Tyre pressure monitors

I check my tyres manually once a fortnight. It is, unfortunately, not
often enough. Does anybody have have experience with (or use) tyre
pressure monitors?

BTW - I searched old posts on this one and SmarTire have withdrawn
from the motorcycle market and 'Tyre Signal' colour-coded caps got a
bad review.

I was thinking about http://www.tyredog.zylux.com.au/td4000ax.html
which retail at about $300, but I'm wondering whether it will provide
any real value to me. It may be better for track use (?) and end up
just being excess weight for me to carry around everywhere (63g in
all) until it stops working.

Apart from wanting people's opinion on this idea, I've got 2 concerns
about TyreDog in particular:

1) It might be designed for fair-weather riders (my only reason for
thinking that is the display is a key ring, BUT it mustn't get wet!).
I'm in the market for indestrucible systems only.

2) The manual says: "Precaution: For alve stem used on Motorcycle,
please use lock-fixed type, not in rubber made." which is Japlish, but
I haven't got a clue what for.

Also, as the sensors are 10g each, I suppose they could affect the
tyre balance... but seeing as how I can fail to notice a flat tyre,
that probably won't be a concern for me!

 

Nothing that I know, I have just come back from a 6000k trip up north and
used them with no problems at all, heard the story about the balance but
did not note any problems for speeds up to 160ish, tyre wear also seams
fine..........only prob I can see is they are easy for some light fingered
bastard to nick.............

Cheers
Oigster

 

Good quality tyre pressure gauges cost $25 to $50 and seem to be easy to use
compared to the problems described previously.

There may be a need for tyre pressure monitoring during motorsport events,
but then money is almost no object.

Lesser mortals operate with simpler solutions, for example:-

* Check your tyre pressures weekly or every 500 km, which ever is sooner.

* Buy and use your own pressure gauge. You will then have consistency in
the pressure readings.

* Have a tyre pump at home so that you can check and adjust the pressures
when cold.

John Dwyer

 

Apparently, the way they work means that they don't fail safe, but
rather, should the thingy become faulty, it lets all the pressure out of
your tyre.

I have no idea how likely they are to fail, having never used them, but
<shrug> it just seems like an added complication to me.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

[...]

No. I gave it a passing thought once but then remembered more than 50
years of driving monitoring tyre pressures by eyeball and tyre
pressure gauges. I tried to think of an instance where life would have
been different had I used one of those monitor thingies, but none came
to mind. I love gadgets as much as the next man, but there are limits.
So IMHO spend some of the money you save on a good pressure gauge and
put the rest in the bank. Set up a checking routine using the good
gauge, and be alert for handling changes or changes to tyre shape that
might signal trouble. Monitoring systems are OK for those who really
need them eg racing drivers, heavy equipment operators, the
military... mere mortals could find them expensive and generally
counterproductive for reasons given by others in this thread.
However, as always ymmv, and the decision is yours anyway. At the end
of the day it boils down to what makes you feel safe and happy.

 

So check them weekly.....Problem solved
Next


Capt. A. L.

 

Search this forum for "tyre pressure monitor".

In 2006, in a thread called "Tyre Pressure Monitors", Learner said
"I have used the signal valve pressure caps - the ones I used show
green when first screwed on, and if the pressure drops by a couple of
PSI, they show red. That's the idea anyway, although I have checked
my tyre pressures manually several times and found them down 3-4 PSI
without the red showing. I stopped using them."

That's the only bad word. I'm not going to buy something that someone
else has tried and given up with. Better to get it second-hand off
him!

 

2006? You're probably too late to get them off him, he's likely
already gotten rid of them.


BTH

 

CAUWOT.

 

2006? You're probably too late to get them off him, he's likely
already gotten rid of them.


BTH

**********************************

Thrown them in the recycle bin more than likely

Vut, aside from that, I wonder if it would be possible to adjust the
pressure rating to show a higher or lower reading before it turned red?

