Road Bike Tire Pressure By Feel

Here are air pressure requirements for different types of bikes.

Road bike tire pressure by feel. Mountain tires are flatter and they need an air pressure between 30 and 50 psi. Conversely a narrower tire like a 28mm road tire has comparatively much less volume so it needs more air pressure to prevent bottoming out. For example on my touring bike when not loaded and just my body weight and bike weigh calculated using 32 wide tires i use 45 psi front and 70 rear but if i add 55 pounds of gear for touring i now have to raise that psi to 60 f and 90 r. Fwiw i weigh 190 and i ve run supple 28 s as low as 55 psi.

Road bike tires are narrowest and require between 80 and 130 psi air pressure. Proper tire pressure lets your bike roll quickly ride smoothly and avoid flats narrow tires need more air pressure than wide ones. Another good starting place is frank berto s recommendation to choose a tyre pressure that involves a tyre being compressed 15 of its height under the rider s weight. Keep in mind your pressure gauge may not be all that accurate or repeatable over time so it s just a reference as well.

28mm tire pressure what s your magic. But a tire inflated very high will tend to feel. Also the suppleness of the tire s sidewalls can change the way a tire feels on the road at a certain pressure. More supple sidewalls make the ride more comfortable while rigid sidewalls mean a harsher ride at any given tire pressure.

Your tire pressure is the biggest influence on your bike s ride. For example 90psi in a 25mm tire will feel the same as roughly 70 psi in a 28mm tire. It may be off only by a few psi for a standard road pressure. So you can see the tyre pressure is much lower than with an inner tube but it offers a 29psi range to allow for the aforementioned variables like rider bike weight riding style and road conditions.

If you have a 2 5 enduro tire on your mountain bike you ll be able to ride at pressures close to 20 psi. Proper tire pressure allows your bike to move smoothly and quickly as well. Make a guess if the tires are ok low or really low. It was a long.

Remember as tire size and therefore volume increase you can decrease tire pressure. If your recommended tire pressure is near the maximum pressure rating for the rim we recommend moving up in tire volume. Road tires typically require 80 to 130 psi pounds. Now once you have a gauge use it after every long ride on your road bike or at least weekly road tires lose pressure quickly so daily is better yet.

You will begin to know by feel. The amount of weight that will be exerted on the tires does play a crucial role in how much pressure you will put on a tire. If your weight distribution is different your ideal pressure may differ from the chart.