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Optimal tubeless 28mm tire pressure?
I ride on Zipp 303 NSW tubeless disc rims with Schwalbe Pro 1 TLE 28mm tubeless tires, Stan's Race sealant.
My bicycle weighs in at ~15 pounds, and I weigh 155. I run 70psi in the front tire and 75psi in the rear, and I am curious if you consider this optimal, or could my ride and/or rolling resistance be improved with different pressures? Curious what pressure you use and how you like it? Thanks. |
Originally Posted by LuMax
(Post 22158289)
I ride on Zipp 303 NSW tubeless disc rims with Schwalbe Pro 1 TLE 28mm tubeless tires, Stan's Race sealant.
My bicycle weighs in at ~15 pounds, and I weigh 155. I run 70psi in the front tire and 75psi in the rear, and I am curious if you consider this optimal, or could my ride and/or rolling resistance be improved with different pressures? Curious what pressure you use and how you like it? Thanks. |
I go anywhere from 65 to 80 psi depending what I plan to ride on. I weigh more than you.
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Thanks HTupolev and Seattle Forrest.
The roads here are always mixed. A typical ride will feature anything from new, silky-smooth asphalt to choppy, cracked, potholed, old pavement with lots of cracks. Minimal gravel, some chip seal. |
You are probably in the ballpark. Maybe a smidge lower if wet and/or rougher pavement, a smidge higher if riding smooth dry roads.
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I'd run 50-55 front and 70-75 rear, assuming 60/40 weight balance.
I'd run 55-60 front and 67-72 rear, assuming 55/45 weight balance. |
I use this as a gauge and then adjust as needed... I don't ride zip wheels, but its always been a good first start....
https://axs.sram.com/guides/tire/pressure |
Try a dozen or so rides at one PSI. Then ride another dozen or so rides at another PSI. Then ride another dozen rides at some other PSI. Which felt better to you and left your legs feeling like they had more energy to ride more? Which does your data say that you did better times on?
That's your personalized optimum PSI for that road surface and tire. If you happen to get pinch flats, then your PSI is way too low for that riding surface regardless of how good it felt. |
I think you could probably go a bit lower at your weight. But I don’t think you are far off the mark. Some people run much lower front pressure in line with weight distribution, but I don’t personally like the way that feels when climbing steep hills. So I normally keep my front pressure just 5 psi less than the rear. I’m currently running 70/75 psi on 30c tubeless race tyres. But I’m a fair bit heavier than you at 175 lbs.
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Originally Posted by Iride01
(Post 22158520)
Try a dozen or so rides at one PSI. Then ride another dozen or so rides at another PSI. Then ride another dozen rides at some other PSI. Which felt better to you and left your legs feeling like they had more energy to ride more? Which does your data say that you did better times on?
That's your personalized optimum PSI for that road surface and tire. If you happen to get pinch flats, then your PSI is way too low for that riding surface regardless of how good it felt. |
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Originally Posted by yarbrough462
(Post 22159025)
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Originally Posted by Badger6
(Post 22159332)
That, everything else above is a (educated) guess, LuMax .
But even these calculators are educated guesses and not meant to be absolute. What they provide is a good starting point. You also need a good tyre pressure gauge to make any use of them! |
The Silca calc is free (I never put my real email in). I've used the SRAM one, I cannot remember why I switched to using the Silca one...I think it was because Silva works off of measured width, rather than what the sidewall says. Either way, a calculator is key. And, as such, a calculation (if it is indeed calculating) is not a guess, but the returned result is definitely a starting point.
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28mm nominal but 30.3 mm actual on my set.
Also depends on your roads and weight distribution. Frank Berto's chart is a good lower end pressure setting and they work on my roads |
Originally Posted by Badger6
(Post 22159349)
The Silca calc is free (I never put my real email in). I've used the SRAM one, I cannot remember why I switched to using the Silca one...I think it was because Silva works off of measured width, rather than what the sidewall says. Either way, a calculator is key. And, as such, a calculation (if it is indeed calculating) is not a guess, but the returned result is definitely a starting point.
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Make sure your pressure gage is accurate, many are wildly off. I have one that is over 10 psi wrong
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Originally Posted by PeteHski
(Post 22158846)
Originally Posted by Iride01
(Post 22158520)
Try a dozen or so rides at one PSI. Then ride another dozen or so rides at another PSI. Then ride another dozen rides at some other PSI. Which felt better to you and left your legs feeling like they had more energy to ride more? Which does your data say that you did better times on?
