tyre pressure

[supercooper]

simple question... do you inflate your tyres to the min or max pressure? or somewhere in between and why?

 

[tyred]

Many will tell you to inflate to the max but this isn't always the best advice. Only thin racing type tyres need to be really hard. Wider tyres will work better run at lower pressures. A lot depends on the road surfaces you ride on. Very hard tyres plus rough, bumpy roads will give a bone jarring ride (and will have a higher rolling resistance). You weight is also a consideration as the heavier you are, the more likely you will pick up pinch punctures if the tyres are too soft. My advice would be to experiment and see what works best for you. Unless you have very wide or very narrow tyres, I would start at about 65-70 psi (for 28 - 35mm tyres) and see how that works.

 

[HLaB]

simple question... do you inflate your tyres to the min or max pressure? or somewhere in between and why?

In theory if you inflate to the max the tyre rolls better (I forget the exact science) and you are less inclined to pinch p'tures. However Max can also make the ride uncomfortable. I usually pump mine up to near the max it depends what I'm doing and what time of year it is (its lower over winter) but touch wood I dont suffer regularly from p'tures so I dont rigorously inspect them and only top them up occasionally. I don't think I'd ever pump them up to the minimum as I'd have to more rigorously check them.

 

[Paulus]

During dry conditions I have the pressure up to the max, In winter/slippery conditions I run the tyres at about 10 psi below max for a little more grip.

 

[Davidc]

I normally keep my tyres sensibly hard. To me that means that if the manufacturer says 100 psi max 95 psi is sensibly inside the tyre's design limits. If the minimum is 60 they shouldn't go below 65. At the moment I'm running lower than usual to help cusion the potholes when I fail to see them.

I usually check pressures about fortnightly or before a long ride. The tourer ones will usually have dropped by about 5 psi. The mtb ones which I inflate to 60 psi (max is 65) usually drop between 5 and 10 psi. Any more loss and I suspect a problem.

 

[Moodyman]

For commuting - I run at max as I'm a heavy rider and carry two panniers. I ride on road.

For MTB'ing I run them about 5-10% below max for grip off road.

For weekend road rides, I ride max at the back and 5% below this at the front to aid wrist comfort.

As others said - depends on type of riding and weight carried<BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break">

 

[orienteer]

As most of the weight is on the rear wheel, inflate the rear to max or near max, and the front to about two thirds of max.

 

[ohnovino]

Just over the maximum for me. Partly because I'm big, partly because I feel like they roll better when hard, but mostly because I'm lazy - the more air I put in them, the longer it'll be before I have to get the pump out again

 

[Durian]

The tyres on my road bike tell me they should be between 100-120psi. I run them at 110psi, don't know why, guess it's just me, Mr average.