Gas Saver pressure indicators

[Coyote Chris]

Anyone ever try these? The upside would be if you glanced at them before you rode, you would see right away if the pressure had dropped below 31 lbs psi.
The downside would be that if they failed, they might empty your tire "relatively" quickly, even though the orfice is very small to the popper......

 

[Rmcapozzi]

Be careful about adding any additional weight to the rubber valve stems. I wouldn't use them unless I had solid mounted valve stems (which would be aftermarket for the NT). You don't want the valve stem to fail due to over flexing.

 

[Mellow]

+1 on both threads above.. just check your tires before each ride or at least often or invest in a real tpms that has metal stems.

 

[RedLdr1]

I have friend who uses those on his older car, pre TPMS, and they are fairly accurate. They are sold in multiple pressure values, including 42 PSI, so you would need to purchase a set of 36PSI and 42PSI to have the correct ones for the NT. While they are not a substitute for periodically checking your tire pressure they are a handy "quick glance" warning device.

 

[Mellow]

I have friend who uses those on his older car, pre TPMS, and they are fairly accurate. They are sold in multiple pressure values, including 42 PSI, so you would need to purchase a set of 36PSI and 42PSI to have the correct ones for the NT. While they are not a substitute for periodically checking your tire pressure they are a handy "quick glance" warning device.

Keep an eye on your valve stems. Spray w/soapy water to see they aren't developing a stress crack. Also, replace at least every other tire change or, better yet, every tire change.

There were some reports from ST-Owners that used screw-on cheap TPMS systems and the weight slowly bent / damaged their stems and they were stranded... it's easy to add some air, not so easy to replace a damaged valve stem on the side of the road... in fact, probably near-impossible. Granted the TPMS screw ons are much heavier than these but, might still be an issue.

 

[Mellow]

Here we go, the Thread discussing it.

Obviously, those weigh more than the indicators discussed here but, just something to keep an eye on.

 

[RedLdr1]

Ouch, a good picture can speak volumes... I don't doubt any significant weight on the end of a valve stem is bad... Some of the "dressy" valve caps for sale, dice, skulls, bullets, etc, are probably a bad idea as well...as well as just plain tacky...

 

[Phil Tarman]

You don't want the valve stem to fail due to over flexing.

A great big +1 to that! I had a BMW right angle stem adaptor on my Connie's rubber valve stem many years ago. It never crossed my feeble mind that that was a recipe for disaster. The valve stem tore off when I was doing 75 on the interstate. Things got very interesting for about 30 seconds and then stayed pretty interesting for the next couple of hours. Tankslapper then the bike would barely sit on the sidestand after I managed to get the trunk and both panniers off while holding it up.

I probably wouldn't have lived through it if it had been the front valve stem that had torn.

 

[Mellow]

A great big +1 to that! I had a BMW right angle stem adaptor on my Connie's rubber valve stem many years ago. It never crossed my feeble mind that that was a recipe for disaster. The valve stem tore off when I was doing 75 on the interstate. Things got very interesting for about 30 seconds and then stayed pretty interesting for the next couple of hours. Tankslapper then the bike would barely sit on the sidestand after I managed to get the trunk and both panniers off while holding it up.

I probably wouldn't have lived through it if it had been the front valve stem that had torn.

Coincidentally, this past weekend I did a tire change for a guy w/older Connie and he had a similar story after a local tire shop put a right angled metal valve stem on his bike however, it was still a push-in stem and didn't have the nut on the inside like some do... he was 850 miles into his ironbutt ride when it failed out near Toyah, TX - you don't get much more out is the middle of nowhere than Toyah, TX...

 

[Phil Tarman]

Boy, I'll say! Toyah is way the heck and gone. Mine was still on the outskirts of Fort Morgan, on the Interstate and it took me two hours to get a tow truck. Did he say how long it took to get one to Toyah?

 

[Mellow]

Boy, I'll say! Toyah is way the heck and gone. Mine was still on the outskirts of Fort Morgan, on the Interstate and it took me two hours to get a tow truck. Did he say how long it took to get one to Toyah?

