Tire Pressure
 

New to serious riding if that makes sense :)

1. I purchased a bike pump with a psi gauge (never used psi just went by feel). When I started inflating my bike I noticed that at 50 psi the tire felt very full even more than I usually do by feel. When I road, the tire felt full as well. So, is the psi gauge incorrect or is it common to put so much pressure in the bike? I feel like the tire will burst at any second if I keep pumping.

Thanks for the help.

What size are your tires?

How much do you weigh?

Going by feel usually leads to an under-inflated tire.

Get a regular tire gauge (one rated for high enough PSI - the regular automotive ones won't cut it), pump your tires to where you feel they should be (50 PSI on the bike pump gauge is fine) then use the tire gauge which will tell you if the pump gauge is correct.

Once it gets over 50-60 psi, I can't dent it with my thumb, so it could be 75 or 145 psi. There's a big difference.

1. What size are your tires?
2. You imply that you're trying to pump up to a certain pressure. What is it?
3. How heavy are you?

New Posters - please READ THIS

yes, a tire will feel very firm well before reaching it's MAX pressure. funny, huh?

the correct pressure is on the sidewall

No it's not. The MAXIMUM pressure is on the sidewall. It's usually better to use less.

Might want to read this http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#pressure

If you look up the tires using google, you will likely find the min-max range. half way between works well. Ignore your feelings! Use data.