Nitrogen in Bike Tyres?

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MikeAqua

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#1526269 5-Apr-2016 11:50

I thought about that, but it will be in about a year and I'm wondering if a pump designed for car tyres might be little enthusisatic for bike tyres?

Currently I hand pump them.

BlueShift:

MikeAqua:

Have it in all our cars and trailers and would never go back to air.

At $0.00 per tyre it's hardly a rip off.

So does anyone actually have a suggestion as to how to get pure nitrogen into bike tyres?

Have your bike on the rack next time you're in getting your car tyres done. Ask the chap nicely :-)

Mike

Jase2985

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#1526271 5-Apr-2016 11:58

my question is what are you hoping to achieve from it?

MikeAqua

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#1526279 5-Apr-2016 12:09

Not having to pump up the tires every time I go for bike ride.

May work/may not.

Mike

BTR

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#1526281 5-Apr-2016 12:11

Time to replaced your inner tubes or check the valves are tight?

frankv

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#1526283 5-Apr-2016 12:19

MikeAqua:

Nitrogen molecules by themselves aggregate.

That's (mostly) why pure N leaks through rubber slower than 0.8N air.

The article I cited earlier says that it's because N2 molecules have a slightly smaller diameter than O2 molecules.

And not according to my memory of 38.201 Physical & Inorganic Chemistry either. The distinction between a gas and a liquid is that in a gas the molecules are so far apart that they *don't* interact. If you want to be picky (i.e. Stage 3 Physical Chemistry, I guess, which I never did), then gas molecules *do* interact, but not to any significant extent, except in mixtures of gases which therefore deviate from Boyles' Law and Charles' Law.

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#1526305 5-Apr-2016 12:54

MikeAqua:
Not having to pump up the tires every time I go for bike ride.

May work/may not.

In that case there's only one way to find out... And inform us of the result :)

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MikeAqua

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#1526310 5-Apr-2016 13:02

That's the theoretical framework and is absolutely 100% (mostly) true for noble gases. It's not true for all gases.

frankv:

And not according to my memory of 38.201 Physical & Inorganic Chemistry either. The distinction between a gas and a liquid is that in a gas the molecules are so far apart that they *don't* interact. If you want to be picky (i.e. Stage 3 Physical Chemistry, I guess, which I never did), then gas molecules *do* interact, but not to any significant extent, except in mixtures of gases which therefore deviate from Boyles' Law and Charles' Law.

Mike

Fred99

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#1526320 5-Apr-2016 13:21

I'd be very surprised if there was any significant difference at all...

OTOH, correct me if I'm wrong, but road bike tyres may be inflated correctly at much higher pressures (double?) than car tyres, if you inflate them unloaded, then pressure loaded (with a rider on them) will be even higher, they're a very small cross section (compared to a car tyre) so have much higher ratio of wall area to air volume, and wall thickness is lower. So... if there was to be a difference in rate of pressure loss over time, then I'd actually expect it to be much more pronounced for a bike tyre than a car tyre - so the OP's suggestion that it could well be worth a try could be quite a good idea, even if for your car - probably not.

Athlonite

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#1526430 5-Apr-2016 16:12

rhy7s:
Athlonite:

the only thing I found using Nitrogen in my car was the tyres were a little quieter on the road and lasted a little longer before I needed to replace them (+15000K's) so for me it was worth it

Just checking if this is a serious statement? If so, can you think of any other factors you could attribute these results to?

Nope I didn't change the way I drive nor did I change the tyre type same tyres as before and approximately half the road noise and the tyres lasted much longer the previous set lasted 12 months the new set + nitrogen lasted 18 + months on the front and where changed to the rear and up until my car was stolen still of WOFable tread depth on the rear which was coming up 2 years of use

Dratsab

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#1526612 5-Apr-2016 23:27

MikeAqua: I thought about that, but it will be in about a year and I'm wondering if a pump designed for car tyres might be little enthusisatic for bike tyres?

Currently I hand pump them.

If anything, it'd be the other way round...MTB tyres are higher pressure than cars.

pctek

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#1527057 6-Apr-2016 15:28

JWR:

Isn't using Nitrogen mainly about eliminating water vapour and reducing fire risk?

NO it's about tyre places conning you into paying more money.

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#1527168 6-Apr-2016 17:20

pctek:

JWR:

Isn't using Nitrogen mainly about eliminating water vapour and reducing fire risk?

NO it's about tyre places conning you into paying more money.

And my last two sentences in that post were...

"There other reasons given. But, I think they are BS.

If you aren't running an airline or racing then I wouldn't consider using Nitrogen in tyres."

So, you are quoting me completely out of context.

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#1527169 6-Apr-2016 17:21

TwoSeven

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#1527238 6-Apr-2016 19:06

I ran Nitrogen in my car for a while, I found that while I still checked the pressure every week, I didn't need to adjust the settings as often as I did with air. I stopped using it because while the re-fill was free, I am often in the country and didn't have access to get the re-fill when I needed it.

On my bike, I prefer to use air because the tires go through multiple heat cycles on long day rides due to the need to stop for fuel, which mean I need to check and adjust the pressure more often. Also, I prefer the different heat pickup rate that air gives, given the tire construction and compound I use for my touring bike.

I suspect that on a race bike because tire warmers are used to set the initial temperature and pressure, nitrogen would probably be a given because of its characteristics it is easier to calculate the rate of temperature increase until it reaches optimum temperature and therefore the length of time that a [race] tire will last.

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MikeAqua

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#1527595 7-Apr-2016 12:38

More concerned about the volume, but good point about the PSI.

Dratsab:

MikeAqua: I thought about that, but it will be in about a year and I'm wondering if a pump designed for car tyres might be little enthusisatic for bike tyres?

Currently I hand pump them.

If anything, it'd be the other way round...MTB tyres are higher pressure than cars.

Mike

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