Spend time to experiment with tyre pressures and find your sweet spot.

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betty swollocks

large member
More fool me really. I've cycled almost every day for the last 35 years and always ensured my tyres were 'pumped up hard'. That was it, until recently...
Both of my new bikes have rims which are tubeless compatible and knowing that snakebite punctures are no longer possible, I've been experimenting with running tyres at as low a pressure as possible, supposedly for extra comfort and better rolling and I've found there really is a sweet spot where they cease to be draggy and squirmy and where the ride becomes buttery smooth, silent (apart from a comforting swish of tyre/road noise) and feels lithe and agile - the bike suddenly comes alive! Loads more grip too, which inspires confidence to ride and corner harder and faster!
Beyond this, where the pressures are too firm, the ride quality soon diminishes: it becomes harsh and juddery and the bikes just feel dead.
The sweet spot depends, obviously on weight of rider and bike and other factors: I've found that on my 953 steel
bike with 35mm Schwalbe G-Ones, 38psi (front) and 40psi (rear) does the trick and on my full carbon rocket ship with 25mm Schwalbe Pro-Ones , it's 75psi and 78psi respectively - just a few psi outside either way and the advantages are lost.
The pressures on both bikes are lower than conventional wisdom prescribes.
TBH, I don't know whether either bike is faster with softer tyres than they were before, as I don't ride with any gadgets, but I can say with certainty, they're now even more fun to ride!
 
Last edited:

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
I've experimented with tyre pressures as well, and my rule of thumb on flat bar bikes is I run the front tyre at about 75% of the pressure in the rear. I use the Frank Berto weight/pressure chart as a starting point for the rear tyre pressure. There's no way I could go as low as you though, because I have tubes and getting self-inflicted pinch flats is an absolute no-no to me.
 

Venod

Eh up
Location
Yorkshire
More fool me really. I've cycled almost every day for the last 35 years and always ensured my tyres were 'pumped up hard'. That was it, until recently...
Both of my new bikes have rims which are tubeless compatible and knowing that snakebite punctures are no longer possible, I've been experimenting with running tyres at as low a pressure as possible, supposedly for extra comfort and better rolling and I've found there really is a sweet spot where they cease to be draggy and squirmy and where the ride becomes buttery smooth, silent (apart from a comforting swish of tyre/road noise) and feels lithe and agile - the bike suddenly comes alive! Loads more grip too, which inspires confidence to ride and corner harder and faster!
Beyond this, where the pressures are too firm, the ride quality soon diminishes: it becomes harsh and juddery and the bikes just feel dead.
The sweet spot depends, obviously on weight of rider and bike and other factors: I've found that on my 953 steel
bike with 35mm Schwalbe G-Ones, 38psi (front) and 40psi (rear) does the trick and on my full carbon rocket ship with 25mm Schwalbe Pro-Ones , it's 75psi and 78psi respectively - just a few psi outside either way and the advantages are lost.
The pressures on both bikes are lower than conventional wisdom prescribes.
TBH, I don't know whether either bike is faster with softer tyres than they were before, as I don't ride with any gadgets, but I can say with certainty, they're now even more fun to ride!

I recognise story all too well, until I started running tubeless I always pumped them up hard, 100 psi was the norm, then I started running some 32mm Vittoria XN pro CX tyres (non tubeless) but I was running them tubeless at 45 to 50 psi with no drop in speed but considerably more comfort, I run some 32mm Specialised Roubaix at 50 psi again the comfort is fantastic and still quick. My tubed wheels have some Michelin 25mm on and I run them 75-80 psi rear 75 psi front more comfort and no loss of speed, I think all 3 sets are running lower than recommended.
 
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