Check tire pressures please, friendly reminder | GTAMotorcycle.com

Check tire pressures please, friendly reminder

Dougy

Dougy

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Sold a bike to a friend a little over a month ago.I checked the pressures before delivery, both at 30+ psi. He came by for a ride this past friday and Just before he was leaving he mentioned the front suspension felt "weird".Checked rear-34 psi, checked front-8 psi ! Fired up compressor and that was that....

Just a friendly reminder....Have fun ride safe ; )
 
Did you find where the leak was?
 
This is a good reminder. Whenever someone crashes, tire pressure is usually the culprit.
 
That reminds me. If you haven't heard an internet myth by 9am, start one. SMIDCYTP (Sorry Mate I Didn't Check Your Tire Pressure)
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Did you find where the leak was?
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This is a good question. Every time I check mine they're only off by a few PSI. Same with car. Unless there's a leak somewhere.
 
Only 8psi in the front???? How does someone even move ahead a few feet that low and not notice????? Most of the time when mine feels off it's as little as 5psi down from optimum, NOT at 5psi.
 
Riceburner said:
Only 8psi in the front???? How does someone even move ahead a few feet that low and not notice????? Most of the time when mine feels off it's as little as 5psi down from optimum, NOT at 5psi.
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Look at the bright side.... Larger contact patch.... With the rim.
 
Senor Dougy said:
Sold a bike to a friend a little over a month ago.I checked the pressures before delivery, both at 30+ psi. He came by for a ride this past friday and Just before he was leaving he mentioned the front suspension felt "weird".Checked rear-34 psi, checked front-8 psi ! Fired up compressor and that was that....

Just a friendly reminder....Have fun ride safe ; )
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The nanny state gurus use people like hat to push for more stuff. Tire pressure monitoring systems will eventually be replaced with automatic inflation systems.

My old VW beetle didn't have a gas gauge. You remembered or used a dipstick. Now cars have gauges, a light to tell you to look at the gauge and a chime to tell you to look a the light that tells you to look at the gauge.

Next will be a GPS / fuel link that senses low fuel level and the vehicle self steers itself to the nearest gas station.
 
I don't think anyone minds having a gas gauge but yes the TPMS can be a royal pain in the butt.
You can't disable it and replacement of the sensors can cost an arm and a leg. The icing on the cake is that people still drive on low (or high) pressure because either they don't care about the warning light or their system is set up for wrong pressure or it's broken.
 
DemonPig said:
I don't think anyone minds having a gas gauge but yes the TPMS can be a royal pain in the butt.
You can't disable it and replacement of the sensors can cost an arm and a leg. The icing on the cake is that people still drive on low (or high) pressure because either they don't care about the warning light or their system is set up for wrong pressure or it's broken.
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I hate to agree with you, but it's true. The worst offense a gas gauge can make is the sending unit going bad, which I literally cannot remember the last time happening to me (Chevy Caprice, maybe?) TPMS becomes a major PITA at a tire change or worse, between tire changes. Sealed units with non-replaceable batteries can be a bit hard to swallow, aftermarket has been knocking them off for a while now but it's still an added expense & hassle that provides marginal benefit. They're not even very accurate on some cars. Do I get why they exist? Yes. Are they improving my life? Nope
 
TwistedKestrel said:
I hate to agree with you, but it's true. The worst offense a gas gauge can make is the sending unit going bad, which I literally cannot remember the last time happening to me (Chevy Caprice, maybe?) TPMS becomes a major PITA at a tire change or worse, between tire changes. Sealed units with non-replaceable batteries can be a bit hard to swallow, aftermarket has been knocking them off for a while now but it's still an added expense & hassle that provides marginal benefit. They're not even very accurate on some cars. Do I get why they exist? Yes. Are they improving my life? Nope
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GM had a problem with the alloy they used in the sending units, late 1990's, IIRC. There was a reaction with some fuel additive and the readings were erratic. Covered by a recall?
 
Personally, I can't wait for motorcycle TPMS to be more readily available. I'm terrible at checking my tire pressure, and tpms would have helped at least a few times in recent memory.

Riding to work one day, felt the back end slide a bit going around a corner at a fairly slow speed. Get to work to find the rear tire has almost zero psi.

Coming back from London, ON bike gets into a very sketchy speed wobble doing 120 on the 401. Pull over to find the rear tire had a nail or screw that at some point came out causing the rear tire to rapidly deflate.

Thankfully, nothing bad happened those two times. TPMS would have significantly cut down the risk though.
 
You could always get those valve stem caps that indicate when the pressure is below a certain psi. I like the idea of TPMS letting you know you have a psi problem while riding. But in all other scenarios, I feel it's worthwhile to be vigilant with tire maintenance on a two wheeled machine.
 
AF4iK said:
You could always get those valve stem caps that indicate when the pressure is below a certain psi. I like the idea of TPMS letting you know you have a psi problem while riding. But in all other scenarios, I feel it's worthwhile to be vigilant with tire maintenance on a two wheeled machine.
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It pays to be aware of all vehicle conditions. Assuming that any mechanical device will work forever is asking for trouble. While checking your tire pressure you might notice something a TPMS won't tell you. A cut, bulge or nail that hasn't caused a leak yet, a worn rotor etc.
 
Out of interest, does anyone have experience with Garmin's TPMS which they added to the Zumos? Thinking of going that route (just picked up the GPS) myself. I do check tire pressure fairly regularly, however I do like the idea of getting a warning should I get a slow leak/puncture while out on a ride (and on a bike it could easily be the difference between a stop and a crash).
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