I have just fitted a set of “exotic” carbon forks to my singlespeed, and am looking forward to blasting round the woods on it tonight (bike is now 22 lbs and should be super nippy!). Anyway – It has occured to me that I could run lower tyre pressure on the front to soften things up a bit. Does anyone else do this for fully rigid, or just leave well alone? Was thinking 30psi front, 40 rear. Tyres are 2.0″ but high volume ones.

I tend to press my wheel against the corner edge of a wall. If i can compress it hard enough to feel the rim hit the wall then its too soft.

i would run them at the same pressure as using suspension.

I’d run them softer (I run 20 F&R on my hardtail). If you’re using skinny, xc tyres though it’ll be a compromise between punctures and comfort

about 18psi f / 20-22psi rear in UST Rubber Queen 2.2 on my rigid at the moment, much more feels too ‘pingy’. the rear may ‘kiss’ the rim over the odd clumsily-ridden root now and then but on a rigid bike that’s why UST works well.

20psi in UST feels like about 28-30 in normal tyres i think, so your 30 sounds about right.

Bout 24psi front and back in mud cd tubeless seems to work for me 29r if that makes a difference

http://www.michelinbicycletire.com/michelinbicycle/index.cfm?event=airpressuremtb.view

60psi… at least, how else are you going to experience the full rigid ride… 😉

120psi front and rear works for me.

120psi front and rear works for me.

+1, on the road bike

Why would you go rigid off road!

Tyre pressures are a personal matter, based largely on body weight and tyre size. I can’t imagine why you’d change it for a change of forks. I run higher pressures on my full sus but only to give me more flatspot protection as I have a tendency to ram the wheels into stuff I’d otherwise not.

martymac – Member

“i would run them at the same pressure as using suspension.”

Same here.

I use 6 PSI front and 20 PSI rear on this. 😉

2010_1006fatsheep0007 by singlespeedstu, on Flickr

I run mine a bit lower. About 30 up front and a touch more at the back.

I used to run 23-25psi on my full suss with tubeless, 26-27 tubed, but now on a hardtail I find I am getting a damaged rear rim and associated tyre damage if I run less than 28psi, so I don’t, and I get a lot less grip as a result, oh well.

Copycat!

Try it.
Ride rigid a lot and makes a big difference.
Thinking use to be.
Hard ground – low pressure for max grip.
Soft ground – higher psi to cut through..

On my rigid tend to use as low as I can get away with..

or run tyres at proper pressures and fit suspension to get compliance – only joking…

Definitely soft as you can, wide rims make a difference as to what you can get away with, 20-25 sounds ok, I run 18-20 on 2.35s but 35mm rims