currently about 70% of all riding i do is on highway and i was wondering what a good tire pressure would be to help maximize the life of my tires since i'm mostly going in a straight line, also i'm not an aggressive rider by any means yet

should i simply keep it at 36/42?

i've read a lot of tire pressure threads in many places and a lot of individuals are saying to go with pressures of 3x/3x for normal riding but tires are kind of expensive to me if i were to go through them every 3-5k miles. mainly trying to get good life

what pressures do you many of you guys run with and what type of riding do you do? typical mileage and type of tires before you replace?

 

tires are tires, cycle, car, whatever, under inflated and they perform badly and wear out on the sides, over inflated and they perform badly and the center wears out faster.

just do the recommended pressure.

 

What brand and model tire? Makes a difference. Weight?

 

those all contribute to tire life yes but tire pressure will still have the same effect. michelin tires last the longest, weight would have to do with density vs. extra rubber.

 

what is that based on?

 

And I would take issue with the idea that wear related to inflation is exactly the same on bikes as cars. The nature of the contact patch on a bike is very different than a car.

You may not realize that racers actually run fairly low tire pressures (contradicting your theory about it reducing performance) in the ballpark of 20 psi I think?

I would think you might get a minimal increase in tire life from running higher psi, but I don't think it would be noticeable and I would personally rather just run at the recomended psi.

Riding habits will have much, much more effect on tire life. (hard braking, hard acceleration, aggressive riding)

 

yeah but they get how many free sets per day?

Best answer I'd give is use the recommended pressure until you know your bike well enough to answer this question yourself. People will give a variety of answers but they're all unique to them based on their riding style, tire brand and bike setup.

But this is you, your bike and your riding style. You really need to answer this for yourself. The other thing is tires are like oil & gas: required. Don't short yourself trying to save a couple bucks. Its usually never worth the effort and costs more in the end.

 

Says the dude who loves his shinkos!! hahahahaha

 

Wasn't trying to save money on the tires. They fit the bill for what I intended them for. Don't see the point of paying extra just to say I paid extra

That said, I wouldn't try playing with the tire pressure just for the sake of adding an extra couple k's miles on my tires. If I drop the tire pressure it'd be because I like the way the bike rides like that. Right now my front tire is at 31 PSI and I don't like the way it rides like that (PO played with the tires and suspension a bit). So after my drunken behavior today & tonight (BIRTHDAY!), I'll bring everything back to stock and go from there

 

I lol'd.