Calibrating your bike tire is much more than filling the tires. Do you know the ideal pressure for your bike’s tire type? Discover in this post some tips that can help your moment on the pedal.
If you inflate the tire above the indicated volume, it tends to slip more, lose grip and the activity may be more uncomfortable on uneven terrain, as the impacts of the ground will be more noticeable.
Otherwise, if you keep the pressure below that indicated by the manufacturer, the tendency is for it to puncture more easily and have less stability when making curves, which can be very dangerous on rainy days, for example.
That’s why it’s so important that you know the correct size for your tire and take care that your bike maintenance is always up to date.
You should already know that each bike requires a different calibration. In this post, you can check the correct pressure for each type of tire, where to calibrate and a detailed table on the correct pressure index for your bike.
How to inflate a bicycle tire
There are two ways to calibrate the bicycle tire: you can use a manual sizing pump or use the traditional sizing pump that you find at gas stations.
The manual bike tire inflation pump must be compatible with the tube valve of your bicycle’s tire, which in turn can have a thick nozzle (Schrader valve) or a fine nozzle (Presta valve).
The fine nozzle valve is not compatible with the calibration pumps you find at gas stations. However, some stations may offer adapters that solve this problem.
Most of the time, the fine-beak valve has a cap that must be removed when calibrating, in addition to a thread on the bottom of the valve that you must turn to the point where it is no longer possible to force it. After that, just fit the calibrator.
Don’t forget to close the thread and cap the valve after filling.
The thick nozzle valve is the one you also find in cars and just fit the caliper, inflate the tire to the indicated pressure and that’s it!
How to inflate bike tires with hand pumps
Practical to be carried anywhere, manual tire calibration pumps can save your pedal day.
However, this type of pump is not suitable for asphalt bikes or mountain bikes, which usually require a pressure level greater than 80 PSI, which the manual pump cannot reach.
To inflate your bike’s tire with a manual inflation pump, just fit the pump’s nozzle to the valve – don’t forget to follow the thread procedure on fine-beaked valves – and pump the air.
Unfortunately, you need to “feel” the tire pressure manually when inflating your bike’s tire with this type of pump, as it doesn’t have a monitor indicating the volume of air used.
An advantage of this tool is that many hand pumps – or foot pumps, as they are also known – usually come with adapters for fine-beaked valves or are adaptable, and you can use them to inflate any type of bike tire.
How to inflate a bike tire with an air compressor/gauge station
Almost every gas station has a tire gauge available to its customers, and using this tool is simpler than you might think.
In addition, it is possible to buy electronic air compressors, which you plug into the socket and the equipment itself pumps the air directly into the bicycle, through a hose connected to the wheel.
To use such an air compressor, simply enter the desired pressure (PSI) on the monitor and connect the hose to your bike’s tire.
Ready: the caliper will beep when it reaches the indicated pressure, then just disconnect the hose and move on to the other tire.
The advantage of this equipment – both the air compressor and the post caliper – is that it has a digital monitor where you can enter the desired pressure and the compressor inflates the tire to the indicated volume.
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