Jump to content

Tyre Pressures


dwdwdw
 Share

Recommended Posts

 

 

It depends on the conditions ie rocky or muddy, and to some extent on your weight. Down here its mostly mud so I run 3.5 PSI back and 6PSI front. I'm no lightweight at about 16 stone. use a trials dial pressure gauge 0-16 PSI as a normal one is inaccurate at low pressures.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 
 

Seems low until you roll up some slippery nasty obstacle with hardly any wheelspin. Tube rear tires were commonly run around 4-6 PSI. Tubeless are routinely run from ~2.5 to 4 PSI in slippery conditions. It's very common for newbies to run way too much tire pressure and think that the reason they can't find traction in areas where others are just rolling through is a lack of technique. It's always fun to walk up to a new rider and let the air out of their 15 PSI rear tire and tell them to try it again. It's quite literally an eye opener when they ride through some nasty stream bed with their eyes big as saucers. I typically run 4 PSI in dry conditions but will go to 2.5 PSI in really slippery stuff. Remember the contact patch at 2.5 PSI is twice the size as it is at 5 PSI. The common belief is that you get more traction with more weight on the wheel because you increase the friction. That's not quite correct. Above a certain weight there really isn't a significant increase in the friction of tire vs terrain for a given surface area. The real reason weighting a wheel increases traction is weight on the wheel increases the area of the contact patch.

When the radial rear tires first came out they were designed to be used with tubes so they were typically run at a higher pressure to prevent pinch flats. Once the tubeless tires came into use pressure was dropped to the current levels. Although it is possible to damage a rim it really doesn't happen that often. It is much more common to suffer sidewall damage to the tire. Fortunately it is possible to plug a tubeless and I have run tires for embarrassingly long times with a slew of plugs sticking out the side.

So go ahead and let some air out. You'll be amazed what a difference it makes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 
 

4 psi back, always check a few times especially when its been cold overnight. A tire will go up 1 psi or so after it has come out of the van on a spring morning and yes 1 psi makes a lot of difference. Also check after 1st lap if the day warms up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
  • Create New...