what tire pressure do you ride at?
 

checked my tire pressure today and was running very low....which explains the sluggish turn ins...this was a good reminder to check tire pressure much more regularly


now set it up at 32 front and 34 rear based on advice from my mechanic... just curious what everyone else keeps their tire pressure at ?

The manual says something like 36 front/ 41 rear if I remember correctly but I usually try to keep at as close to 40/40 as I can.

Just my preference though.

I ride with 36 PSI front and 42 PSI rear as the manual suggests. I check before every ride. Always.

Here is the issue the 36/42 is the maximum allowable psi rating which provides good gas mileage and optimal tire life but according to my mechanic (and other sources) who also race this set up will minimize tire contact area and does not optimize handling.

track racers will run 30/30 or 30/32 or even lower .....so he recommended a compromise of 32/34 for the street. Other sources have confirmed this approach re other forum sites I have checked...I will try this out and see how it feels, first impression is that handling is much better.... key lesson for me is check tire pressure regularly regardless

Your spot on right there. Usually when im just cruising, im about at max. When i want to take a spirited ride, i drop my pressure down. This way i can have longer tire life, and sticky tires when i need them.

It would be helpful when discussing tire pressures to specifiy hot or cold when speaking of street/track applications. OP: Most street pressures are set when the tire is cold. When dealing with track pressures, they're usually set hot or initially set low an established amount in anticipation of heating up. Something else to consider is total weight, but that's a different discussion.

We run lower cold pressure at the track partly for more tire flex and partly because tires get much hotter on a track and so will gain more pressure on their own. I run 36/40 f/r on the street at all times. Then again I run pilot pures which are flexible and need a little more pressure in em then most.

I keep mine right at stock +-1psi. However I haven't "experimented" so to say.

Depends on the tire; (DOT/supersport/sport/touring), flexibility, manufacturer recommendation, compound, temperature, distance to travel, how aggressive I intend to ride and of course the ability of the individual rider to actually get some heat in those tires is a factor as well.

I leave messing with cold/hot temps for the track. I measure my PSI on the street, cold...and of course if I have no choice I'll add a few PSI for heat based on what I know from experience. Also consider that your PSI will change with ambient temps as well.

Generally speaking, for the street, I keep my pressures somewhere in that 32-35 PSI range for local/aggressive riding.
I'll drop to 30/30 when I feel extra frisky and go from there.
I'll bump up to 36/42 or so for long, straight trips but hardly ever go over 35/40.

But what's most important is that I keep a cheap digital gauge with me at all times. Where I live, pretty much the longer the commute, the less turns are involved. So, for long trips, there's nothing wrong with running a high psi and then bumping it down when you get to your destination - it takes less than a minute.

Now if I just rode the bike locally every once in a while or on the weekends I would probably run like 32/32 all the time. Then again most people riding on the street would probably never notice the difference and should probably run a higher psi just to keep the tire from squaring too much.

But yeah start getting into the 20's and teens and you're going to experience some very funky turn-in not to mention overheating and fast tire degradation.

^^^ I agree with this Madman !!!

Your tire manufacturer will dictate the correct psi. It is on the tire sidewall.
My Avon Vipers require 42 front 42 back.

i run 40 front and 40 back.

40+ front????? jeeesus! most owners manuals state 36/42!

remember just cause a tire says it's rated for a certain psi doesn't necessarily mean you should run that all the time. let the conditions dictate! the psi on the sidewall is MAX PSI!!

ps I forgot to also mention weight (bike+rider=load) to dictate tire pressure. generally less weight = less psi necessary

now if you don't ride hard at all and just want your tire to last a longgg time...go for that max psi but 40 psi in the front just sounds insane to me. if ever in doubt, contact a sales rep for a tire or the tire co itself and ask them...they will usually give you baseline street/track psi to run with the tire based upon its stiffness. almost everyone will tell you that 34-36 front with 38-42 rear is what you wanna run to conserve the tire.

First time I ran a trackday I had 4 months riding experience. Ran 36 front/42 rear on a set of 120/160 road attacks on a kawi 750. The grip was there during smooth, controlled leaning but I was sliding everywhere on the brakes and on the gas out of the corner. Guys behind me said it was freakin them out. Sure enough about 4 sessions in the front tire just gave out under hard braking and I just went down. hard. Tire was probably cold.

