What About Tyre Pressures?

[aff-man]

89' zxr250a
commuting in all weather + weekend blats
60-61 kg (depending on before or after lunch ride)+ 5kg pack when commuting
pirelli mrt01(f) and dunlop gp80(r)
32(f) 35(f) and -2 for big rides

[Coldkiwi]

Y' know - what this thread needs is:
GSXR 600
fast commuting/weekend thrash/track
bike: 170kg, rider 65kg... rarely any luggage of note
Pirelli Diablo Corsas
Riding style: move around on the bike like there's ants in my pants!
Pressures: 31psi on front, 30 rear used this setup at pukekohe after playing around abit. Above this, the tyres squirmed a bit and below this they stuck better but started wearing too fast for my liking. With knee down riding, the rear forms nice orange peel wear. Behaves just fine for my commute as well!!

[Bandito]

After much searching I have found 35psi front & 39psi rear the go for my Bandit 1200 running pirelli dragon GTS. I carry a hand held digital tyre pressure gauge (highly recommended) and only alter the rear to 42psi for passenger work. But its safe to say every bike is different so pays to experiment changing only one tyre at a time.

[Big Dog]

89' Gsx1100f
Commuting in all weather + weekend blats
150-151 kg (depending on before or after lunch ride)+ 5kg pack when commuting
bridgstone(f) and (r)
38(f) 42(f)
Regular appearances by the pillion.
I ride at the reccommended pillion pressures as the single rider pressures are for a 75kg rider, and riding at the lower reccommended pressure has had a hand in a spit valve and causes my tyres to square quite quickly. With the extra two pounds the rear tyre is nice and round and still has about another 2000 kms on it and the front has plenty of tread in the middle and some tread on the sides after 20,000 kms. As a result the front stops quite nicely even in the wet but can get a little ugly on the tamlines.

[wkid_one]

What about Tyre Pressures? How do you guys workout what is best for you for:

1. Racing. Before and in between races. For different conditions (dry to wet, etc)
2. Road (Normal, Commuting, Pillion, Packs, etc)

With the VFR750 and the CBR1000FL I've been told that Front 36psi and Rear 42psi (cold) are fairly standard, but after getting the P-Diab's fitted at Leading Edge I have been told that this varys in relation to bike usage and road conditions. For Track they told me 32-34psi for the front and 35-38psi rear, and for Touring 38psi Front and 42psi (44psi with pillion) Rear for my CBR1000FL. I am experimenting with tyre pressures now to see what feels right for me, and am interested to what you feel for when setting the tyre pressures for your bikes.

Next to impossible to give a standard answer to this. Soooo many variables. In an ideal world you should know what you HOT tyres pressures should be, not cold. As from cold - so many things affect the tyres and how hot they get - therefore the effective working pressure of the tyre - road surface, road temp, ambient temp, bike weight, bike weight bias, riding style, camber of road, speed of riding, tyre compound, tyre shape, rim size etc etc etc

Track riders and racers spend fortunes with studying the hot temps of the tyres - not the cold as the cold means feck all to them.

I ran 36 front and 38 rear - but then I ran Rennsports which need to keep heat in them.

You want to look for things like cold tearing on the tyre - which would tend to suggest the tyre isn't get hot enough and things like this. At the end of the day - you will know through your backside if you tyres are at the wrong pressures.

Best thing to do is ride on the manu reco tyre and pressures....if you are unsure that it. Other than that - a seat of the pants gauge is next best.

There is another thread floating around about this also.

Try this thread http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...4921#post14921

Rule of Thumb - less pressure equals hotter tyre, more pressure equals colder tyre.

[wkid_one]

Y' know - what this thread needs is:
GSXR 600
fast commuting/weekend thrash/track
bike: 170kg, rider 65kg... rarely any luggage of note
Pirelli Diablo Corsas
Riding style: move around on the bike like there's ants in my pants!
Pressures: 31psi on front, 30 rear used this setup at pukekohe after playing around abit. Above this, the tyres squirmed a bit and below this they stuck better but started wearing too fast for my liking. With knee down riding, the rear forms nice orange peel wear. Behaves just fine for my commute as well!!

Yes Rich - I remember having to lend you my pressure gauge and footpump to sort all that fiddling around out!

[Deano]

Shit, I am going to have to have a rethink here. I was running 35f (BT010), and 32r (Diablo) in summer. (32f and 29r on Manfeild in summer)

With the cooler weather the front was squaring off leaving ridges about 10mm from the edges. I was told to try more pressure and now have 38f and 35r, which has helped to shave those ridges off the front. The rear skipped a bit more on the road corrugations mid corner but had relatively good feel to it.

From what Ive read, everyone has more psi in the rear.

Feck, I might be able to get a few tenths of a second here, eh Jimbo ?

[Grumpy]

I remember reading an article sometime ago about the differences between the bike manufacturers recommended tyre pressures and the tyre manufacturers recommendations.
The conclusion was that the tyre fellas set their pressures to give optimum performance and durabilaty where as the bike fellas set theirs to make up for what their suspension may be lacking.
I suppose anywhere in between those two points would suffice.
I have to admit that I tend to base my settings on the life of the tyre more than anything. It doesn't take long to work out what is a good comprimise between good wear and good performance.
I set my pressures on the 1400 at 40-42psi on the rear and 38psi on the front. This seems to work pretty good.

[FROSTY:Me]

ok so Im out of touch here - i used to stick to a universal 36psi rear and 32 psi front

[Holy Roller]

I run dunlop arrowmax on the the rear at 40 any thing under and the bike feels like the tyres are folding over in the corners. The front is a TT 100 at 38 feels just right for my riding style.

[jimbo600]

30 front, 32 rear.

So there

sounds about right for normal use. Trackday 29psi for both is good, and for long distance work 36psi.

This is from the tyre guru who imports the hoops from Germany and he know's his product.

End of the day I ride like crap so I can put anything from 25psi to 40psi and wouldn't notice the difference.

[yessum]

28 front, 32 rear ...as per the manual.
Don't feel like i've quite got the experience to second guess those figures
Generally check every time I ride, maybe twice a week at the moment.

[FROSTY:Me]

how much would you guys drop the tyre pressure for a track day?

[madandy]

Depends on the weather doesn't it?track temp and all that.

[Cajun]

Bike model = 04 gsxr600
Type of riding = commuting & weekend canes
Laden weight = 65ks and about 2kgs for bag, on back, wallet silly phone, keys, and bottle of V
Type of tyres = bridgestone 014 front and rear came with the bike
Riding style = boring just around town is basic, but weekends its starting to get the knee down
Tyre pressures = running at suzuki stardard 36 front and rear, when it goes on the track i will lower them a little bit,