What tyre pressure should I run?

dj6

Cannot see any reccomendations on my tyres unlike my mtb tyres that have an operating range on them. Any suggestions please, they are Michelin Speedium2 if that helps and I'm 14st.

ride_whenever

hmmm, they should have something on, what width?

If around 23mm then you'll be looking at about 100psi for your weight for a little softness, 110 for max speed.

skyd0g

Pressures as above, or thereabouts.
You may find you now need a trackpump, if you don't have one already.

oscarbudgie

120 psi on the highly scientific basis my tyres have 100 psi min and 140 psi max written on the walls. (actually I give them a couple of pumps over 120 to compensate for losing some air when taking the pump off)

bikerZA

I always ride on 120 psi (road bike), pushing that up to 130psi for races.

frenchfighter

It should say max pressure on the actually tyre itself. Pump it to the max. Buy a good quality track pump - best value item out there by miles.

Nuggs

frenchfighter wrote:

It should say max pressure on the actually tyre itself.

Great if you want a completely uncompromising ride and have unerring faith in the strength of your rims.

The difference in rolling resistance between a firm and a rock hard tyre are negligible.

For that reason I'd go:
110 psi in the dry
90 psi in wet conditions (better contact patch)

freehub

I run mine at around 115PSI, I find running them at 90-100 I am slightly slower.

Jayng

personally, I don't keep track of the PSI on my tyres. But I don't cycle competitvely. Do I really have to? And where can I get an indicator / table to know how much i should fill the tyres

freehub

The tyres say what the max is on the side, but at a guess on average people use around 90-110PSI

It's not good if you never check tyre pressure, especially on thin road tyres it'd be abit risky cycling with really low pressure.

maxandpaddy

Being new to road biking, is the only way to check your tyre pressures is with a pump with a gauge or is there a tyre pressure gauge on the market similar to a car tyre pressure gauge. that just place on the valve (presta).

tatanab

Plenty of pressure guages at St John Street Cycles - or buy a Schwalbe inner tube which comes with a simple stick type guage.

ride_whenever

oscarbudgie wrote:

120 psi on the highly scientific basis my tyres have 100 psi min and 140 psi max written on the walls. (actually I give them a couple of pumps over 120 to compensate for losing some air when taking the pump off)

If you've got a decent pump then you wont lose any air when you take the pump off because the valve will seal ridiculously quickly....

andrewjoseph

What is it with people who pump up tyres to the max regardless of their body weight?

I'm 77kg, I pump my 23c road tyres to 90 front and 100 back. This is a period of after trial and error to find the best pressure for my riding style and expectations of comfort and the tyre that is on the bike.

my wife is lighter than me so has less air in her 23c tyres, 80 front and 90 back.

the same with my mtb, I run tyres at a pressure that give me comfort and control, 25 front 30 rear.

experiment with tyre pressures find out what suits you.

ride_whenever

andrew joseph, from the sounds of things you're a bit more mtb based, no roadie would be serious unless s/he put in the maximum amount of pressure into her/his tyres because obviously a slightly softer tyre is a huge waste of energy... :roll:

andrewjoseph

ride_whenever wrote:

andrew joseph, from the sounds of things you're a bit more mtb based, no roadie would be serious unless s/he put in the maximum amount of pressure into her/his tyres because obviously a slightly softer tyre is a huge waste of energy... :roll:

more than a bit mtb biased,

I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic about the proper roadie and max pressure bit, or rolling your eyes because I'm not a proper roadie. I don't define myself as being a roadie or a mtb'er.

my understanding is that max pressure does not always relate to best performance.

freehub

andrewjoseph wrote:

What is it with people who pump up tyres to the max regardless of their body weight?

I'm 77kg, I pump my 23c road tyres to 90 front and 100 back. This is a period of after trial and error to find the best pressure for my riding style and expectations of comfort and the tyre that is on the bike.

my wife is lighter than me so has less air in her 23c tyres, 80 front and 90 back.

the same with my mtb, I run tyres at a pressure that give me comfort and control, 25 front 30 rear.

experiment with tyre pressures find out what suits you.

