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I own one of these "pistols" used with compressors, but have no idea on how to use them to determine the pressure inside my (tubeless) tyre.

When I inflate my tyre the values on the gauge get immediately to 80 psi, which, I believe, is the average pressure in the whole tyre+compressor tank system?

Thanks in advance.

pressure gauge

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  • 1
    Another option is to buy a cheap "pencil" pressure gauge. Note that car ones tend to stop at 50-60 PSI which is too low for some bike applications.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 10:58
  • And that little black button above the blue label releases the pressure in the hose to reset the needle back to zero once you take it off the tire. The idea is that it will hold the pressure from the tire so you can take it off and read it at your leisure.
    – JPhi1618
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 14:18
  • Those gauges are good for car-tyres but rather inadequate for (road) bicycle tyres which need higher pressure than most small electric motor driven compressors can deliver. It may work however for an MTB.
    – Carel
    Commented Sep 14, 2017 at 9:30

1 Answer 1

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The little thing you operate with your finger controls a valve, opening the circuit from the compressor to the tire. Once you release the trigger, the valve is closed and the gauge will measure the pressure in the tire and in the little hose connected to the tire (if the connection to the tire valve is tight). The compressor will be isolated by the valve.

So, what you have to do is:

  1. connect the hose to the tire valve
  2. pull the trigger for a short time
  3. release the trigger
  4. read the pressure
  5. if the pressure is not enough go back to 2

What you don't do is:

  • pull the trigger for long time: you are not inflating a car tire. The first time I let somebody use it for inflating my tires, I ended up with an exploded tube (they were used to inflate car tires)
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  • But it greatly depends on how tight of a seal you can establish between the chuck and the valve stem. If there's even a tiny bit of leakage then the gauge will quickly go to zero after the trigger is released.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 12:27
  • 2
    And if the chuck is not pressed on tightly enough then the pin in the valve stem will not be depressed and no air will enter the tire. (Net-net: A standard manual floor pump with built-in gauge is much easier to use.)
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 12:29

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