Commuting - How often do you add air to your tires?

My commute will be 26 miles round trip, pretty smooth roads, I'm pretty new to biking so this is my entry level question. :)

Honestly probably not often enough. When I do notice that the tires do not feel "hard" anymore and add air with my floor pump I'm often sheepish to see how low the tire pressure has gotten. I'd recommend checking the pressure after a week of riding and you can then probably figure out from there if you need to pump them more or less often than weekly.

I top them off every time I leave the garage. It's just part of the routine and since I've started I don't get pinch flats any more.

Once every week or 2 is probably fine depending on the bike. Larger tires (crusiers,hybrids, mtb etc) can go fine with that interval. Road bikes with skinny tires usually need topping up at least every 4-5 days.

First ride of each week. I usually find that the butyl tubes and 27x1/1/4 tires on my bike have lost about 20 lbs. between top-offs.

First ride of each week. I usually find that the butyl tubes and 27x1/1/4 tires on my bike have lost about 20 lbs. between top-offs.
Same here, about once a week and I find that they are about 20 lbs. short.

I top them off every time I leave the garage. It's just part of the routine and since I've started I don't get pinch flats any more.
Ditto

I need to get into the 'every time I leave' routine. Especially with my 3 speed since about every 5th or 6th ride I get a little low in the back (enough to feel it in the turns) but on that bike I need new wheels built and new tires & tubes, so hopefully it won't need air that often.

About every two to three weeks. They lose about 20-30 pounds pressure over that interval.

Paul

With my mountain bike I did it every month or so, with my 700c tires I need to do it every week or two.

The night before every commute, along with a basic PM check. Takes all of 5 minutes and prevents lots of headaches...both literal and real.

I'm a clyde, so maintaining 120 psi is pretty important for me to avoid pinch flats. I put the floor pump on them every two days. They've usually only lost about 5psi by then, so I'm being extra careful by following this policy.

Scott

26 miles? Well, if you want to keep your tires at the nominal pressure you use, and assuming they are road bike tires, I would say at least every 3rd day, but personally, I would top them up each time. It's very easy to lose 10 pounds of pressure every couple of days with a high pressure road tire, or even more if you have been hitting curbs or bumps. They lose air just sitting there in your living room (hey, that's where I keep my bike, even though my wife would rather I left it on the balcony). I may be finicky, and I don't know about anyone else, but I can feel it when my tires have lost a bit of air, just by how the bike feels. Hard to describe exactly, but it starts feeling a little sluggish. But anyway, if you do start checking it, you will soon be able to tell how long you can get away with it. Some tubes are more porous than others.

Lately, I'm alternating between two different bikes. I'll ride twice before refilling. If I were riding one bike all the time, I'd refill after about three days.

More specifically though, it depends on which bike I'm talking about. The fixie with 23's gets checked more often than the bike with 28's. When I was riding the MTB with big apples I would go over a week because losing the same volume of air had much less effect on the ride - and I would have to lose a huge amount of air before risking a pinch flat.

Every day before I leave home. It's alot easier than changing a tire on my 17.5 mile trip home at midnight due to a pinch flat. I worry because I weigh in at 250 lbs.

I pump my tires up everyday. I have Gatorskins with Kenda tubes. I inflate to 100 lbs everday and the next day the pressure is between 75 and 80 lbs.

The Kenda tubes are cheap.

What are you guys using to get the longer pressure life?

In my experience, once every 7 days is fine if your tires are about 1 1/8 inch width, and once every 14 days is fine if your tires are 1.75 inch width.


What are you guys using to get the longer pressure life?

I don't do anything special and I have used a wide variety of tires/tubes. To the best of my knowlege, kenda's products are usually of fairly good quality, but maybe you got tubes from a bad batch? The only other thing I can think of is either that your valves are somehow not doing well due to age, poor manufacture, or getting dust/dirt or rust in them.

Another thing to consider, if you haven't already, is whether the combination of putting on and taking off the pump head is letting out a that much air every time you pump up.

2 weeks of riding will see my 1.75" tires drop from 50psi to 40psi. When I used 27x1 1/8 tires I'd pump to 90psi and if I checked after a week they'd still be at 75.

