WHAT TYRE PRESSURES SHOULD I RUN?
Road pressures or off-road pressures?
Do you air down now and pump up later?
Tyre Pressure demystified
Safety, control and comfort are what you want to achieve. Higher pressures keep you safer on road but often compromise traction when off-road.
You will be safer, more comfortable and maintain better control of your bike when the right tyre pressure for your riding, bike, tyre choice and terrain type are met. Achieving this isn’t difficult but takes time, and thousands of kilometres to develop the experience.
What do the bike manufacturers recommend?
Most manufacturers recommend running road pressures whatever the terrain. Typically, on a large multi cylinder machine this is around 36psi Front and 42psi Rear.
This protects the rims and tyres from damage and reduces the risk of flats and related accidents.
Sharp or large rocks can do damage quickly to your rims and tyre carcass, a higher road pressure reduces this risk, a good choice, particularly with current bikes often having low profile wheel and tyre combinations.
There are experts in every field, and most will have differing viewpoints. Of course, this is also true when it comes to Adventure Bikes and tyre pressures.
This is by far the most commonly asked question at the start of any group ride and quite often continues to be, every day of the event.
My two cents, run road pressures when on road. When the off-road starts, if riding at no more than a medium pace, continue to run road pressures. Stop and let your tyres down if you need to increase traction, to get you up a big hill, out of a bog, safely through long soft sandy sections etc.
Now you have another choice, if in rocky country, adjust your riding to the new pressures or pump them back up.
How much you let them down is determined by the tyre size and type, tube or tubeless, terrain, bike, riding exuberance etc. Remember the earlier point about experience is learning this answer over time.
I know you want some numbers. If I am airing down, I would generally ride a small bike (450-700cc singles) at 16-20psi Front and 20-24psi Rear. Big bikes (650cc twins and up) at 28-30psi Front and 30-32psi Rear.
Be careful about riding long sections of road at low pressures, avoid if at all possible, as the bike will handle poorly and the heat build-up can damage the tyre and tube resulting in failure and you know the rest.
You can buy a simple 12V compressor like a Rocky Creek Pocket Pump from any good motorcycle store. Adventure Moto always have a good range of pumps or check with your nearest dealer.
Having extensively tested all tyre brands and also helped with tyre development over the years I will leave you with results from a back to back test.
Bike: BMW R1200GSA
Location: Multiday ride in NSW 5-6 days
Week one: 36psi front, 42psi rear, tyre life over 6000kms
Week two: Same bike and location, similar weather, 30psi Front, 34-36psi Rear, tyre life 4200kms
The tyres were the same brand, model and size.
There was a noticeable traction increase at the lower pressure but the cost was shorter tyre life.
Both weeks were great fun and the traction and fun gained on that particular mix of terrain running the lower tyre pressures, was worth the tyre life reduction. There were no big rocky sections, so rim protection wasn’t a factor.
I believe that good tyres are great insurance and it shouldn’t matter how much you spend on them or how long they last. Tyres are the biggest performance improvement you can make. They are also the cheapest.
Good quality, well managed tyres stop you hitting the ground.
I always start a big ride on fresh tyres, it’s cheap insurance. We are all getting older and injury recovery times should be a consideration beyond the bike repair costs.
Old enough to know better, young enough to still try.
Geeves,
Head Butler 😉