Tyre Pressures

[Hawkeye]

Pulled into the garage today, filled up and then went to check the tyres.
It was at this point I said 'Shite, I don't know what the pressures should be.'
Can anyone help? Can't find a manual anywhere and I want to make sure they are at the correct pressure.

[Drum]

Sometimes you can find a small silver sticker on your swing arm that tells you the recommended pressure (may need to convert to psi).

But you are about to get heaps of suggestions of suitable pressures depending on tyre size, engine size, stomach size and riding style!

Try 32 psi and if it dosent feel right, take it up or down till you find a pressure that feels right. It's gonna lose a couple of PSI per heat cycle anyway.

[Shadows]

Yeah I pretty much agree with Drum. I would have said 35ish.

[loosebruce]

Last time i checked "nearly" every tyre had it on the sidewall, have you checked there?

[bugjuice]

that's a p/t, right bruce..??

i'd say somewhere around early 30s for your bike..

[Hawkeye]

Last time i checked "nearly" every tyre had it on the sidewall, have you checked there?

I remember reading somewhere that the pressure on the wall of the tyre is the maximum rather than the riding pressure. I'll check it out. It may actually give both....

[bugjuice]

it's the safe max operating pressure. After that, you might be unstable, and a bit more, you could hear a pop..

it won't have the 'ideal' pressure, cos different bikes and different circumstances require different pressures

[loosebruce]

I remember reading somewhere that the pressure on the wall of the tyre is the maximum rather than the riding pressure. I'll check it out. It may actually give both....

Should be the maximum cold psi, once it heats up gets a little more psi in it, it's fine to run it at that psi, not sure what you mean rather than the riding pressure, but if you're worried about it, jst run 3 psi less than what the max says, it may say minimum as well.
If you dont like the way the bike feels lessen it a little by little until you get a good feeling from the bike to your liking, and always set your pressures before riding so your're always setting cold psi.

[Grahameeboy]

Should be the maximum cold psi, once it heats up gets a little more psi in it, it's fine to run it at that psi, not sure what you mean rather than the riding pressure, but if you're worried about it, jst run 3 psi less than what the max says, it may say minimum as well.
If you dont like the way the bike feels lessen it a little by little until you get a good feeling from the bike to your liking, and always set your pressures before riding so your're always setting cold psi.

On my bike LB I run F-36 and R - 42 cause I was told that the Powers worked better at high pressure but it feels a little on edge on quick bends and sometimes shakes at the back a bit when going into a bend....

I have had pre-load back and front increased by Cycletrreads and it was a lot better and now the Powers are run in I am not so sure.

Could just be that I am going faster...yes me....as tyres are better.

Any ideas....lower pressures??

[Slingshot]

In the Feb 06 edition of Two Wheels, the advise they give on tyre pressure is:

"The rule of thumb is to have a pressure increase from cold to optimum running temperature of between 3 to 6psi (a little less for the front, a little more for the rear). Anything less may indicate a cold pressure that is too high and anything more may mean an initial cold pressure that is too low"

This is the first time I've heard of this method of setting pressures, I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts.

[Bonez]

Should be the maximum cold psi.

Bullshit............but it's good way to wear out tires prematurely. The m/c manufacturers usaully have recommended tire pressures front and rear. It's best to start with them then add/lower pressure to suit your riding/load/etc.

[trumpy]

On my bike LB I run F-36 and R - 42 cause I was told that the Powers worked better at high pressure but it feels a little on edge on quick bends and sometimes shakes at the back a bit when going into a bend....

I run 36/42 on my speed four as those were the pressures I was advised by Kerry at Motohaus. Also found the same advice on two different Triumph chat sites. Got lots of advice to run lower pressures so did so for a KB ride. 400ks later both tyres had squared off. Expensive lesson. Have gone back to original pressures and the tyres have "cleaned up" somewhat (tho not totally) and are much improved so will stick with these pressures.
I will be swapping to Pilot Powers in the next week or two so will see what happens then.

[Back Fire]

On the gixxer 6 with BT-014s I run 32 front 31 rear... Supposed to be 36 front 36 rear... I'm a light bugger so I run them slightly lower on PSI... The battleaxes also tend to slide alot at decent lean when I run them at 34+ front and rear...