauge.

Having an integrated unit is useful if you want to check the tyre pressure every couple of days when its sitting or hanging in the garage, garden storage and don’t want to lug around a separate device to measure the tyre pressure.

If your like many cyclists and ride your bike between the city and the countryside then you may want to use your bike on a trail. In such a case you might lower your bikes tyre pressure before hitting the trail and when you return you can use the gauge on the bike pump to easily monitor the increase the pressure of the tyres as you start pumping.

Over the years I have found that the floor bike pump units have tended to come with an integrated pressure gauge however more recently I have come across a number of quality made bike hand pumps with integrated pressure gauges such as a popular model from Pro Bike Tool that seems really compact and well designed.

If your new to cycling and are unsure about what pressure your tyre should be then there is a relatively easy way to find out roughly the required pressure. You should find a minimum and maximum value printed on the side of the tyre tread. On some tyres you will find that the manufacturer has just printed a maximum tyre pressure. The pressure will have either or both BAR/PSI units written next to them. If you can keep as close as possible to this pressure setting then your tyres should be safe to be ride on.

However its not always as simple as inflating a bike tyre to the minimum/maximum pressure since the tyre pressure you set the tyres to must take into account the width of the tyre, the load exerted on the tyre, grip required and other factors.

It can take some experimentation to find the perfect tyre pressure for your riding style and where you intend to ride whether its on mainly tarmac or on country lanes.

The softer a tyre, so one with less pressure the more susceptible it is to impact punctures. That’s why its really important to have a bike pump with gauge so you know that your tyres are safe before setting of on
any bike ride.

What to do if don’t have bike pump with gauge

So what can you do if your caught out without having a bike pump with gauge. One method is to make use of your thumbs to test the
pressure of the tyre, try to ensure the pressure you feel in the tyre is similar to how the tyres feel after you would have pumped the tyres to the correct pressure setting when you had a suitable pressure gauge. If the tyre feels too soft then add a little more air, if its too hard then let out some air.

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