I've always ridden with no more than 30psi. Chatting to a mate yesterday and he always has his at 50psi. The difference in pressure is huge. I'm going to try it at 50 today but I'm expecting some pretty sketchy cornering. Should make for some nice road climbs though.
55 psi on the front and 50 psi on the rear works for me when on the trails and general off road
I find 30 far too low - the tyres squirm arounds and roll on the rims - most unpleasant feeling.
it depends a lot on the tyre tho. depending on the tyre and terrain I use 35 - 50 psi
30 too low, you are more likely to get pinch punctures (if inners are used). I ride with around 40-45.
I've recently gone the other way (yesterday at Swinley actually) Normally run about 30-35 psi in Nobby nics 2.2 dropped them to 20 psi and what a difference, climbed everything with bags of grip and cornered like it was on rails, loved it! it was pretty wet however
'bout that much *pushes thumb on tyre*
Which last time I checked was around 35 I think.
A mousse that's about 25 on my Husky 450.
20 front and 22 rear on a rigid ss. I don't weigh much though and run them tubeless.
Depends on location/conditions -
36/38psi lakes , 38/40 psi darn sarf in the dry, for instance.
Too high a pressure i find I just bounce off things.
If there was a lot of tarmac/fire road I'd go higher pressure.
30 front / 35 rear ish. Sometimes a bit more (never more than 40), sometimes less, depending on tyres and/or terrain. I weigh about 13st.
45psi
95kg on a 29er hardtail.
Any less and they burp.
About 25psi seems right for me on my UST Nics and tubeless Bonty xr4s. About 30-35 with tubes. Tubeless I think the rims have as much to do with how low you can go as te tyres do.
Those of you that ride with 20 ish psi - do you not find the tyre squirms on the rim?
Approx 30 front, 35 rear with tubes. And a bit less tubeless.
50psi off-road isn't going to give a lot of grip.
About 40-45 for me running with tubes. 30-35 when I experimented with tubless. Roadie at heart to struggle with super low pressures.
35-40 psi. I'm 14 stone and seldom pinch puncture.
I just pump tyres until they are hard ,about 60psi I am heavy and would rather compromise grip a bit than have lots of pinch punctures
18-20 in the rear 8-10 in the front
85kg 29er rigid with fat front
38 F&R
I always used to pump mine up to 40 until I stopped cycling in my early 20s, then when I moved back to Yorkshire and started mtbing again got it into my head that 25-30 would give the best performance. Looking forward to trying 50 today though. I'm between 13 and 14 stone, depending on how good or bad I've been over the preceeding week or two.
TJ - I use Traversees which have a pretty wide rim. I think that helps the tyres to feel less squirmy. Anything below 20psi still feels very odd.
30 front and back tends to be my default setting no matter what tyre and rim combination. Put some Swampthings on last week and found that I actually preferred them at about 35. At 30 they just didn't seem 'solid' enough.
48 as i can't be arsed with punctures but am always beeing told off by my riding buddies 🙂 So i'm going to go tubeless and try lower pressures.
40.234 psi front
42.331 psi back
bol - ta
Pressure divided by rider weight is a much more useful number than pressure on its own.
35 ish on the front - kenda blue groove stickee
40 ish on the rear - kenda nevegal
any more on the front and it feels pretty sketchy
bonty 2.2 and 2.0 on a wet wed night ride this week, no more than 20 psi and they were fine. normally ride 30psi in my 2.35 and they too are fine. I'm fairly light and like to think I'm quite a smooth rider which might explain a lack of pinch flats or tyre squirming.
Is this not pointless - you'd have to assume that everybody is running tyres / the same overall volume and sidewall strength, on rims of the same width and that riders are all the same weight!
I'll add mine - 45-50psi on DT5.1 with panaracer fire XC, down to 40 with larger volume tyres (Specialized Enduro 2.2 or Maxxis Crossmark). Any lower and I tend to hit the rim and/or hate the squirming! This may change when I go tubeless...
Going up Hellvelyn this morning,My pressures will be around 30f-35r,(2.5 tyres) I tend to go by feel, rather than a specific amount.
Rider weight/rims and tyre volumes have a big effect on grip though,but "too much" pressure has a hudge effect on rider confidence and the potential to crash etc..
I am very surprised at anything over 35 though,In the lakes it would be very hard work climbing/decending on rocky sections,If you pick the smoother flowey lines, it should avoid the need for harder pressures,to reduce punctures, imho. 😉
about 45 depending on terrain.
I was at Cannock yesterday and first circuit I had 38 f&r ( spesh Purgatory tyres tubeless on a flow rim) and the lack of grip was astounding giving me little confidence on the pebble surface, in the afternoon I dropped the pressures to 30 f&r- it was a revelation, so much more grip I felt I could attack the corners, (tyres weren't squiming either TJ) and felt good on the jumpy bits too. Lesson learnt! IMO If you run your tyres hard it pays to have a go with less pressure .
25-30 rear 6-10 front on my rigid fat front 29er.
25-30 rear 20-25 front on all my other bikes.
Low 20s front, high 20s rear, Bontrager XR4 and Specialized Purgatory tubeless.
On average, around 25 front and 30 test. Even the 32 mm tyre on the commuter are only 60. I weigh nearly 15 st and find I get grip rather than squirm running them like this.
35-40 with tubes
20-25 tubeless
100KG rider
Tubeless seem to grip more and squirm less and roll just as well with lower pressures. Tubed seems very draggy and squirmy at lower pressures.
13 stone, I run 40psi in the back and 35 up front in an effort to keep a combination of reasonable rolling resistance, grip and puncture free riding. I used to run higher pressures (50r/45f)but have found lowering them has improved grip and handling without feeling like i am riding through treacle. Hate pinch flats so not keen to go much lower.