One time I ran a dot race attack front with a pilot road 2 rear... started out in the mid 30s and I could absolutely feel the difference as i dropped down. the problem with going too low with street tires is that because of their quick warm-up, they can quickly overheat..so on a track, you need to monitor hot temps verrry closely with street tires and be conscious of the fact they can overheat. there have been many horror stories of certain street tires having no feeling or just letting go all of a sudden and usually it's due to overheating/low pressure. conversely the same thing will happen on a cold tire/running too much psi.

on the street you're never really gonna get some heat in there, so i say go ahead and run a lower psi so you can get as much heat as you can in that tire for when you need it. i have heard some people run lower pressures on the street than even on the track on street tires. these are usually very fast guys of course.

last note...i seriously cannot even begin to tell you how much tires and tire pressures matter!!! screw oil changes and cleaning your bike, if you wanna be anal about something let it be pressures!

here are avons general recommendations
Avon Motorcycle Tyres North America » Tire Pressure Guidelines
Front/Rear ----------solo ----- 2/light --- 2/heavy

110/70-120/90 ---- 34-36 --- 36-38 --- 36-38
140/70-200/50 ---- 38-40 --- 38-42 --- 40-42
How odd, that kinda sounds right about in line with what I've been saying??? Dear jesus even 2up heavy they don't recommend over 38 on the front, how could this beeeeeee?

here you can see someone says avon recommended 30/28 for the track on vipers
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/Ne...0trackdayblog/

so, depending on conditions, here are some general guidelines for street tires;
30/30 hard riding
32/34 light weight/aggressive
34/38 general
35/40+ for added weight and long trips.

If you are checking your original tires that came on the bike, the manual would be a great place to go for information.

Im pretty sure the ORIGINAL question was for a daily rider.
He did not mention track conditions at all.

Its super easy to check the specs.
This is my rear Avon Viper Tire.

Attachment 44505

This is my FRONT tire.

Attachment 44506

Well, I use front: 26-36 psi and rear: 21-38 psi.

Why such a range? Because it depends on so many factors, it is impossible to tell someone what to run without garnering some information. Tire brand, tire model, tire style, usage (street or track), ambient conditions, load, and surface all come into play.

You can't use "general" recommendations for a street tire without knowing at least the tire. We used to always tell people 30/30 for a trackday, but with new tire technologies, that is actually too low for some tires - the sidewalls will collapse, but may actually be too HIGH for some brands. As a trackday instructor, students come to me frequently with the psi question. My first response is "What tire?". If it's certain Michelin's or a Bridgestone BT003, I can tell 'em because I use 'em. Otherwise, I send them to someone who can. Too many variables.

Some tire pressures should be checked cold and hot, others cold only, others hot only.

Use your manual and the tire manufacturer's recommendations (and remember, what it says on the sidewall is the psi for MAX load).

^ winner...

if you want to run 42/42 by all means... what you see there is the max psi and load
the tire is rated for, not what's recommended! both my dunlop 211 gp-a (front and rear) and my sport touring rubber say 42 on the sidewall.

I apologize for putting up the generic guidelines although I do believe they will work alright for most people on a sportbike with sporty tires. I have to say it's probably better than people running around thinking they should run 42/42 because the tire says so or just neglecting their air pressures all together and wondering why their bike handles like **** when the tire has 15 psi in it.
i also put that up because some people would rather not get into all that or just would rather keep it simple. People who really want to know are gonna learn at the track because that's the only way to really push the tire anyway and it's the only place where you're really starting to get into the supension/tire/brake mindset.... i think for street riders it's probably important that they just check their pressures and as long as they stay between 30 and 40, everything will probably be just fine.

the best idea is to ask the tire manufacturer what they recommend and go from there or ask experienced people such as yourself what would be a good place to start based upon whatever given factors. still i see no reason to run 40+ PSI especially on the front unless you're riding two up with gear on a heavy bike or maybe if you're really fat/it's like 130 degrees outside.

If I did the experimenting with different pressures constantly it would be like riding a different bike every day.
Nothing like wondering whats gonna happen in heavy traffic or ANY traffic for that matter.
If you keep it simple and use the same pressure each ride you KNOW what the bike it going to do. There will be no surprises.
Thats my :icon_blah:

I hate your type of mentality. "Oh it's been fine up until now so why change it?" It's not fine, you just don't know any better. It's not going to feel like a totally different bike (sigh). 42 PSI if anything is just making your ride extra bumpy and stiff and your tire will never get up to temperature. PS, your 42 PSI will go up and down as the weather heats up and cools down. Did you notice the drastic changes in handling you're talking about?