I'm a light guy so I can usually get away with running my tires very low-- like 20 psi for MTB tires and 35 for road, although I recommend against trying it.

When my top speed gets down to about 16mph.

I am pretty slack on adding air to my tires, even though I do a squeze test before every ride.

The beginning of each work week and when I do weekend rides. But I'm thinking I should start doing it every other day.

What are you guys using to get the longer pressure life?
I'm going to guess here. The higher the pressure the faster the loss, so as pressure diminishes so does the rate of loss.

The beginning of each work week and when I do weekend rides. But I'm thinking I should start doing it every other day.
+1

I'm going to guess here. The higher the pressure the faster the loss, so as pressure diminishes so does the rate of loss.

You are problably right. :o

I think I am going to order some Michelin tubes for win these go down to see if with better valves it helps some. All in all pumping up the tires is not a big deal. Actually to go from 80lbs to 100lbs in a Gatorskins is about 5 pumps with a park tool floor pump. :rolleyes:

i check my pressure everytime i ride, if they are below 60psi i run them up a bit

every other ride, but with your mileage, maybe every ride.

My commute will be 26 miles round trip, pretty smooth roads, I'm pretty new to biking so this is my entry level question. :)I check them about every 2nd or 3rd ride.

I'm a large guy on very skinny tires, so I air them up almost every day. If I skip a day I they only lose about ten pounds (I ride 120-125lbs, and after a day they're down to about 115) which I don't have a problem with. I'm just used to airing them up before I leave.

Top mine off about once a week. I check them with my fingers almost every day to see if they are really low.

Before each ride, and the occasional squeeze to make sure there isn't a slow puncture.

- Wil

Every day. I'm 240 lbs. and often ride with 30 - 40 lbs. on my panniers. After one day of riding, the psi (especially in my back wheel) has dipped DRAMATICALLY.

Every other day.

My commute is 24.8 miles R/T....I am using Schwalbe Marathons 700x28's at 100psi...I check tire pressure every morning, and almost always add a lb or 2 to the rear tire....usually 2-3 lbs to the front every 3rd to 4th day.....am 208 lbs and usually am carrying 5-10 lbs of work & bike "stuff"......plus panniers in on Monday with work clothes, Friday home with dirty laundry from the week......

Stopped pinch flats when I went to this procedure, takes only a minute or so each morning....

once a week.

110 psi.

road-bike 700-23, every day I ride it before first ride. Mtn bike (commuter) 26x1.95 once every 2 weeks.

Every ride, unless I forget, which happens once in a while.

Whenever I notice the tires are low. Honestely, probably about every 6 weeks or so, maybe less. I pump them to 80 PSI, and after 6 weeks they're usually down to maybe 55 or 60.

I think it's funny that the people using presta valves "because they're so much better at high pressures" say they have to top up every day or every week. I've switched back to schrader just to reduce hassle, I have no problem hitting 100 PSI, and they'll hold it for weeks.

It probably helps a lot that I'm running 32s. The bigger the tire, the more air volume you have, so since your only leakage should be through the valve, and every tire has the same valve, obviously the smaller the tire, the more often you'll have to pump it up.

My ride is rough enough that anything skinnier than 32s would be torture.

Once every couple weeks for the MTB tires. Twice a week for the skinny road bike tires.

It probably helps a lot that I'm running 32s. The bigger the tire, the more air volume you have, so since your only leakage should be through the valve, and every tire has the same valve, obviously the smaller the tire, the more often you'll have to pump it up.

I had always assumed that the typical tire's leakage is mainly through the tube's pores, but I might be wrong. In any case, a fatter tire has more volume-relative-to-surface-area.

I'm pretty new to biking so this is my entry level question. :)
I end up topping off every few days to a week.
But as you are new, check/pump pressure before every ride. Quickly you will get a feel for how much the pressure goes down. Then you can stretch it out between fills. I usually let it go 10psi under for a normally 110/120psi tire. But always do a thumb check before every ride to be sure you don't have a slow leak.
Al

maybe 1/month? I haven't had to add air yet on the new commuter mt. bike featuring 20 y.o. tires and tubes.

