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By, Mike Cohn "TXJEEPER"

Intercomp Racing, Fill, Bleed & Read Air Gauge

OK, so how exciting can an air gauge really be? Checking air pressure is simple deal that any $3 air gauge bought at the Quickie Mart can handle, right? Well...sort of.

We caught wind of the Intercomp Fill, Bleed & Read Air Gauge and decided that we needed to find out what the deal was and why anyone would plunk down their change on something like this.

Intercomp is very well known in the racing community for making top-notch gauges, scales, alignment systems and more. We knew this would be a fun tool to try out, but it's usefulness and later-to-be-discovered necessity still remained to be seen.

The gauge showed up and we immediately realized that we were not dealing with some fly-by-night company's cheapo gauge. This is a serious tool made for serious auto racers. As we all know, if it's tough enough for the riggors of racing, it should hold up on the trails just fine.

So what's so special about this thing? Well, here's the scoop. The gauge can be used on its own to

• Check your air pressure
• Deflate your tires when you get to the trailhead.

Where the Intercomp really shines, though is when you re-inflate your tires. Hooking the gauge up on your air compressor line makes it possible to view your pressure as you fill.

We hooked up our gauge to our Power Tank to pump up our Goodyear MT/R tires to demonstrate how to use the gauge. The Power Tank uses liquid CO2 and can pump up a 35" tire in no time. It can also run air tools at 140+ pounds.

In order to hook the gauge up, you will need to make a quick run to your local home improvement mega-store for an airhose quick-connect.

The gauge is controlled by two buttons contained in a little black box.

The large black button is for filling. Pressing the button allows air to flow through and into the tire. Releasing the button stops the airflow and gives an instant reading on the gauge.

The little chrome button is for bleeding. To deflate tires or if you over-inflated them, pressing this button will allow air to freely release from the tire. Using one hand and a finger on both buttons is a very easy and quick way to manage your tires' pressures.

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