Quarq TyreWiz tyre pressure monitor £228
THE REAL TIME DATA REVEALS AT A GLANCE IF YOUR PRESSURES HAVEC HANGED DUE TO TEMPERATURE CHANGES, BUR PING AIR OR AS LOW FLAT
This little gadget sends real-time, accurate tyre pressure measurements straight to your phone and/or bike computer. It replaces the Presta valve core in your inner tube or tubeless wheel, and transmits pressure data continuously while the bike is in motion, via Bluetooth or Ant+. Quarq claim it’s accurate to within +/-2 per cent, with a scale that reads to the nearest 0.1psi – far more precise than most pump gauges.
The usefulness of the TyreWiz is twofold. Firstly, it makes setting your pressures easier. You simply pump up your tyres (two sensors are included) until you reach the required pressure – no need to over-inflate and then use a separate pressure gauge to release some of the air. Secondly, the real-time data reveals at a glance if your pressures have changed due to temperature changes, burping air or a slow flat.
While the TyreWiz app suggests tyre pressures based on your weight and tyre dimensions, we didn’t find this particularly useful for mountain biking. It suggests just 14/15psi for an 85kg rider running 29x2.5in tyres – about 10psi short of what we’d recommend. Setting up the Quarq system is simply a case of replacing your standard valve cores with TyreWiz ones, downloading the app and connecting your phone via Bluetooth (or bike computer via Ant+), as you would any other device.
Quarq claim a battery life of 300 hours’ ride time. After a month of use, we’ve not yet been able to test that, but the batteries are widely available CR1632 watch cells. We were concerned that the valves might clog with sealant in a tubeless set-up, but haven’t had any such issues so far. The company say it shouldn’t happen, but even if it does, it should just be a case of cleaning them out.
They carry an IP67 waterproof rating, which means that – while we haven’t gone so far as to deliberately blast them with a jet-wash – puddles, streams and normal bike cleaning are no problem. Weighing 10g each, the sensors carry a negligible weight penalty. We’ve had no issues when riding through rough terrain too.
The ability to quickly and accurately check pressures is useful for bike testers like us looking to keep everything as consistent as possible, but for regular riding TyreWiz is only marginally more convenient than a £20 digital pressure gauge, and if you want to use it on multiple wheelsets it’s a faff to swap the sensors over. If you’re a set-up geek it’s fun, but at this price TyreWiz is hard to justify. Seb www.zyrofisher.co.uk
A nifty, nerdy tool that does what it sets out to do, but this is a lot to pay for a little extra convenience