petrol station air

Ish · 3 Mar 2012 at 15:53

Hi

I went to check/top up the air on my bike tyres but there wasn't enough space to get the air thingy on to the tyre valve.

I saw some brass 45 & 90 degree tyre adaptors Ebay. Is this what you are supposed to use? From reading the Ebay description you leave them on all the time but they look horrible!

gillywibble · 3 Mar 2012 at 17:01

I wouldn't trust petrol station air at all. Get yourself a decent tyre gauge and pump.

Ish · 3 Mar 2012 at 17:06

I've got my own digital gauge so I just need to get a pump that fits.

Macky · 3 Mar 2012 at 17:19

gillywibble said:
I wouldn't trust petrol station air at all. Get yourself a decent tyre gauge and pump.

You wouldn't trust air?

Felix · 3 Mar 2012 at 17:35

The ones at garages are abused and probably not calibrated so therefore likely to be inaccurate.

Dogbreath · 4 Mar 2012 at 15:12

Felix said:
The ones at garages are abused and probably not calibrated so therefore likely to be inaccurate.

A lot of petrol stations now have the air machines that incorporate the pressure sensor within the main pump/display housing so there is little scope for abusing them. That said bikes with big discs can be a utter pain to get a "wand" type air fitting onto the valve, though it can usually be done with a bit of thought and possibly bending the valve stem slightly.

Danm54 · 6 Mar 2012 at 00:00

Dogbreath said:
A lot of petrol stations now have the air machines that incorporate the pressure sensor within the main pump/display housing so there is little scope for abusing them. That said bikes with big discs can be a utter pain to get a "wand" type air fitting onto the valve, though it can usually be done with a bit of thought and possibly bending the valve stem slightly.

This ^

If you buy the 90 fitting for the tyre valves DONT leave them on, they are forced outwards when the wheel spins and bend the valve over. Not ideal really..

Luke · 6 Mar 2012 at 07:46

Danm54 said:
This ^

If you buy the 90 fitting for the tyre valves DONT leave them on, they are forced outwards when the wheel spins and bend the valve over. Not ideal really..

+1

St0rmer66 · 6 Mar 2012 at 21:37

I keep one of these: http://www.allterraintyres.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=24094 in my pocket for such an occasion. My wheels (Oz wheels on RSV-R) make it virtually impossible to fill them with air, even with a regular foot pump it's hard. I got mine free from work

.

Dogbreath · 7 Mar 2012 at 08:40

St0rmer66 said:
I keep one of these: http://www.allterraintyres.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=24094 in my pocket for such an occasion. My wheels (Oz wheels on RSV-R) make it virtually impossible to fill them with air, even with a regular foot pump it's hard. I got mine free from work .

That's a neat solution!

ShakenNstirred · 7 Mar 2012 at 09:52

Ish said:
Hi

I went to check/top up the air on my bike tyres but there wasn't enough space to get the air thingy on to the tyre valve.

I saw some brass 45 & 90 degree tyre adaptors Ebay. Is this what you are supposed to use? From reading the Ebay description you leave them on all the time but they look horrible!

yes use one of those if you have too

Dogbreath said:
though it can usually be done with a bit of thought and possibly bending the valve stem slightly.

dont bend the rubber valve stem to get the airline to fit
years ago i aways did that and one day while riding i had a blowout at about 70 after going over a bit of bumpy road and when i checked the tyre nothing was wrong, i found the valve stem had split where it goes in to the rim, i was lucky to stay on the bike when the front tyre went flat