Quote:
Originally Posted by PanEuropean
I think you have it wrong.
If you investigate TPMS systems used on heavy transport trucks (semi-trailers), most of them use a system that is connected to the inflation valve and measures pressure at the valve, by keeping the Schrader valve depressed. There is nothing wrong with that design - but the safety and reliability of it is, of course, very much dependent on good quality components and meticulous quality control during the manufacturing process.
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I bow to greater knowledge of the subject - I'm no expert (or even much of an interested bystander) but there's a huge consequential difference between a tpms cap failure on a 32 wheeler and on a two wheeler. Especially as a trucking co is likely to be using caps with some sort of track record (to minimise failure inconvenience if nothing else) whereas the bike aftermarket is likely to be a bit of a race to the bottom minefield - especially if all you have to guide you is marketing or word of mouth. Most of the ones I've looked at since this subject came up have been heavy on marketing 'sizzle' (bluetooth this, handlebar display that, app on your phone the other) and light on independant safety assessment of the cap itself. Maybe they are a genuine advance in road safety but they - all of them - are going to have to be at least as safe and reliable as the simple time served mechanism they're bypassing to justify their place. So far I don't see any of that.
In practice what's going to happen - if your tyre and valve are functioning as they should then very little happens - no air leaks out between checks. Add a tpms and it'll tell you - nothing, and if nothing changes it'll get ignored. If it indicates something amiss you'll check a few times and it turns out to be a sensor fault (my car experience of them) through the battery going flat or it's cheap electronics or water's got in or whatever it'll get ignored ('the damn thing's playing up again'). A gadget version of the boy who cried wolf. I might come across as some kind of mechanical luddite with this but not so - I'm usually closer to an early adopter than the opposite, but aftermarket tpms's don't form a complete risk / cost / benefit circle for me at the moment. They seem like a half developed technology.
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