Tire Pressure in Dry Loose conditions

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country
Tire Pressure in Dry Loose conditions
Author Message
flag Tdawgtit
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 13:38 Quote
Tubeless is a calling you ;-)
flag Samuelr1
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 13:59 Quote
If you are referring to me. That is tubeless.
flag NorCalNomad
O+
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 14:24 Quote
Samuelr1 wrote:
If you are referring to me. That is tubeless.

What do you weight? Those sorts of numbers I can get away with in my bike that still has tubes.
flag R-M-R
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 15:19 Quote
gotohe11carolina wrote:
Rider weight is not really your only consideration. Some people ride heavy and don’t allow their arms and legs to absorb impacts, others can ride light. As well, tire volume and shape will play a large roll in how you find your proper pressures.
The best advice I can give is experiment in a way to isolate your variables. Start with the rear and start high. Reduce your air pressure until you get the ride quality and traction that you want. When you’ve got the rear sorted, start with the front low and then gradually increase till you get the ability to corner predictably. If you try and do both tires at the same time you’ll never know what change is accounting for which handling characteristics you’re getting.

Great observations and advice here.

I'm about 175 lbs and ride 2.6" tires that measure a bit over 2.6". I can get away with a little under 20 psi on the front and a little over on the rear on most trails. Tire-killer trails require low 20s on the front and mid 20s on the rear. The rear tire can laterally collapse if I pump it into a berm, but it's otherwise a good set-up for me.

I occasionally ride with a guy who's about 140 lbs and on 2.5". I'm considerably faster, yet he flats twice as often with pressures in the low 30s.

Some people are very averse to lateral movement of the tire. Personally, I love the compliance and traction of a playing-with-fire low pressure and I'm willing to accept the occasional lateral collapse. And occasional pinch flat.
flag man-wolf
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 15:49 Quote
R-M-R wrote:
gotohe11carolina wrote:
Rider weight is not really your only consideration. Some people ride heavy and don’t allow their arms and legs to absorb impacts, others can ride light. As well, tire volume and shape will play a large roll in how you find your proper pressures.
The best advice I can give is experiment in a way to isolate your variables. Start with the rear and start high. Reduce your air pressure until you get the ride quality and traction that you want. When you’ve got the rear sorted, start with the front low and then gradually increase till you get the ability to corner predictably. If you try and do both tires at the same time you’ll never know what change is accounting for which handling characteristics you’re getting.

Great observations and advice here.

I'm about 175 lbs and ride 2.6" tires that measure a bit over 2.6". I can get away with a little under 20 psi on the front and a little over on the rear on most trails. Tire-killer trails require low 20s on the front and mid 20s on the rear. The rear tire can laterally collapse if I pump it into a berm, but it's otherwise a good set-up for me.

I occasionally ride with a guy who's about 140 lbs and on 2.5". I'm considerably faster, yet he flats twice as often with pressures in the low 30s.

Some people are very averse to lateral movement of the tire. Personally, I love the compliance and traction of a playing-with-fire low pressure and I'm willing to accept the occasional lateral collapse. And occasional pinch flat.
That’s some really great insight, thanks! I’m still trying to dial my whole setup in. Today I realized I’ve also been riding with too much pressure in my shock, so still plenty to try and learn.
flag R-M-R
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 16:51 Quote
man-wolf wrote:
That’s some really great insight, thanks! I’m still trying to dial my whole setup in. Today I realized I’ve also been riding with too much pressure in my shock, so still plenty to try and learn.

Happy to help!

There are a lot of parameters to dial in and most people are well off the mark on at least a couple. One of my ride buds bought his first shiny new bike in ages and spent the first year with the tires inflated like road tires and the fork and shock so firm they barely moved ... and with the lockouts switched on, just for good measure Facepalm
flag man-wolf
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 19:17 Quote
R-M-R wrote:
man-wolf wrote:
That’s some really great insight, thanks! I’m still trying to dial my whole setup in. Today I realized I’ve also been riding with too much pressure in my shock, so still plenty to try and learn.

Happy to help!

There are a lot of parameters to dial in and most people are well off the mark on at least a couple. One of my ride buds bought his first shiny new bike in ages and spent the first year with the tires inflated like road tires and the fork and shock so firm they barely moved ... and with the lockouts switched on, just for good measure Facepalm
Haha that sounds brutal! Thankfully I’ve been riding seriously a while in various other disciplines, so it’s helping me here. But still so much to learn.
flag rahrider
O+
Posted: Apr 11, 2020 at 21:08 Quote
Can't say enough good things about my cushcore. I run 17f and 19r on 2.4,s on my warden. I rode for a decade on a rigid bike so I tend to go easy on rims despite my 220lbs. I mainly ride steep with lots of gnar so the softer pressures give me amazing traction on the gnar. If I was riding flow trails I'd probably up to around 25-30.
flag Samuelr1
Posted: Apr 12, 2020 at 0:22 Quote
NorCalNomad wrote:
Samuelr1 wrote:
If you are referring to me. That is tubeless.

What do you weight? Those sorts of numbers I can get away with in my bike that still has tubes.

165 ish naked. I have tried lower pressures but don’t like it.
flag HaggeredShins
Posted: Apr 21, 2020 at 19:17 Quote
Immediately thought of this thread today. Quick lap down my backyard trails this evening to test some new digging... didn't even get that far.

One consequence of too low pressure (guessing 25, didn't fill before riding) + lightweight casing + small 7ft drop into a berm = goodnight sweet prince. Rim is fine, burped down to 12 psi, tire is trashed.

Death of a Casing

by HaggeredShins
Views: 197    Faves: 0    Comments: 0

Be careful of those low pressures!
flag jamesashton
Posted: Apr 21, 2020 at 19:38 Quote
whats up with that tire? several of mine amongst my fleet do that, never knew that it was an issue?
flag HaggeredShins
Posted: Apr 21, 2020 at 19:56 Quote
On new tires its often a molding defect and can just take time to massage out through riding--sometimes they never resolve fully

The above tire was actually pretty new and its on a crash dummy wheelset for trail testing. I definitely caused this by running too low pressure and rolling the tire super hard. I've never even seen a casing crap out like this one without ripping at the bead, thought it was kind of neat to be honest
flag man-wolf
Posted: Apr 21, 2020 at 20:06 Quote
HaggeredShins wrote:
On new tires its often a molding defect and can just take time to massage out through riding--sometimes they never resolve fully

The above tire was actually pretty new and its on a crash dummy wheelset for trail testing. I definitely caused this by running too low pressure and rolling the tire super hard. I've never even seen a casing crap out like this one without ripping at the bead, thought it was kind of neat to be honest
I’ve had something similar happen on a car tire. Hit a pothole pretty hard and it bulged the sidewall.
flag TheSlayer99
FL
Posted: Apr 22, 2020 at 6:50 Quote
rahrider wrote:
Can't say enough good things about my cushcore. I run 17f and 19r on 2.4,s on my warden. I rode for a decade on a rigid bike so I tend to go easy on rims despite my 220lbs. I mainly ride steep with lots of gnar so the softer pressures give me amazing traction on the gnar. If I was riding flow trails I'd probably up to around 25-30.
How? I’m only 180 and with Cush core and dh tires I have to run 25 and 27 psi to not smash rims on my enduro bike when I ride real tech.
flag 700-pirate
Posted: Apr 22, 2020 at 7:41 Quote
Dry steep I run 22F/25R with inserts. Im 210lbs on the bike. Seems to have worked well since 2018.

 


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