He was very lucky... it all happened as the sun was going down and he said that town isn't a town at all, or seemed like ghost town at the time. There was some type of highway worker putting away equipment in a fenced area and he asked him if he could leave the bike there since it was Sunday and he'd just try to figure out how to get it moved over the next couple days... he asked the guy where he was headed, he said Pecos. He asked if he would take him there and he said the guy said sure... then, proceeded to hook up a trailer, load the bike and drop him off at a hotel next to an auto shop in Pecos - no bikes shops apparently - the auto shop let him use their tools and a regular auto valve stem fit the Connie wheel I guess... lots of luck involved in that trip.

 

[Mellow]

But, properly inflated tires should provide better gas mileage, it doesn't say how much so it's not lying.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Very interesting comments. These weigh 65 grains (a penny weighs 40 grains) so they arent very heavy. My thoughts were to use these on trips and check them at each rest area and gas stop (you hit alot of those
at my age), the therory being that you put lots of miles on the bike in a short period of time and are more likely to hit something bad during one day on the road than when you are at home doing short rides. They would indicate that you had a pretty serious leak. When I was doing my electric inflator pump tests on my connie, I was amazed at how a seriously underinflated tire felt and looked. A tire with 20 psi looked and felt fine. While not as good as an actual tire pressure check, I dont see me checking pressures more than once a day....
My toyota Matrix has a light that goes on when a tire gets seriously low (15 psi or so). I assume it works off the anti-lock brake system. I have seen that light and couldnt tell which tire was low buy looking at them.
If you have a tire that checks good at the beginning of a day and goes down to 31 psi, you got a hole somewhere.....
Despite my feelings about marketing people, many many many cage drivers go around with under inflated tires cause they are too lazy to check their tires once a week.....and they do waste millions of gallons of gas every year...
I have no problem calling these cage gas savers....

Remember, you cant buy beer, you can only rent it....take that gator aide bottle into the tent with you at night....!

 

[karl]

I would put these on my bike (if) I cold get the right pressure setting and since they don't make them (yet) I won't.
Heck half the stuff at the bomber store is made in China now.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Actually, I think they do make them for 36 and 42 psi. But 65 grams at 80mph generates a goodly bit of centrifugal force. The BMW 90-degree adaptor that tore the rubber valve stem on my Connie weighed less than a penny.

 

[elizilla]

I ran these for a while on my Sabre. I used a 36 and a 42. They never tore a valve stem and they worked just fine. However, EVERY SINGLE TIME I stopped somewhere where there were other bikes, someone would fuss and fuss and fuss at me about them. Eventually they got dirty and faded and hard to read at a glance, and I was tired of hearing about it so I didn't replace them.

 

[taldric]

So... a question... I hate trying to get a tire pressure guage into the NT's wheels. There is so little clearance between the end of the valve stem and the brake rotor. I am considering having metal angled valve stems installed when I get my front tire replaced. These would be replacements for the rubber stems and would be installed before tire balancing. Anyone think that is a bad idea?

 

[charlie b]

First, if you do get those pressure reading caps, get them so they will respond where you want, ie, if you want to have no less than 35psi in a tire, then get the 40(??) psi stems.

Second, TPMS systems are nice to have. I love it in my truck and will get one for the trailer and maybe even the bikes. BEWARE, use them ONLY with metal valve stems! And even better to balance the tires with them in place.

Third, I will get the angled stems next tire change.

 

[Chuck 500]

You need the kind of gauge that has a short hose attached. I was able to find an extention with the valve chuck on one end and a screw fitting on the other that I attach to my road pump. I got it at Cycle Gear but didn't see it on their web site just now. Check the auto parts places. My home pump has a long hose, a clip type chuck and reads pressure.

Good luck,

Chuck

 

[Mellow]

So... a question... I hate trying to get a tire pressure guage into the NT's wheels. There is so little clearance between the end of the valve stem and the brake rotor. I am considering having metal angled valve stems installed when I get my front tire replaced. These would be replacements for the rubber stems and would be installed before tire balancing. Anyone think that is a bad idea?

Not at all, great idea, many ST Owners have done the same thing as we have a similar issue with the clearance for adding/checking air. I had them before I installed my Orange TPMS. The TPMS has virtical metal stems so I'm back to the clearance issues but I don't have to check the air anymore, I see it on the display, so only when I need to add some do I deal with that.