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I'm new here, apologies if my question has been covered or is just boring...
I have an 09 Caldera hardtail with Sun Black Eye rims (22mm) I've just fitted a new set of tyres on, 26 x 2.30 Minion DHR II and Minion DHF.
I've done a bit of reading on what sort of pressures I should be running, and just wanted to see if I'm miles off in my estimations or if anyone had any specific advice or recommendations.
I'm roughly 100kg in weight and will be riding mostly hard packed stuff or rocky tracks.
I've been running a set of conti travel contact road tyres recently which were pretty much just pumped up as hard as I could get them for road riding. Clearly this tactic won't work well on the off road trails..
The info I've seen, combining rim width, tyre width, my weight and the type of terrain would suggest 35-40 psi in the rear and 30-35 psi upfront.
I do plan to start around those upper figures and reduce the pressure a bit to see how it feels and handles. I'm slightly concerned about pinching the tube on the back if i don't go high enough though.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Cheers,
Ronnie
Ronnie, my simple advice would be to try both front and back at 30psi (I'm assuming you're using inner tubes)
If you feel you're not quite getting the desired grip on the front, or the back, and you're not dinging rims, drop a couple of psi, try again. keep going til you find the right balance of speed, support and grip.
A lot of folks will come on and tell you what they inflate to, but it's irrelevant to you, they ain't you, they ain't on your bike, ain't on your trails and their pressure gauge will most likely be a few psi at least out from yours.
All the best.
This surprisingly recommended pressures within a couple of PSI of what I'd arrived at by experimentation. Worth a try for a base line.
Interesting link. Literally 1 psi away from my current set up.
I'm pretty much the same weight as you and often ride a route with a mix of everything from tarmac to rock gardens. Very much wheels on the ground though, and I think I am quite a gentle rider (= wimp).
I need to compromise between grip/drag/puncture resistance and have found 35 psi rear/30 front with quite a light tyre work for me. Very rarely puncture.
It's quite close on my 29er with 29mm inner width rims, it's miles out on my 650b with 25mm rims.
I found that link way out on my psi, about 8 psi too high.
I also put Nino Schurters stats in and they came out at 9-10psi too high
I’m 80Kg. I ride a hardtail 95% of the time. I run 2.6” tyres. I start at 20psi. Most bike tests that I read nowadays, they also start around 20psi.
At a bike park or if I’m riding really aggressively, I go to 30psi. But at 30psi I have no grip and no comfort.
I recently put a rear tyre insert in my rear tyre so that I can run around 15-16psi. Absolutely wonderful. I don’t think I will ever go back to running no tyre insert in a hardtail rear tyre.
Edit: although I thoroughly advocate 20psi as a starting point, you can easily dim your rims if you don’t ride carefully. So maybe 30psi is a better starting point. But 30psi feels totally dreadful to me.
Nobeer has it.
Johnde, you're almost in + tyre territory. For comparison to you I'm 70kg and I run 9 front 14 rear on 2.8. no inserts.
That link has both my tyre pressures about 20pc higher than I run them.
Just go as low as you can get away with. If you start dinging rims then stick a few more PSI in
The SRAM link above is pretty accurate so a good start. I tend to go a little higher on the rear to prevent damage to my rim; usually around 28-30 rear and 23-25 front. I’m 14st with 2.5/2.4 Maxxis.
Just tried that Sram link myself and it's pretty close!
I always do weight in stone x 2 then minus two for the front and plus two for the back in PSI, at 100kgs I'd say 28 front and 32 rear
I always do weight in stone x 2 then minus two for the front and plus two for the back in PSI, at 100kgs I’d say 28 front and 32 rear
YMMV, but far too many variables to have hard and fast rules such as that. I'm 14 stone and would be pinging about all over the shop if I ran my 2.6 Mary with 26psi in there, most of the time I'm around 18psi, with 22 on the rear.
Your own weight and the tyre size matters so much. Twice your weight in stone plus a few psi is a good starting point for 2.3” tyres.
The trails make a big difference too. Spiky rocks need more pressure because the tyre is contacting a much smaller area than on smoother dirt, so not only is it easier to ding a rim, the tyres actually feel softer. I probably go over 5psi harder on rocky trails. And I go lower by a couple of psi when it’s properly wet.
Thanks for all the input and opinions guys!
The SRAM link suggests 39.4 rear and 37.1 front for my specific setup. I've put 35 in to start with which feels quite high to be honest, although I've only ridden along the road to check the pressure. Planning to hit a couple of trails over the weekend and drop the pressure a bit to see how it affects the feel.
I'll report back, if anyone cares 🙂
Think about going tubeless.
I am the same weight as you - 37 is very high...
I run around 28 psi - 30 psi on both a 29er and 25,5.
Front is usually a little softer than the back.
20 psi would be madness at your weight (and just below that led to a crash that broke my shoulder)... whilst you may get a little bit more grip, the chances of the true letting go in a fast corner is greater.
No one is suggesting he go 20psi.
i just tried the sram calculator and it's 10 psi over for my trail bike.
Aha, a thread I can actually add some real life experience to.
In riding kit + a loaded backpack and water I'll be within a bawhair of your weight and my hardtail is a similar vintage Cotic Soul.
If it's at all possible, set the rear up tubeless (front's less important) - I ran my rear at about 28-30psi and still fairly regularly got punctures when I forgot I wasn't on the full suss and sent my talentless clattering fat ass off drops and through rock gardens.
Tubeless in the back lets me run it at mid to high twenties psi (usually about 28psi but I really don't check or measure as much as I perhaps should), sufficient grip and - touch wood - no flats since.
Front, I've got an old Muddy Mary on there with a tube in it and it's fine at the low to mid 20 psi's I run it at. Normally about 25psi.
tldr - Tubeless at the back / whatever you like up front. Enjoy!
I'm no expert, but I'm not sure how compatible my rims are with going Tubeless.
The Minion DHR II is Tubeless Ready, but from what i've read I assumed (maybe wrongly) that I'd need or ideally want wider rims to go down that route?
If I can go tubeless, I would definitely consider it.
Not strictly true, it's not that long ago we were converting mavic 17 and 19mm rims, it's fairly simple to do, if you have a mate who's tubeless it's easier with a bit of assistance.
Surely for a rear wheel, HT vs Full Suss makes a difference too?
I run maybe 4 - 5 psi more in the rear HT wheel.
As others have said keep experimenting. At 88 (+or- a few) KG I run 20F/22R with 2.4 tyres on 23ID rims. I find it too hard on my ankles and shins with more. I have gone lower but I find it noticably more tiring to pedal (bouncing up and down is very apparent) and I start to hear rimpacts.
"Surely for a rear wheel, HT vs Full Suss makes a difference too?"
Doh!
Just spotted thread title.
Then I suppose it matters what we're using to measure the pressures you're reporting. My topeak gauge reports pressures about 5psi below that registered by my Joe blow track pump...