 

Jo's F650GS has tyre pressure monitoring stuff integral to the onboard
computer. When scrolling through the various screens on the dash you
can see the current front and rear tyre pressures.

As far as all the technostuff which motorcycle manufacturers can build
into bikes these days, it's the only really useful piece of technology
which the trip computer has. Twice now it has alerted. It alerts with
a red warning light and some icon to identify low pressure on the dash.
It triggers when the tyre pressure drops down to 30PSI or less. That
is before the average rider would probably notice the difference in
pressure, and also before the ignorance leads to premature tyre wear or
damage or worse.

I used to think they were probably an excessive gadget in the past, and
I often go thousands of km between pressure checks on my bike, but
having twice witnessed it in action, if offered a list of gadget extras
on a new bike purchase, it is the first box that I would tick.

Nev..
'08 DL1000K8

 

Also WOFTAM

 

OK, I'll bite.
In the second sentence, I used 'him' to refer to the 'someone else' in
the first sentence. It was a generalisation.

Also, it might not be too late in this case. For example, I still have
my L plates from 1996 if anybody wants them! If 'Learner' didn't find
anyone to hand them on to, they are more likely to be stashed away in
the back of a cupboard somewhere.

 

Speaking of hanging onto things you'll never need again, if anyone
wants either a GPX250 cylinder head, a GPz750 front mudguard, or a
pair of front brake disks for a 1987 CBR1000F, I'm your guy.

(For the price of postage).


BTH

 

Yeah... as much as I hate techno-wank that DOES sound like a bloody handy
device and I could've benefited from it many many times!

This just reminded me of something: (warning, looooong rambling drunken rant
ahead!)

I had my BIGGIE in December 1982 and my recuperation was slow and painful.
I was really eager to ride my little Ducati 500SL Pantah but I knew my
limitations so I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't ride it until I
could get it onto centrestand, so I used to hobble downstairs and practise
taking it off and onto centrestand while hanging onto the gas-pipe above
until the day I could do it without the support. (about June or July the
next year)
My mates were supporting me ('though they all tried to talk me out of ever
riding again) and I took Gregg's Z1300 for a lap first because it was a
little easier to ride than the hard-arse Ducati but my back hurt like
buggery (*cue chorus) and I finally settled onto the Pantah and with my
concerned escort set off for Mt Glorious. (It seemed like a good idea at the
time).
It was a disaster!
I was taking two and three bites at every corner and I was running wide and
panic-braking. I almost killed myself several times and I was in a cold
sweat when I headed home convinced that I'd lost my nerve and my life as a
bikie was over.
I can't convey what this meant to me but I was 23, an almost-cripple, I had
no job, no (or later; minimal) income, no girlfriend, no parents, no car....
and now I couldn't ride my bike... the bike I had dreamt about riding every
day since I'd ploughed it into a paperbark-tree 7 months earlier.
I was bereft.

I can't remember why but I asked Howard (who was actually riding with me
when I fucked-up myself) to take my little Duke for a ride around the block
and he came back, called me over and then calmly pushed the front Michelin
M45 to the rim with his thumbs!

Needless to say my next run up Mt Glorious was FINE FINE FINE and I've been
riding pretty-much continuously since then.

Good mates are invaluable!

 

Do you really mean that? Do you have the TD-4000A-X model? Some of
the other posts are saying that TPMs in general are worth their
weight.

If you just can't get on with it, I'd like to try it out and see if I
can. If so, I'll buy it off you. You may want to have a think about
this and either re-decide, or put a date on a decision or something.

It can be an expensive game buying kit like that on spec.

PS. My email registered email address doesn't work.

 

What do you think is a fair second-hand price? How long have you had
if for?

 

Would you believe $6.95 in K-Mart bicycle section? The Motor section
had the identical unit for $22.95.

Theo

 

threefiddy ana.

Theo

 

Get a room you two! :-D


GB