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Old 03-27-23, 12:25 PM
  #8  
79pmooney
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
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Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

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My (rather old fashioned) take and advice - put a good frame pump on your bike. Now you can alter pressure at will while on the roads you ride. Each time, pinch the tire to get a feel for it. Develop that pinch sense in correlation to the ride feel and strike likelihood. (I've never run tires so soft. A pinch might not be the best approach. Perhaps a full squeeze with you hand? Push the tire down into the rim? Whatever.

With your "pinch" well educated, you will no longer need a gauge or pump/cannister with gauge and with just that one pump will be able to ride anywhere with confidence. (My garage pumps have gauges. I squeeze after pumping to keep my hand's education current. Yes, road pressures, 85 to 110 psi; my hand would flunk your test like a doctor would the LSAT exam for lawyers.)

I do not know what the best frame pump is for big tires, low pressure. I use the excellent (for road bikes) Zephal HPX pumps. I'd research to find a large diameter pump with the same high regard as the HPX.

My gravel experience is limited and I have stopped doing it as it is clear that often rough gravel is harder on my NFL-syndrome brain (bike crash TBI) than I have any business subjecting it to. But while I dallied in it I rode about 35 miles of Oregon coast range logging roads on 1-1/2" gravel and several thousand feet of up and down plus another 60 miles of pavement on a crazy 90 mile day.. 38c front and 35c rear. The HPX. I had the proper pressure all day, adjusting several times on the gravel and riding the pavement at close to 70 psi. No flats. But my pump got borrowed maybe a dozen times to bail out others. (A dozen of us. I think two went flat free.)
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