How To Put Air In Bike Tires

How to Pump Bike Tires

All bike tires slowly leak air every day. Even if you're an occasional rider, and yous merely take your bike downwardly from the bike rack once a week, the tire pressure volition nevertheless decrease. Earlier you ride, you should ever check your tires' PSI and, if needed, inflate them with a floor bike pump or a handheld pump.

What PSI should wheel tires be?

On the sidewalls of your tires, you lot'll see the manufacturer's recommended pressure range for PSI (pounds per square inch). Different wheel tires have different ranges, and narrow tires need more than pressure level than wide tires. The recommended PSI for dissimilar tires are:

Road bike tires: fourscore–130 psi
Mountain wheel tires: 25–35 psi
Hybrid tires: 40–lxx psi

Experienced cyclists can oftentimes estimate whether their tires need to exist pumped by pinching the tire between their thumb and forefinger. The more authentic way of knowing when your tire should be pumped is by measuring its pressure with a pressure guess; if the air pressure level is measured beneath the recommended PSI, it'south fourth dimension to pump.

First pump your bike tire to the middle of the range for the recommended PSI. Yous also demand to accept your body weight into account. Tires that bear a heavier passenger need more PSI. Conditions weather and terrain also affect how a wheel rides, so you'll need to experiment with unlike PSIs to feel what'due south most comfortable to you.

How to pump a tire with a Schrader valve

A Schrader valve is the type of valve you'll observe on motorcar tires, older bike tires and mountain bikes. It consists of a metal pin in the center of a threaded valve, and a prophylactic cap that'south screwed onto the valve. Most bike pumps like those we reviewed have a dual head to accommodate both Schrader and Presta valves or a single head with an adapter.

If your tire has a Schrader valve

Unscrew the rubber cap and put it someplace where it'southward easy to detect (like your pocket).
Cheque the tire's PSI using a pressure level judge or a bike pump with a built-in gauge, like the Topeak – Road Morph G.
The pump'southward Schrader head is the larger of the two openings. (It's usually marked with the alphabetic character Due south.) Put the opening onto the tire valve, pressing down so the opening covers the valve.
The pump head will have a lever that either pushes up or to the left or right. The lever closes off the Presta opening and locks the Schrader opening onto the valve.
Keeping your eye on the guess, pump until desired PSI is reached. As the pressure increases, it will take more effort to pump.
Open the lever, pull up on the head, and screw the valve cap back on.

All-time Floor Pump: Topeak - Joe Accident Sport III

This sturdy and durable floor pump hands and securely fits Schrader and Presta valves and takes the least corporeality of effort to pump a bicycle tire to recommended PSI.

How to pump a tire with a Presta valve

A Presta valve is found on road bikes and some mountain bikes. Information technology'southward a slender valve with a nut at the top that is loosened and tightened before and afterwards inflation. Virtually all new bike pumps have a head with openings for both Schrader and Presta valves, or they have an adapter for switching from Schrader to Presta, like i of our top picks, the Topeak – Road Morph G.

If your tire has a Presta valve

Unscrew the valve cap.
Loosen the brass nut at the acme of the stem. Press downwardly on the stem, and if y'all hear a curt flare-up of air escape, it's loosened plenty.
Put the smaller opening of the pump head on the valve. If your pump has an adapter, switch the opening from Schrader to Presta.
Flip the pump head's lever to shut off the Schrader opening and attach the Presta opening to the valve.
Pump until the gauge registers the desired PSI.
Flip the pump's lever open up and remove the head from the valve.
Tighten the brass nut, and screw the grit protector back on.

Best Mini Pump: Lezyne - Micro Floor Bulldoze

This lightweight yet powerful mini pump has an ingenious ABS flip chuck that lets yous switch from Schrader to Presta past just turning information technology over.

Pumping bicycle tires at a gas station

If you lot're out riding and your tires demand air, y'all could give them a quick inflate with a CO2 injector, like the i we reviewed. But if you don't have a CO2 injector in your pocketbook, and you lot forgot your mini pump, so you can pull into a gas station and inflate your tires there.

If y'all don't have a pressure gauge, enquire the station attendant for one. Inflate your tires to optimal pressure in short bursts; a gas-station air pump has very high pressure, and y'all run the risk of popping your tire.

A gas-station air pump will only fit a Schrader valve. Merely if your tires take Presta valves and y'all don't take a Presta valve adapter, in that location's however a way to inflate them.

Unscrew the Presta valve cap.
Use scissors or a knife to cut off the pointed tip at the rim.
Unscrew the valve stem.
Turn the cut valve cap upside down, and place it on tiptop of the valve stem.
Screw the cap onto the stem.
Put the pump head over the now-modified valve, and inflate your tire in short bursts.
When your tire is at optimal force per unit area, remove the pump caput, and unscrew the cap. Y'all're ready to ride again!

Factor Gerrard, Writer

Factor has written almost a wide diversity of topics for too many years to count. He's been a professional person chef, cooking-appliance demonstrator, playwright, director, editor of accountancy and bank-rating books, Houdini expert and dog lover (still is). When he's not writing for Your All-time Digs, he's performing every bit a magician at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.