I put truegoo in the vintage tires and tubes and filled them with air about a month ago. The back is getting a little soft, but I probably have self-healed about 10 thorns along the way too. Sure the truegoo is more rotating mass, but I'm not RACING anyone on my 25 mile R/T commute. Never getting flats is worth the additional weight for me.

I'm commuting 30 miles RT 4 days a week. I top them off before every ride.

Wal-mart has Bell brand Airtight tubes for 27 X 1 1/4 tires. These tubes also fit 700 X 32 and larger tires. They're three times thicker than normal bicycle tubes. Consequently air loss is significantly lower than standard tubes. I use them on my touring bike as I never need to aid air to the tires during the tour and as there so thick and tough I've never had a flat having traveled over 3000 miles and 3 pair of tires. It takes 2 to 3 weeks to lose 5 lbs when inflated to 90 psi for my current tires, Panaracer 737 700X37.

Every 2 or 3 days. I could easily top them off every ride, but am too lazy and don't have the time.
With that said, I ride 110psi roadie tires, and part of my commuter is not so smooth sidewalks... seems to me like lots of bumps and jolts convince the air to vacate faster.

Obviously not nearly often enough judging by this thread - I maybe top my roadie tubes up once a week, maybe every two weeks. I should probably keep them up more, especially as I've had a few pinch flats over the past couple of weeks (at a rate of 1 per 100 miles ridden, or so it seems!).

MTB I rarely have to touch them, they seem to hold up fairly well.

Every day i ride. It takes 1 minute at the most. :)

My commute will be 26 miles round trip, pretty smooth roads, I'm pretty new to biking so this is my entry level question. :)

I check my tire pressure prior to every ride. I rarely need to add much but it's better the check if for no other reason than to catch a slow leak before you get out on the road.

Get yourself a decent floor pump with a gauge because you cannot get adequate pressure in a road bike tire with a mini-pump IMO.

Your best defense against flats are properly inflated tires, especially if you ride a road bike.

Obviously not nearly often enough judging by this thread - I maybe top my roadie tubes up once a week, maybe every two weeks. I should probably keep them up more, especially as I've had a few pinch flats over the past couple of weeks (at a rate of 1 per 100 miles ridden, or so it seems!).

MTB I rarely have to touch them, they seem to hold up fairly well.

It has been months since I've had a flat and I ride between 80-100 miles per week.

Wal-mart has Bell brand Airtight tubes for 27 X 1 1/4 tires. These tubes also fit 700 X 32 and larger tires. They're three times thicker than normal bicycle tubes. Consequently air loss is significantly lower than standard tubes. I use them on my touring bike as I never need to aid air to the tires during the tour and as there so thick and tough I've never had a flat having traveled over 3000 miles and 3 pair of tires. It takes 2 to 3 weeks to lose 5 lbs when inflated to 90 psi for my current tires, Panaracer 737 700X37.

All tubes are airtight until you get a leak in them. :lol:

I run 700x23c tires on both my road bikes. I rarely have flats but they do lose 5-10psi every few days if the bike sits. I keep them inflated to 110psi though.

...I think it's funny that the people using presta valves "because they're so much better at high pressures" say they have to top up every day or every week...

The hole in the rim from a presta valve is smaller, so it preserves rim integrity much better, especially for narrow racing rims. On mtn bikes, I guess the same can be said. As to presta vs schrader in light of air pressure...I think schrader is the standard valve used in a lot of scenarios with pressures MUCH higher than 100-150 psi, so I wouldn't say they are bad from that angle.

I air up before every ride. But my rides are usually 30 miles so I'd rather go out knowing I'm fully aired up and be sure I'm not losing too much air rather than do the feel test (which it's hard to tell the difference between 80 and even 60psi in a road tire IMO).

Um, tubes lose air not because of the type of valve but because the air literally leaks through the butyl rubber through the process of permeation. Granted it happens slowly, but it leaks through. Thicker tubes leak more slowly since there's more rubber to go through. CO2 leaks faster because all the gas molecules are the same size. Regular air leaks more slowly because the different sizes between different air molecules.