I haven't needed to pump my tires for more than a month, riding it 5 days a week. It still has plenty of pressure. I wonder if it's the quality of the tires is very good, or does it make difference that I am not heavy? Also, does it matter whether the bike has been ridden or just sat at home all the time after being pumped?

What is your longest interval between having to pump air?

What's the size of the tires you are using?

using thorn resistant tubes , because they are thicker rubber, the pressure is retained longer..

and there is also the standard operating pressure.. greater the PSI in the tube, the more difference
in comparison to the outside air pressure , the more the air seeks to equalize .

so... light tube , high pressure , narrow tires is a different situation, than HD tubes in a Beach Cruiser.


On a Bike-Camping Tour of Ireland.. 700c -40 tires, HD p/v tubes ... I still topped off the tires to 6 bar,
when I felt the rolling resistance was increasing. every couple days..

700x35c

5 weeks is pretty normal on a fat 700x35 with thick cheap inner tube. a 700x23 with ultra-thin tubes may need to be re-inflated every day.

I stored my Raleigh Superbe in the fall (October) and in the spring the tyres had only lost a few psi and were still within their operational range... I attribute this to good quality tubes and some puncture seal.

I will be checking the herd when I get home and see which wheel sets have maintained the best pressure through the winter.

Schwalbe tubes seem to have the best retention of any tube I have used... with these I find that pressure losses are significantly reduced.

What a pain!

Would it lose much more if you had been riding it?

Larger tires (more air volume) take longer to deflate than the skinny ones, all else being equal. Another reason to bump up the tire size if you can.

I ajust the pressure in my 700x23 every two days. Not much but 5-7 psi every two days.

My 700x32s lose about 10 psi a week. I pump them up to 70psi every Monday.

700c x 32s at 50 PSI or so, I've gone 5 weeks and probably could have gone longer. I'm usually down from 50 to 30 or so in 5 weeks.

On my new bike with 700c x 23 at 110 PSI, if I don't pump them up every week, if I hit a rock or rut I WILL get a pinch flat (had it happen twice this spring already). In a week I'll be down from 110 to probably 75 or so. I really should be pumping them up every couple of days. That's why I bought a good pump along with the bike, after all (bought a Joe Blow).

The smaller the tire, the more of a difference losing each CC of air makes (in terms of PSI). Also the higher the pressure, the faster the air will make its way out through the rubber or the valve stem (though a Presta valve helps a little there). So narrow, high pressure tires need to be checked FAR more often than wide, low pressure ones.

Everytime I ride I check. Usually I don't have to add. Which of course means I don't have to check that often. But I will.