s9s

Hi

Forgive me for this silly querey. Had my first puncture today, I changed the tube and as I was pumping the tyre I noticed that the reccomended preassure was 35-65 lbs which equates to 2.2 to 4.5 bar. If im reading that right, my conversion was done pounds per square inch, though it just says pounds on the tyre. This seems really high, so I guess I am missing something here in the teminology> For the record i have a mtb, front suspension, im reluctant to pump it further than what it is now as the tyres are solid. Please help!

Thanks in advance.

Cadd

PSI sounds just about right. How much air did you have in your tires when you had that flat?

DnvrFox

I keep my mtn bike slicks at 80 pounds per square inch (psi), and never below 60. 65 is good for most, depending on size. Just follow the recommendations on the side of the tire.

Just because it sems hard to the touch does not mean necessarily that it is fully inflated.

FYI, most road bikes are kept at about 120 psi.

WorldIRC

my MTB tires are 80PSI and my road bike is 135PSI

meltable

Wow, you guys sure keep your tires well inflated. I usually have mine around 65 for road riding (mountain bike on road) and 30-35 PSI for mountain biking. This is the range of recommended pressure on my tires also, 35-65.

Do you have a pump with a PSI gauge, or just bars? It looks like 35 PSI is 2.4 bar and 65 PSI is 4.48 - which is around what you got. 35 should not seem too hard, the tire will start to spread somewhat at that pressure. Are you sure your gauge is correct?

Dirtgrinder

I kinda thought that too. I keep my MTB at 35-40 psi.
But Dnvr did say he was running slicks. Those do take a higher pressure.

Maelstrom 

Mountain bike tires (when doing anything on ROUGH terrain or big climbs) should be kept at 35 to 45 lbs. (give or take 5 lbs depending on your size). I have never heard of anyone riding a mtb with a pressure of 85. That is pretty intense, I would destroy my rims at that pressure.

DnvrFox

These slicks have a recommended pressure of 65-80 psi, or I wouldn't do it.

meltable

DnvrFox:

I assume you're using the slicks just for road riding, right? 65-80 is a great pressure for smooth pavement, but if you were keeping them that full while doing rocks, roots, etc. you'd probably shake every bone in your body out of place.

Right now I ride with semi-slicks, so I guess I need to use a little less pressure to get the same traction- although most of what I ride is hard packed.

DnvrFox

Yes. I do no official "off-road" riding, although I do ride gravel trails. I have NEVER been bothered by rough riding, and do not use any kind of suspension.

Interesting.

We rough and ready he-men and (she-ladies) all want to prove how rough and tough we are, so we buy bikes to go on rough trails and spectasular drops but we put shock absorbers on the front and the back and now on the seats so that we won't feel those bumps!!

I am missing something here.

s9s

once again u guys are a wealth of knowladge. Thanks.

I use a preassure gauge that i have used on my car, it is a pretty solid gauge, but pumping it up to nearly four psi! At that sort of preassure would it not make the tire less likey to absorb the impact of sharp objects, and more likely to allow a puncture, due to its tenseness (if such a word exists)?

I ride to work on a canal towpath, which is a combination of gravel, rough loose pebbles,solid peebley ground, mud, grass and broken glass left by kids!

Fat Tires

I usually run my WTB Nano Raptors at about 70 for on-road use (I add 5 lbs to the max to compensate for my 205 lbs). I usually run 35-40 off road. Sounds like the cobble you ride on would be in the 50-55 lbs range for comfort/efficiency.

On my old bike I had a set of road-only wheels with Avocet slicks that I ran at 90-100 lbs....I really liked them for on road use.
Kev