Ditto what was said about these being semi-pointless comparisons without considering tyres and rim widths too. But, for the record I usually pump to 35r / 30f and then leave them until they start to feel a bit soft.
I'm also unconvinced by the accuracy of pump gauges. I used a mate's pump recently to the same pressures and felt the tyres were more inflated than using mine. But it doesn't matter as long as you know what you want on your pump.
Lastly, there are times when I change. At Cwmcarn last week, I pumped to 30 and 35 as above but halfway up the first bit felt at risk of pinch flatting the rear on the rocky bits, so put some more in. On the other hand my normal terrain is Swinley where pinch flats are rare but slippy roots are far more evident, and there lower is definitely preferable.
Vary depending on trail condition and tyres and rims but I start with 30f and 35r. Earlier in the year I had a Kevlar beaded maxxis advantage 2.1 on the back but was getting pinches. 40 stopped that but was too pingly and slow. I switched to the wire beaded version and dropped back to 35 and all is well again.
sometimes this place surprises me.
No idea I pump it till it feels nice and hard when pinched with my thumb [ oh er missus] and have never felt the need to know the exact pressure.
Having just checked them i find I have no air pressure gauge and they are quite hard
HTH
40 psi
i usually ride 35psi but i (accidently to be honest) rode the last handful of rides at 20psi, didnt have any squirming or pinch flats ,grip was great, Maxxis advantage 2.1 on mavic xm117 with tubes
I weigh 9 stone and always run less than 30psi. That's with schwalbe standard tubes on 717 rims.
I started out at 30psi in my new Ardent 2.25s and then kept lowering. I haven't pinch punctured yet despite doing jacob's ladder/roych/rushup/mam tor.
Probably at about 26psi now.
I suspect that there will be a big difference in the amount of sqiurm with proper tubeless tyres (thicker sidewalls), and therefore people can run lower pressures...
For tarmac I usually keep the tyres at around 25 psi. Off-road they go down 20 - 15 psi with 10 psi used for soft sand, peat bogs and snow. I shoudl say these are for my Surly Pugsley with Endomorph 3.7" tyres.
Gary
www.pugsley-on-patrol.org.uk
Anything from 15-30psi, depending on what I'm riding. Usually around 25psi.
45 psi at both ends, I hate pinch punctures.
13 1/2 stone on Fire xc's on Mavis 317's
30-35 with tubes and 25-30 with tubless (ust).
forgot to mention that the tyres I run tubeless are not tubeless specific so thicker tyre walls doesn't apply for anti-squirm. Can't explain what does though
40ish.
Tried low pressure in the UST, but it was squirmy & slow.
UST Tubeless
Pump them up to 40 then let air out till they feel about right. No idea what they end up at!
I'm not one for mSsive corner pumping so I expect it's why I don't get squirm. Does not matter if guage is accurate just that you use the same guage every time
Ok then I just stick about 40 in f&r. What's the perceived benefit of running abit less in the front, are people really noticing +/- 5 psi.
30-40 depending on the conditions and routes that i ride
How many people really experiment with their pressures? I know I probably should but I'm not keen on being stuck with a flat somewhere because I went and ran a tyre at 8psi so I tend to stay in the same 10 psi range...
I've run as high as 45 before and still found it ridable but now tend to go between 25 and 35 depending on type of riding I plan to do and the tires I'm using... 2.3 Eskars or 2.1 Captains both run tubeless, although I just got some 2.0 Michelin XCR tubeless to try out next summer (cheap on CRC) may play with the pressure in those a bit just to see...
I'm 5'10" and weigh 12 stone, is there a proper formula? for weight/tire/pressure settings?
I agree with Junkyard.
I press them with a thumb and pump them until they've got a little "give" (this is a rare skill that, once attained, is never forgotten). If they've got more "give" they squirm around the rim and I get lots of punctures, but the ride's nice and soft. If they've got no "give", then they'll either explode in the process of pumping, which scares the living sh*t out of anyone within a 500 yard radius or, if successful, results in a hard ride and less grip.
That's "in my expert opinion" of course. For those less able, who still need to rely on pressure gauges, I'll gladly offer a little training if you're ever passing my way.
For the tinners and junkyards of this world, I think my original query was really whether or not people prefer to ride with a really hard tyre, a soft tyre, or somewhere in the middle. The question was raised after I realised that my mate rides with twice as much pressure as me, which is clearly going to make a massive difference in terms of grip, slip and whatever else. However, I really must congratualate you on the ability to use your opposable thumbs to such effect. Darwin would be fascinated. Good effort.
30psi front, 35-37 rear. tubed. wiegh about 10stone.
"How many people really experiment with their pressures?"
I think tyres are part of the suspension system, not just about grip. I hate the feel of hard tyres, the way they ping off every bump just slows the bike down. Like having too stiff a string and no rebound damping. But too low and the bike doesn't track right as the tyre is squirming in corners.
The right pressures for a tyre/rim/terrain combo is trial and error. Worth experimenting with.
Depends on where/what tyres/conditions etc.
eg have got 32psi in 2.1 Nobby Nics on DT 4.2rims, 26psi in 2.3conti's on 717's & 38psi in Maxxis 1.8 medusa's on 717's at the moment, but sometimes run as low as 22 in bigger tyres 2.35 High Rollers etc.
firm
On the XC type bike, high 30's. On the DH bike, high 20's.
Any less & I can feel the tyres squirming & rolling on hard cornering.
28-30 PSI, particularly good for uphill grip in the wet. Also helps my suspension (which I don't have - hardtail only).
40psi and I don't weigh very much. Occasionally take a little bit out if the conditions demand it, don't like squishy tyres.
Kev