So Ive been wrenching on motocross bikes for the last 2 years on the professional level. We have a full tire deal with Pirrelli so we have been well served at the nationals and with supercross. I have had the pleasure of being educated on the pricipals of tire dynamics by some of the top engineers in the industry. With this intro laid out, one of the things I have taken away from all this is that nitrogen filled tires behave better than standard air. They are more temperature stable with no moisture in bottle gas. The nitrogen molecules are larger and therfore less likely to "seep" through the porous rubber. Also pure nitrogen expands and contracts less than standard air. Up until this education I was a skeptic. The MX tires are only running 12-14 PSI and I can tell you that adjustments were far fewer than I was accustomed to with regular air. So that brings me to the crux of this post. I started filling my bike tires at the Pirrelli truck with the nitro and was suprised I didn't need to top off the tire between rides. So I started looking into how I could have my own nitro inflation setup. I decided it needed to be portable, inexpensive and easy to use. I have been able to get 20 cu ft bottles by converting CO2 fire extinguishers with new valves for about $30 with a pressure test certification. Then I hit a wall with the high pressure regulator these things were like $100 or more. Well I was able to use a different type of reg. that was $35. Then it was a matter of hose and fittings which were cheap. The short story is I am able to set these up for $100. Now the million dolar question, would the bike community have any interest in this set up. I would think 24 hour racers would benifit with the temp changes during the race. I would have to asume that pure nitrogen is compatible with Stans. I have been asked by a few other motocross teams to set them up with the same setup and I was able to charge $150 and they were happy with that. I would be very interested in peoples thoughts on this. :thumbsup:
