How often do you check the pressure in your motorcycle’s tires? Not often enough, probably. On a motorcycle, we need to be a lot more vigilant than on our car or truck. There’s a lot less tire in contact with the road and small changes in pressure can have a pretty dramatic effect. Lose a little too much pressure and the next turn can have you sliding down the road wondering what happened.
Pressure-check valve stem caps are a neat idea. I came across these while doing some research for a post over on Truck Accessory Guide. The way they work is pretty simple. You inflate your tires when cold to the recommended pressure. You screw on these caps and drive down the road. After a few miles, the caps indicate green. If you lose pressure, a red indicator warns you and you can check the tire for leaks or problems or just reinflate to the correct pressure.
These caps get around the problem of having to dig out a pressure gauge or trying to get the gauge on the valve stem on your front tire with the brake disc in the way. You’ll still want to use your gauge when you have one handy, but, if all you have to do to check the pressure is glance at the valve cap, chances are, you’ll check it frequently, maybe before every ride. These work for recommended pressures from 20 to 42psi. Nice idea.