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Old 10-23-20, 10:47 AM
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Tourist in MSN
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
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Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

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Several years ago someone suggested a 15 percent tire drop theory:
https://www.adventurecycling.org/def...SIRX_Heine.pdf

That theory fails on really wide tires like 2 inches or wider, but in general terms for touring I have used pressures in that range for 35 or 37mm wide tires for the rear tire.

Note that it is weight on each tire, not total weight. I do not follow that theory for the front tire, I think that gives too low a pressure. Instead I usually run a front tire at about 70 to 75 percent of the pressure that I have in back.

That said, on a really rough pavement if I have a lot of vibration on my hands and handlebars, I will run lower pressure on the front to smooth that out.

If I have a tire that has a very stiff sidewall or tread, I might increase the pressure a bit to make the tire deform less, because deforming a very stiff tire is lost energy, some tires are slower than others.

Last edited by Tourist in MSN; 10-23-20 at 10:54 AM.
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