Just how important is it to set your tyres to the right pressure? According to Wil, it is VERY important, and it can make a huge difference to how your bike rides on the trail. In a quest to find the best tool for the job, Wil and the gang have tested out six different tyre pressure gauges. Next up is the Accubar from Fabric.
Released around a year ago, the Accubar is Fabric’s attempt to produce an accurate tyre pressure gauge for mountain bikers. With a fairly narrow 0-40 psi range, this isn’t meant for high-pressure road tyres.
Like the EVT gauge, the Accubar gets a large analogue dial to read tyre pressure. The dial is a bit bigger than the EVT one, though the font is a touch smaller so it isn’t quite as easy to read. That said, it does also include a bar reading on the inside for those who measure as such. According to Fabric, the Accubar will provide a measuring accuracy of 1%, so across the scale you’ll be within 0.4 psi of the actual pressure. That’s probably good enough for most of us.
Attached to the dial is a short length of hose and a threaded seal head. Cleverly, this head can be extended for use with Presta valves, or pushed back down for use with Schrader valves. Because it threads onto the valve though, this does increase the risk of also unthreading the valve core when removing the gauge from your wheel. I had that happen on two separate occasions, and it was mighty annoying. Both times. To be fair, this is likely only to happen if your valve core isn’t quite done up tight enough, and it isn’t exclusive to the Accubar gauge – the threaded valve heads on Lezyne pumps are notorious for de-coring valves. Still, I’d prefer to see a different system for attaching the gauge to the valve.
De-coring issues aside, the Accubar is a neat piece of kit to use. It provides easy reading of tyre pressure, and a sprung, metal bleed valve on the side allows you to easily lower the pressure to your desired setting. The hose can make it a touch awkward to fit inside your riding pack, but then it’s always easy to find amongst all the other crap in there.
Additionally, the Accubar is the only gauge tested here that can be run inline with a pump. A secondary valve on the back of the dial allows you to clip a pump on, so you can inflate your tyre and set the air pressure in the one process. If anything, you’ll surprise yourself by how inaccurate your floor pump is.
Overall
A nifty pressure gauge that is accurate and easy to use. Unfortunately the valve de-coring issue marks it down, but if you make sure your valves are tightened up correctly, this is an excellent option.
Review Info
| Brand: | Fabric |
| Product: | Accubar |
| From: | CSG, cyclingsportsgroup.co.uk |
| Price: | £34.99 |
| Tested: | by Wil Barrett for 4 months |
Comments (6)
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I’ve been using an Accubar for a couple of months now and the one thing I’d add is that it’s awesome for plus-sized tyres where a couple of psi either side of the optimum setting makes a big difference to the ride / possibility of pinch-flatting on every passing rock.
I haven’t had any ‘de-coring’ issues, but then I’ve got into the habit of tweaking my valve cores up tightly because my mini-pump is a Lezyne…
Also, because it can be used in conjunction with a pump, it means road-orientated track pumps with tiny gauges are actually useable with mountain bike tyre pressures. Sorry, that’s actually three things, I got carried away.
I have been using this for 4 months, a fabulous piece of kit, no de-coring issues thus far, the bleed valve on the side of the dial casing is ideal for getting the pressures bang on, it beats having to constantly check your pressures with inaccurate digital gauges, it’s a quick and easy, and as you have pointed out, floor pumps compared to the Accubar, are way off.
Most guages are pretty accurate BUT the accuracy goes off away from the central zone. The guages on floor pumps are good from 80-120 psi (the ones that go up to 160+) but next to useless at 15-40.
Cheap and easy solution is to replace the guage on your track pump with one that does about 0-60 psi – will be accurate over the 20-40 range within a couple of %. Cost about £10 IIRC
This seems quite nice. Can you say how much it weighs?
Used the topeak guage for two years now, highly accurate, easy to use, efficient battery usage (still on first battery), light enough for the pack and a good price. Suprised is not part of this test, feel as though it’d probably win reading the other reviews.
Seemed great at first, looks “pro”!
It read about 1 psi below my Topeak digital gauge [which has rep. of slightly exaggerating achieved pressure] with the significant advantage of fitting inline between pump and tyre.
What I also liked was there’s no need to over inflate then deflate which risks sealant getting inside.
And a feeling of accuracy.
However, 3 moths in, all of a sudden it is stuck at 23 psi even when off the valve – and it actually reads 23 psi high, so if I put it on a tyre with 20 psi (according to the Topeka and my floor pump) it pops up over 40 on the gauge.
Something amiss.