The only time you're ever gonna really feel the difference between changes in pressure are when you're actually pushing the tire hard. Still, getting on the brakes hard in an emergency situation on an over inflated, cold tire doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me. 42 PSI in the rear is no big deal, most of the time on the street, unless you're coming hard out of corners, it's not gonna be a big deal. But the front tire is what gets loaded every time you have to brake hard and swerve or anything like that, it would behoove you to reconsider.

I dare you to give Avon a call or email and ask them what they recommend. Did you really think up until now that what the manufacturer puts on the side of the tire is what is recommended?? You see how it shows the max weight allowable next to that as well? Don't you think you should compensate with less pressure for less weight? How long you been riding man?

I weigh 205lbs. What do you want me to change the tire pressure to and I'll do it.
I would love this plush comfy ride you speak of.
Been riding 2 years and love this bike!!!!

its not about a plush or comfy ride.....the message is that having tire set at their maximum pressure is not ideal for grip and control...two factors I rate very highly, its quite a simple concept to grasp....tires set to Max pressure will have minimum contact patch with the asphalt and not warm up.... all contributing for less than ideal handling.

its like blowing up balloons to just before they pop...they have little give in them.

Sorry, sorry. I get a little worked up sometimes because I see all types of ridiculous **** when I check other peoples' air pressure.

I'm just saying that around 35/38 would probably be a good place to start and adjust for ambient/added weight (you don't have to do it all the time but if it's a big change then yes, you should). Lots of people run 36/42 (lots of owners manuals state this) which in general is going to give you the most life but from personal experience it's a bit overkill. I think it's recommended so your air pressure is correct for the most extreme scenario (really hot out/heavy bike/loaded up/2 heavy people).

As was stated before, it still depends on a lot of things especially your tire...as you can see Avon also carries a really stiff sport touring tire that requires more pressure. Most sport touring, sport and even hypersport tires require about the same PSI for the STREET.

So my not even close to professional opinion is 30-38 depending on temperature, load, and grip vs longevity (preference).

Or we could all stop making guesses with no type of formal education on the matter and just put the tires to the pressures listed on the dam bike from the factory. This isen't rocket science.

on my f4i on the track with pilot power 2ct im 28 front and 30 back... and on the streed with my zx10r with pirelli rosso corsa im 30 front and 34 back...

I tend to run 36/42 just because that's what I've seen mentioned for tire longevity.

I retract my op to this thread. For some weird reason after reading this thread I noticed that 2 or 3 times today my rear tire slid a little while I was doing "quicker" downshifts before going into turns, and I felt like I could feel every single bump in the road.

Idk what pressure to, but I will be airing down my tires from what the manual says from now on for a bit better ride (and widen my center wear bar since I've just been dding the bike lately).

Thanks for the feedback Nickell, keep us posted on what you settle at and what the difference you have experienced....... there is no one correct answer but I think this thread has highlighted the importance of knowing your tire pressure & checking it often it has a huge impact on handling, mileage and tire longevity..

Im running 32/32 today. I only went a few miles on side road surfaces. Front end still feels hard.

if your front end feels hard adjust your suspension, not your tires. you don't want underinflated tires. they're dangerous.

i run 36/42 as the factory recomends, cuz they've done more testing then i'll ever do.

I run 36/42 as well, if it's a pound low front or rear I wont usually bother, that difference will be made once the tire warms up I figure. They seem to hold the road and heat up just fine at factory recommended pressures. I don't have a problem dragging knee like that with my Dunlop Q2's:icon_bubbles: My dad ruined an expensive Metzler rear tire by having too low of pressure, so ever since then I've been nervous to let the rear get below 40 and the front below 35.

Personally dont think theres no right or wrong awnser, key thing is do not over inflate or under inflate the tyres according to what is stamped on the side wall, play with it within the recomended preasures to work out what works best for your own weight and road conditions.

I suppose we should all continue to run the factory tires then just to be safe. On that note, we should all probably remove any modifications we have done to our bikes since we are not Honda Engineers.

Dear god what have I done??? Who knew you weren't supposed to adjust based on conditions?????