Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Tire pressure?

What tire pressure are you running? I have a 13 America and the badge on the frame tells me to run 42 rear and 30 front. I just had a new front tire installed and the tech put 37 psi in. He told me I should always run 35-37 in the front. Who should I believe, the tech or the factory recommendations?

I would go by the tire pressure recommended by the tire manufacturer. Then play with it + or - 5 to see how it feels. That is me.

There are those on here wiser.

You never inflate a tire to what it says on the side wall, that is maximun inflation not operating pressure. Always go by the vehicle inflation sticker. You can adjust to comfort and to what gives you the best wear up to the max on the sidewall but the vehicle manufacturer recommedation is where you should start. I run about 35 psi front and back in my 04.

Hard to explain, but you will eventually find a sweet spot. GVW, shocks and fork, tire size and brand, temperature will change it a bit. You can split hairs on tire pressure, but like Ian said, 35 works for him, 38 works for me.
Get 30 and lower and the front wobbles, get 45 and they feels like hard rocks and make a tiny footprint with no grab.
Get you a good accurate USA gauge too.

I'm good with 78% nitrogen.

Told you them some smart people here

I think nitrogen is a waste of time and money, just a way to get more money out of you. It does carry less moisture and the pressure changes due to temperature are less but I have found not enough to make it worth it. That is just my opinion.

34 front 36 rear for me.I tried nitrogen for one reason.As my bike sits for months at a time, I found nitrogen doesn't SEEM lose as much pressure over the months sitting. Consequently my tires aren't as low when I return as with air. This trip I just used air and I will compare again when I get home.

Per Chy's recommendation I've been running 41front and 42 rear for a couple yrs now and all seems fine. i have Michilin pilot up front and marathon 880 in rear and they seem to be wearing very well

Talking about tires, I was watching a show call Accident Scene Investigations or something similar to that. This guy died in a low side slide when he slid across three lanes and in to a curb. The road was damp after a light rain shower when was going around a curve in the road just a few miles from his house, so he knew the road.
They concluded two things, he had Armor All or something similar (ie: the stuff that Cleans and protects vinyl, rubber, plastic, wood. Makes the rubber shinny) on the tires that went up on the treads, the water and "rubber polish" didn't work well together and he used a novelty lid.
So use that ****** sparingly or better yet not at all!

A "reputable" tire shop changed my tires once and later, after the slide and low side I found out they had put 50 PSI in the tires. Probably made a half inch contact with the pavement.

If you have spokes & tubes, I run 36 on the rear as a norm in South Florida, and factory specs on the front which is 31 psi . Check the front tire pressure periodically, it seems to fluctuate more than the rear. I run Commander II's and they are wearing well. I just replaced the rear at 15,000, and the matching 15,000 front tire is not even 40 % worn. Likely I'll see 25,000 to 30,000 on the front, and I am hard on tires.

I generally run low 30's front (130/70) & high 30's rear (OEM size)...

I fill mine with helium to make my bike lighter so I get better gas mileage.

faster too

I had a spare Argon bottle, so I had it filled with Nitrogen, $27, I have filled all my tires now for a couple of years. Now some Austr. Wanker Expert just shat on my whole program, whats a retired hippy to do? I have always been told/warned by Refrig engineers that Freon would leak where superheated steam would not in welded pipes, due to Molecule size, so the larger N2 molecules made sense to me at the time.

Same issue with synthetic vs. non-synthetic oils. The synthetic has smaller molecules so it will leak where regular oils will not.

Oh great now this has become another oil thread. I prefer to use EVOO as to keep her ticking a little smoother.

Not discussing oil but stating fact about molecule size not what is better, opinions vary I prefer to go by the tests and use what comes out on top. I use 2 different synthetics for air cooled vs. water cooled, wet clutch vs. dry clutch. They simply tested far above the rest so I use them, if something else tests better I will use those instead.