Passes & Canyons Blog

Do you have wheels on your motorcycle like those on my Honda CB750 Custom, that make it almost impossible to connect an air hose to them? Here’s what I’m talking about.

Now, back when this bike was made I think most air hoses just had those simple, round heads that would fit in just about anywhere. Nowadays, however, the norm is any of several varieties, none of which you can squeeze into a space like this and get a good connection. You can understand that this makes it difficult when you see that you’re a little low on air. And of course we all know that riding with low air pressure just chews up your tires in a big hurry.

What to do? Well, I finally came up with an answer as to what to do. I was at one of the local bike shops and saw this thing that caught my eye. It’s a little valve-stem extender that slips easily into your pocket.

This thing is great. You just screw the big end onto your valve stem and then connect the air hose to small end. There’s a cap that screws on when you’re not using it to keep it clean. Nothing to it. This little baby cost me $10 but checking on the web I found them selling two for $10.

When I saw this I asked what may have been a silly question, but if I asked it you may be asking, too. The question was, will these things throw your wheel off balance? The salesman said no, you don’t leave it on all the time. You just put it on when you need to use it and then remove it. That way you only need one. If you left it on all the time you’d need two. Besides, if you left it on all the time and it wasn’t secure enough it could work its way off and you’d lose it.

So there you have it. Maybe this little baby will be as useful to you as it is to me.

Biker quote for today:

Keep your bike in good repair: Motorcycle boots are NOT comfortable for walking.