Thread: Tire pressure
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Old 11-12-24 | 08:09 PM
  #31  
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rustystrings61
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From: Greenwood SC USA

Bikes: 2002 Mercian Vincitore, 1982 Mercian Colorado, 1976 Puch Royal X, 1973 Raleigh Competition, 1971 Gitane Tour de France and others

Originally Posted by shinnen
Hi mooney,
I really can't tell you much about the wheels. It's a vingate circa 1970s roadbike with 27 x 1.25 inches wheels. That's about it. I thought it would be fairly easy for members, who ride this bike (or facsimile) to chime in on what psi they find most comfortable; what they would not go below and what they would not go above. I weight about 170 lbs (I'm not sure what the bike weighs). Comfort is high on my agenda. I won't be going long distances, just tooling around the local area, no highways, my balance isn't what it was 50 years ago.
..... john
My quick and dirty suggestion - for '70s era bikes with 27 x 1 1/4-in tires, I assume the rims will be straight-walled and without hook beads. So you want wire-bead tires, not kevlar, and the old classical, canonical 70 lbs psi just seems to be a sweet spot. I rediscovered this during my first Clunker Challenge 100 in 2016, when I realized that riding the battered '75 Motobecane Grand Touring with cheap 27-in tires on basic old Weinmann rims wasn't any slower for me than riding much pricier, cooler bikes.

That said, I use this Berto-based calculator - but then wind up running both tires at the rear pressure, as I spend enough time standing on the bike pushing a 70-in fixed-gear that the lower pressure in front doesn't work for me.
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