High quality air chuck?

[dbran1949]

It seems you cant find high quality air chucks. I check my tire pressure before every ride. I have a few high quality gauges but I can't find any decent air chucks so adding air is always a PITA, especially on the front tire. Anyone have any suggestions - google returns a billion hits for "high quality air chuck"

Anybody using a really good one - I don't care what it costs

thanks
dan

[knightrider]

i would suggest before your next tire change, pick up a set of 90 degree valve stems. they make it alot easier to check and fill your tires, as for the air chuck, i just use a regular air chuck and have a separate gauge i use to check pressure.  stay away from the stick style, those are notoriously inaccurate.  i always check my tires with a quality dial gauge that i have.  i picked mine up from a race shop.

[dbran1949]

Yes, as I said, I have a number of high quality air gauges. and never use the stick style.

The front rim already has a 90 degree stem on it. It's not the access so much as the cheap chucks have really poor mating surfaces, which means you usually let out more air than you put in.

In fact i have a really nice bicycle tire pump (a blackburn) that locks on to the stem. It works great on the rear tire but the mechanism is a little bulky and can't be used on the front tire with the 90

when you look at the chucks you get at the hardware store you can see by all the rough casting marks and the fact that the part that fits over the stem is barely round that they are junk

[knightrider]

i just use the service station style air chuck with a stick type gauge and small hose attached, it has a smaller profile than the brass ball type air chucks. 

[ducatiz]

^

I have this same setup at home, but I still re-check the pressure with a digital meter.  I don't love the "truck" style filler, partly because half of my bikes don't have the 90 deg stem (slowly moving over) so I still have one of the old ball-type chuck.

I just would never trust the integrated gage type as it gets knocked around a lot.

Just use a separate gage.  They have tiny digital ones that are awesome and cheap.

Home Depot has a bunch of these different kinds in their tools section corral (as does Harbor Freight if you are near them...)

[ducpainter]

Try buying at a more automotive oriented store if the hardware store variety is junk.

Tru-Flate has been an industry standard for years.

[Speeddog]

I just got one of these from McMaster-Carr, page 2181, #6647A34:



It's a Milton, very nice piece.

[dbran1949]

Thanks
Now at least I have some brand names to look at. I will try Auto Zone instead of Ace Hdw