Bicycle Quarterly Tire Pressure

Narrow tires need more air pressure than wide ones.

Bicycle quarterly tire pressure. Higher psi pounds per square inch makes the tire harder. According to frank berto and jan heine of bicycle quarterly magazine two top bicycle science guys the most efficient bicycle tire pressure is one that gives you a 15 drop in tire height when you get on the bike. Tire pressures for 20 mm tires. Bike tests that take you on amazing adventures where we challenge the test bikes to the limits of their capabilities.

Tire pressures for 37 mm tires. Checking your tire pressure is the simplest and most important piece of regular maintenance you can perform. Road tires typically require 80 to 130 psi pounds per square inch. For standard trekking wheels the most frequent choice would be a tyre pressure between 3 and 4 bar.

This tire has too much air. A thin road tyre would have 6 8 bar of pressure much like a road bike have a look at our tyre pressure calculator for road bikes while for a fat bike tire a pressure of 0 5 bar will suffice. But as editor jan heine discusses here bicycle quarterly s real world testing indicates that when tyre pressures get too high there s no further reduction in rolling resistance. And hybrid tires 40 to 70 psi.

Mountain tires 25 to 35 psi. Secret gravel passes of the cascade range randonneurs in mid century france forgotten japanese mountain roads. Lower psi makes it feel softer. Heine believes that you lose the suspension effect of the tyres and that s enough to push the rolling resistance back up.

Pneumatic tires on any vehicle are supported by pressurized air in an airtight chamber. Tire inflation for 15 wheel drop in relation to wheel load and actual tire width 4example. Rider and bike weight. It was already known that when measured on a smooth drum rolling resistance didn t decline much beyond a certain pressure.

On smooth surfaces like the one used in the tests shown above moderately high tire pressure say 100 110 psi for a 25 mm tire actually rolls slower than either a lower pressure 80 psi or a higher pressure 130 psi. This tire has too little air it s squishy and hard to turn. On rough surfaces higher pressures roll significantly slower. The pressure that you choose for your bicycle tyres whether it is a road bike mountain bike or hybrid plays a huge part in comfort and safety.

Tire pressure for 15 wheel drop wheel load. The problem with berto s chart is that he measured actual tires but back then wide tires weren t supple so his narrow tires are more supple than his wide ones and his pressures for wide tires are too low for. In this guide we look at how to get the best tyre pressure for your riding style and conditions. Technical articles on the performance of wide tires frame stiffness and.

It appears to be linear for the slope of the curve see berto s tire pressure chart we are working on a new version of that for a bicycle quarterly feature on tire pressure. Features that bring you inspiring discoveries.