I guess it's just personal perference, I weigh about 79kg and find 115 is fine for me, besides having it harder helps me go faster.

Flasheart

115 psi front and back here

Bhima

Do it so you can't deform the shape of the tyre between your fingers but not too much that the tyre doesn't change shape a bit when you sit on the bike. If the tyre stays solid when you're on it, you'll be bouncing all over the place and actually go slower for a given power output.

I've got loads of tyres. These are my pressures.

17mm tubs - 160psi
18mm tubs - 150psi
20mm Clinchers - 130psi
22mm Clinchers - 120psi

freehub

Yet 120PSI is hard enough that you could possibly be bouncing all over the place and you use that?

Bhima

Nah, those 22mm tyres are super soft so need more than normal pressure.

ride_whenever

andrewjoseph, let me add some more sarcasm to make things perfectly clear:

no roadie would be serious unless s/he put so much air into her/his tyres that it was one pump away from exploding because obviously a slightly softer tyre is a huge waste of energy... :roll: :roll: :roll:

pompeypoppy

Personally find about 110-120 PSI rear, 85-90 front is my optimap combo on 23mm's.

Any less and the bike feels a bit sluggish, any higher and I feel all the minor road irregularities.

Best idea is get a good track pump with a psi gauge and test it out for yourself. You'll have it sussed after a few rides.

Old Tuggo

On folding Mtchelin tyre packaging it gives a graph of recommended tyre pressures for the weight of the rider.

carrock

totally depends on weight

I'm 16 stone and run 120 f, 130r 23 section

my wife's tyres are 90/100 as she's 10 stone

.

14 stone I'd say warrants 110/120

knedlicky

I don’t think individual weight makes that much difference to how hard a tyre should be pumped when talking of efficiency, as opposed to comfort.

Tyres need a certain minimum pressure in order not to roll too flat and so not to be constantly altered in form (albeit minutely) by the changing road surface. If the tyres have too little pressure, their constant alteration in section means energy is lost as they deform/reform, so more effort is required to propel them forward.
On the other hand, if pumped too hard, tyres don’t adjust themselves elastically to the constantly varying surface, meaning they are effectively subject to constant (albeit low intensity) impacts. Tyres subject to constant ‘bangs’ lose energy, so more effort is also required to propel them forward.
Either, although more particularly too low a pressure, can result in about 1 km per hour difference.

For a 23 mm tubular tyre and most makes, the best compromise between too high/too low is usually considered to be 7.5 bar (105-110 psi).

teagar

I know of bike mechanics in Holland who always joke that if someone's running over 100psi (they work in BAR but nevermind), they must be english.

90 psi is fine.

northernneil

oh those hilarious dutch !

will3

teagar wrote:

I know of bike mechanics in Holland who always joke that if someone's running over 100psi (they work in BAR but nevermind), they must be english.

90 psi is fine.

Yeah but they don't have the rough roads that we do :roll:

agnello

I run 6.5 bar ~ 92psi now

Having had high pressure blow outs in the Alps I no longer go 8-9 bar.

You notice no difference in comfort or speed, I'm >80KG I don't feel any detriment in road comfort either.

talking 23mm tyres by the way...

frenchfighter

Nuggs wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

It should say max pressure on the actually tyre itself.

Great if you want a completely uncompromising ride and have unerring faith in the strength of your rims.

The difference in rolling resistance between a firm and a rock hard tyre are negligible.

For that reason I'd go:
110 psi in the dry
90 psi in wet conditions (better contact patch)

Well that is fine - personal preference. I like mine rock hard - I don't give two hoots about rolling resistance. Always run mine on max pressure (125 psi) and had no issues at all.

I think your rims are probably likely to suffer more if you are carrying big time weight (I weigh 10.5 stone).