casey86

When I am on the bike I can notice the wheel pushing down a little giving it that kind of a flat tire look but that is at 43 PSI. I think for the 2 days I need it on I may pumo the tires or at least the back one up to 50 PSI if that pushing down with me on it is causing some kind of damage but I don't want to over inflate.

nfmisso

Read VERY carefully.

If you ride the bike with much less than 65psi in the rear tire you WILL damage the rear rim.

The current tire is NOT suitable, and is likely damaged (not repairable) just by you sitting on the bike with only 43psi in it.

casey86

Well I've checked over the tire, evened it back out on the rim and the tube pumps just fine still so if its not damaged then I should go ahead and pump it to 65 PSI?

fietsbob

make sure the tube is entirely between the beads, none ready to push the tire off the rim ..

casey86

All this talk about tire pressure has got me paranoid now. I inflated the bike earlier to about 55 PSI and rode around on it for a bit and everything seemed fine. I let out about 20 PSI before putting the bike back up. I realize the back tire needs more air because that is where most of the weight is. I just don't want to get about an hour or 2 into the day on March 28th and the back tire blow out or something happen. I fully deflated the tire and made sure everything was centered correctly before pumping it back up and testing riding it for a few minutes. I guess that part is Ok.Since the tire says inflate to 43 PSI, am I anywhere close to a blow out if I pump it to 50-55 PSI? Does my 243 pounds plus the extra 20-30 pounds that'll be on the back rack contribute to a possible blow out? I think I am just being too worried over this.

arex

You really should seriously consider getting some better tires on that bike, especially if you're planning on a long ride, possibly without support. Good tires aren't cheap, but on the other hand, they're not cheap. Schwalbe Marathons or Marathon Plusses are a very good tire to look at, though there are certainly others.

Also, given that the tires on the bike are cheap, you should think about new tubes, too, for it's possible they might've cheaped-out on those, too. Good tubes are inexpensive.

Stucky

You need some quality tires on there! Given that these tires seem to be some kind of substandard junkers, there's no telling what'll happen if you inflate them to what should merely be normal pressure. Too little inflation: Well, you've already seen what happens there.... And inflating such a cruddy tire to what should normally be a reasonable pressure, may just cause it to blow-out unexpectedly.

I would not feel safe- unless you ride very slowly- like never over 12-15MPH. Then not such a big deal if it blows- especially on the rear. But otherwise, get you some decent tires. I wondering though, if the bikle manufacturer would spec such cruddy tires on their bikes, if a lot of other components on the bike aren't al;so sub-par?

casey86

I'll be riding the bike for about 8 hours on March 28th, all on the road and then again on a day in May for about 5-7 hours. Other than that this bike will hardly have me riding on it as I only bought it for these 2 specific days. For everyday riding I would surely want a better quality bike. My concern ismaking sure this bike can hold it for the 15 or so hours my 250 pound butt will be on it for those 2 days. If I can get through these 2 days with the bikes current condition then its Ok.

casey86

The bike held up surprisingly well yesterday. Most of the day it had an extra 30-40 pounds on top of my already 250 pound body on it. I had the back tire at a little over 50 PSI so I guess that helped. No problems at all from this bike so it served its purpose.