That's your personalized optimum PSI for that road surface and tire. If you happen to get pinch flats, then your PSI is way too low for that riding surface regardless of how good it felt. So lets just change that to something like if your tire beads or rims are getting torn up or the tire burps air when on twisty paths or roads, then you might have too low a tire pressure. Will that work? I imagine eventually if I ride long enough I might be tubeless, so I'd like to have that stuff figured out when I get there. |
Originally Posted by Badger6
(Post 22159349)
Either way, a calculator is key.
Originally Posted by Badger6
(Post 22159349)
And, as such, a calculation (if it is indeed calculating) is not a guess
Originally Posted by Badger6
(Post 22159349)
but the returned result is definitely a starting point.
;) |
For you Psimet2001 and many others, like me, who have a lot of experience (meaning lots of saddle time)...I completely agree with you.
But, when someone rolls in here and says I weigh X (no mention the bike) and I'm riding on tires xx mm wide (no mention of tire). I always point them to a calculator for a starting point because any other advice off of the incomplete data they provided is a WAG. No idea if they're riding board stiff Schwalbe Marathons or Gatorskins or a nice supple Vittoria. No idea they're riding a 8kg gravel rocket ship or a 22kg tourer loaded out for a four week epic in the Alps. No way to give even a good stating point, maybe some opinions, sure. At least with a caclulator the guess the user gets is somewhat scientific, and therefore more SWAG, and in reality is a much better starting point. Mea Culpa if I let it be thought that if a calculator says run the pressure at Y thats what it should be. FTR, Silca tells me to put my gravel tires around 42psi...I've never run them higher than 36, except on the first ride fro about 5 minutes. It was a good starting point...so there's that. |
Originally Posted by Psimet2001
(Post 22159714)
No it's not. Keping track of what you're using and then adjusting to suit from there is key. A calculator is just a calculator.
If you're trying to say that the actual process of doing math is not guessing...at some theoretical level I would entirely disagree with you. Algebraic calculations are done using formulas that others.... wait for it... guessed at as a good approximation of what they believed they observed as ideal using their own preset biases of what they think should happen. Having made pressure calculation formulas that I have also posted on this forum well over a decade ago I can tell you that all the formulas are guesses at some level. It is after all a guess of what we "think" will "work well" for you. As are all pressure recommendations: a starting point. We don't all ride on the same saddle because...well...we are all different. tire pressure is the same. Considering how much real world pressures will vary with respect to a recommended starting pressure (not uncommon to see it vary by 15%-40% in many cases) it really does point out that even though they have nice web pages and claim to have a lot of time and "research" (which btw is simply a bunch of bike nerds comparing things with their friends at work after doing field "testing") they are actually just... guesses. Guesses made through the filter of a lot of experience and feedback but guesses nonetheless. ;) |
Originally Posted by Badger6
(Post 22159756)
But, when someone rolls in here and says I weigh X (no mention the bike) and I'm riding on tires xx mm wide (no mention of tire). I always point them to a calculator for a starting point because any other advice off of the incomplete data they provided is a WAG.
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FWIW, I believe that that at least for the Silca calculator, the returned values are based on a lot of actual 'real world' testing. Sure, every possible iteration of weight, road surface, tire width, etc wasn't tested, so likely a good chunk of values interpolated. But, to imply that all of it is just theoretical guessing is a bit extreme IMO.
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Originally Posted by Badger6
(Post 22159756)
FTR, Silca tells me to put my gravel tires around 42psi...I've never run them higher than 36, except on the first ride fro about 5 minutes. It was a good starting point...so there's that.
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To arrive at the number that was ~15% lower, I had to ride it after getting the "recommended" pressure. Moreover, despite hundreds of thousands of kms all over the world on all sorts of bikes, and all sorts of tires (type, brand, size), my initial guess was even higher than Silca. I am putting the calculators on the pedestal they belong: find the best starting point for air pressure. I also prefer it because it's simpler. The SRAM calculator asks for a lot more info, which gives an impression of granular precision which it cannot deliver, exactly to your point, Psimet2001 .
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