- Joined
- Jul 27, 2010
- Messages
- 5,485
- Reaction score
- 659
- Location
- Blouberg, Cape Town
- Bike
- KTM 890 Adventure R
I never thought I would want to fit a TPMS on my bike, or a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, but when someone asked for one, I had to try it out first. What a nice surprise! The big BMWs have it, but I never saw the need, till now.
How many times have you taken your bike to the garage to fill up and found tyre pressures below 2 Bar? How many offs have you seen because of flat tyres? I have seen at least two, and those are two too many. Wouldn’t it be nice to automatically check the tyre pressure when getting on the bike, especially when you don’t ride that often?
When I got this TPMS it surprised me with the sturdy construction and colour TFT display. Two mounts are supplied: one is a GoPro-like mount that sticks on the dash with 3M tape, the other fastens around the handlebar. The unit comes with a whole bag of goodies, but the sensors on the wheels are small silver buttons, marked F and R(ear).
Installation is very easy. Find a place on the bike or handlebars for the stylish display unit, and screw/stick it on. The tyre pressure sensors literally just screw on to the valves. Each has a lock nut to keep the sensor in place and the sensor emits a small amount of air as you screw it on, but once done the small button blends in with the rest of the bike.
So how does it work? The display unit has a built-in battery which has to be charged. 30 minutes off my laptop’s USB port and it was ready to go. The booklet has been written by a Chinese – not so clear – and I pressed a few buttons to set up, but it is fairly easy. It gives you the choice of BAR (1 Bar = 100 Kpa) or PSI, and one can set min (2 Bar factory) and max (3 Bar factory) settings.
Not only does it measure pressure, but also tyre temperature! How cool is that! I know that they are accurate because on my desk both sensors showed 21°C, correlating to the thermometer on the wall. After fitting the sensors they showed 16°C which correlated with the outside temperature, but started rising as the tyres started to warm. I left the factory maximum setting at 65°C after which an alarm will sound.
The colour display on this unit is very clear and a pleasure to the eye. I was a bit worried about whether one would have to power up the unit each time you took off (the unit can be permanently powered on and off via the > button) but had nothing to fear. Display starts working as soon as the bike moves, and the display shuts off automatically when getting off the bike.
So now I have an automatic colour display of front and rear tyre pressure AND temperature, on the roll. The unit will sound an alarm if there is a sudden loss of pressure or drop below the low pressure setting (I have not tried this out!), or if tyre temperature rises beyond the set level. All this for front and rear tyres individually.
In practice the TPMS unit works like a dream. It blends in with my bike perfectly and is there when needed. How long will the batteries last? The valve sensor batteries will last for 2 years with 3-4 hours per day, and the display unit recharges via supplied USB cable – I am yet to see display unit battery life. A set of tools are supplied to replace the watch type round sensor batteries.
So am I happy? Extremely. The TPMS unit shows individual pressure and temperature readings for each tyre, is virtually maintenance free and blends in perfectly with my bike.
Price: R1280. Available from Roodt - West Coast Parts 0824405250 [email protected]
How many times have you taken your bike to the garage to fill up and found tyre pressures below 2 Bar? How many offs have you seen because of flat tyres? I have seen at least two, and those are two too many. Wouldn’t it be nice to automatically check the tyre pressure when getting on the bike, especially when you don’t ride that often?
When I got this TPMS it surprised me with the sturdy construction and colour TFT display. Two mounts are supplied: one is a GoPro-like mount that sticks on the dash with 3M tape, the other fastens around the handlebar. The unit comes with a whole bag of goodies, but the sensors on the wheels are small silver buttons, marked F and R(ear).
Installation is very easy. Find a place on the bike or handlebars for the stylish display unit, and screw/stick it on. The tyre pressure sensors literally just screw on to the valves. Each has a lock nut to keep the sensor in place and the sensor emits a small amount of air as you screw it on, but once done the small button blends in with the rest of the bike.
So how does it work? The display unit has a built-in battery which has to be charged. 30 minutes off my laptop’s USB port and it was ready to go. The booklet has been written by a Chinese – not so clear – and I pressed a few buttons to set up, but it is fairly easy. It gives you the choice of BAR (1 Bar = 100 Kpa) or PSI, and one can set min (2 Bar factory) and max (3 Bar factory) settings.
Not only does it measure pressure, but also tyre temperature! How cool is that! I know that they are accurate because on my desk both sensors showed 21°C, correlating to the thermometer on the wall. After fitting the sensors they showed 16°C which correlated with the outside temperature, but started rising as the tyres started to warm. I left the factory maximum setting at 65°C after which an alarm will sound.
The colour display on this unit is very clear and a pleasure to the eye. I was a bit worried about whether one would have to power up the unit each time you took off (the unit can be permanently powered on and off via the > button) but had nothing to fear. Display starts working as soon as the bike moves, and the display shuts off automatically when getting off the bike.
So now I have an automatic colour display of front and rear tyre pressure AND temperature, on the roll. The unit will sound an alarm if there is a sudden loss of pressure or drop below the low pressure setting (I have not tried this out!), or if tyre temperature rises beyond the set level. All this for front and rear tyres individually.
In practice the TPMS unit works like a dream. It blends in with my bike perfectly and is there when needed. How long will the batteries last? The valve sensor batteries will last for 2 years with 3-4 hours per day, and the display unit recharges via supplied USB cable – I am yet to see display unit battery life. A set of tools are supplied to replace the watch type round sensor batteries.
So am I happy? Extremely. The TPMS unit shows individual pressure and temperature readings for each tyre, is virtually maintenance free and blends in perfectly with my bike.
Price: R1280. Available from Roodt - West Coast Parts 0824405250 [email protected]
