63rickert

In personal experience retired a pump that was reading 20 psi high compared to the new pump. Small cheap plastic standalone gauges are no more accurate than what comes with any decent floor pump. The one better quality gauge that is readily available and priced where some few will be willing to buy it is the Meiser. Which sadly does not play nice in the presta valve version. Just hard to get on and off valve stem.

Most gauges give repeatable readings. Repeatable is not same as accurate.

BCDrums

I have two floor pumps, and I changed the gauge on one of them from a 0-220psi range to a 0-100 range, because I am not running tires beyond 50psi any more. The new scale makes it easier to read small increments of pressure. I may even change it to a 0-60psi gauge. Were I using pressures as low as you do I might try this gauge with 0-30 scale. Reads in single pounds.

WizardOfBoz

There's the rub. Is the pump gauge accurate? The one in my Park hand pump isn't. I use a cheap Zefal gauge that seems to work, one hand operation, both presta and schrader, similar to this (but with psi):

Troul 

if the tire bulges more than usual when sitting on the seat, I'll go weigh ones self. IF the lbs hasn't changed much, then it's time for some more air pressure. If the LBS increased to that point, I scrap the plans for the weekend to ride the bulge out...

davidad

I use my Zefal on the road when I have a flat. I had it for over 20 years.

masi61

I really liked my old analog Zefal gauge. It held the reading and seemed spot on. I set it on the little shelf on my Yakima receiver hitch rack and forgot about it. I drove off and never saw it again.

To to replace it I got a Lezyne digital gauge. The readout can toggle between BAR and PSI. I just go with the PSI. The display is vertical which takes some getting used to. I’m OK with it now.

Put it me in the camp of folks who consider an accurate gauge indispensable. This seems to be the minority opinion on this thread. You see, I switched to latex inner tubes last year & as you may know these are much more porous than butyl inner tubes.

I inflate and check before every ride. I even record the pressures in my riding log. I run 25 mm clinchers on my road bike which is aluminum. I used to go with 115 rear and 110 front. But I have come to realize that I can get better grip, a less jarring ride and be even faster with something like 94 rear and 88 front. The gauge on my Zefal Husky pump gets me in the ballpark but the Lezyne digital narrows it down with more accuracy so I know I’ll get better results.

Sy Reene

Interesting. I haven't thought about inflating my tires while seated on the bike, but this post makes me think this really is the way to go.

dbf909

This is the one that use (0-30psi). It seems to be pretty accurate as well as repeatable in the range I use for the MTB tires.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

djb

I just compared one of my floorpumps, a Blackburn that must be 30 years old, and my old Zefal light presta only hand gauge, which has to be 20 years old--and they were both surprisingly giving the same reading when I added air to one of my bikes, in the 70-80psi range.
I have found on tours that the old zefal hand one has been rather close to my Road Morph G, which has a gauge but you have to break out the electron microscope to read it--ok, reading glasses, or not be old--but the main story here is that three of my pumps and gauges are giving pretty much the same readings, which is probably a reasonable representation of stuff folks have.
I have another floor pump but didnt test it because the head is one of those dual things, ie it can fit both presta and shraeder, but frankly, with presta valves the rubber inside must get worn because it leaks and is a pain in the behind to use on presta, so I use it only on the schraeder bikes we have.

Kapusta

I have the same one. It is almost 5 PSI off, which is pretty bad for a gauge that only goes up to 30 psi. It is consistent, though.

High precision, abysmal accuracy.

The 60 psi one I have by the same company is just as bad.

maybe I just got duds.

Loose Chain

I have a couple of old Pressographes gauges and they are pretty accurate around 80 to 150 PSI. I have several floor pumps, a Silca Pista, a Rennkompressor and a Lezyne Alloy, plus a few others. None are dead on with the Silca being most accurate and the Lezyne the most off (of the three higher end pumps). But, I just put a piece of tape on the bottom with the corrected pressures to remind me of the actual pressure at 60 and 100 and 120 PSI for each. Yes, I have a calibrated pressure gage that is certified accurate that I tested all with.

Using only one pump simplifies things, just know your pressure settings you like for each bicycle /tire type and not worry what the actual, true, pressure is. My floor pumps, though not dead on, are all within what I would consider more than sufficiently accurate for their purpose.

I pump my tires for each ride. Not sure why, but I love bicycle pumps, kinda a thing I guess.

dbf909

Interesting... But not surprising.

I checked mine against 2 other gauges I have and it was within 1 psi of each (at that measurement level - 20psi). However I wouldn't consider either of them to be a true "reference". Maybe I got a good one...

I have quite a number of other gauges (stick, dial, digital, etc.) that I've collected over the years - all schrader for automotive use and some quite old. I should compare against a few more just to see.

It's kind of a shame that pretty much everything that I buy nowadays is crap. It's sad that I'm actually stunned and excited when I buy something that actually works as advertised.

Phil_gretz

fify

Crankycrank

Also treat your pressure gauges like eggs. Don't drop or bang them around and they'll last and stay accurate much longer. If it's rated to 100psi and you use it with 120psi in your tire it will most likely ruin it as well.