The new and the old.
Lezyne offers a digital pump gauge retrofit that I couldn’t resist. For $35 US one can pry out the old and thread in the new. The primary benefit for me was reading a digital scale rather than a needle on a gauge, way down there. Yes, I’m old. The new gauge reads out in single digits. The old needle gauge reads out depending on one’s eyesight and ability to see where the needle stops relative to the 2 psi marks. Houston, we have improvement.
The new Lezyne gauge also goes to 300 psi (20.6 bar)! FFS, who cares? This is a bike pump, who needs the 150 psi to 300 psi pressure? The Park and Silca both go up to 220 psi (15.2 bar) which is still 100 psi more than even track racers use. I dare a pump manufacturer to make a road pump that goes from 50 psi to 150 psi. Frank could use it as it still goes up to 150 psi and everyone else might have much more accuracy from the dial. I kid Frank.
The Lezyne digital gauge also claims a maximum 3% error which I assume means plus or minus 1.5 psi at 100 psi. Everything and I mean everything has an error associated with it and I appreciate knowing this error. Nothing is absolute, not even death. I’m not dead yet. The real question is what happens when one hooks all three of these pumps to one manifold. The Silca and the Lezyne were only off by 2 psi but I would not have been surprised to to see them off by 10. The Park and Leyzne were spot on which is reassuring because the Park gauge looks to be a very professional piece of work. Anything is accurate until one has two or more of them for comparison.
Yes, I know this last paragraph will be ignored and I should move it to the top. Should you care more about tire inflation? Yes, you should. Since not one person clicked on this link in my post about chains (yes I’m watching all of you, Google analytics knows everything), the take home message was this: Aero wheels do make a real difference in speed and tire pressure is the biggest (only?) influence on perceived “vertical compliance”/ride stiffness/road feel/comfort. With 25mm tires, one can experiment with lower pressure and not flirt too much with pinch flats. It’s just air; a very cheap way to dial in your ride.
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While I don't recall seeing the link, I'm glad that you brought it back. For those that dare, it's an excellent write-up about perception and reality.
@Haldy
Holy Shiet! I stand corrected. That's some rock hard tires. Thanks.
"A man with one watch knows what time it is...
... a man with two watches is never sure."
- Some Smart Guy
@Nate
You are wise. Yeah, no one is going to give that link three seconds worth of consideration, really. But it does make the point that the paint is important. That guy is correct there.
@snowgeek
That's what I'm talking about. And the guy with three watches has too many fucking watches.
@Gianni
He isn't wrong about the paint. But he sort of buried the lede, I never got that far into his treatise.
@Gianni
Pretty sure 3% error would mean you could be 3psi out at 100psi; percentages being exactly that...
/nitpicking
@Fausto
More likely: the 3% would mean something like "99% or 95% of all pumps of this type will be off by a max of 3%". So it's rather a sort of confidence intervals. Same applies to torque wrench I just bought. Not sure whether it's 1.5% each side or 3% each side.
Given the preciseness of this thread I'm surprised no one has yet queried the impact of rider weight on net riding PSI.
Nice article, Gianni. And I like the link.