Tyre pressure - higher on the rear or higher on the front?

[Ryan432]

I went from 32/32 (what was in the tyres when a bought the bike) to 36/38 and I noticed the bike felt more grounded from the very start of the ride but almost the same after "warming up". I always roll on a harder rear tyre, I like me front wheel to feel firmly planted to the road (laterally that is, not so much vertically )

[mister.koz]

34F - 36R - why? because the guys at speedtech reakon that its a good amount and they race kawaz so, i ask, they tell, i listen.

Was running 30 - 32, although it didn't feel bad, there was a more than noticeable improvement on the ride when i put the pressures up. I am not overly light (105kg)

Tempted to follow these instructions, look like the ticket:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...03#post1503903

[skidMark]

So, just to be sure, are you saying that increased pressures will generally extend tyre life?

Duh...........

[skidMark]

34F - 36R - why? because the guys at speedtech reakon that its a good amount and they race kawaz so, i ask, they tell, i listen.

Was running 30 - 32, although it didn't feel bad, there was a more than noticeable improvement on the ride when i put the pressures up. I am not overly light (105kg)

Tempted to follow these instructions, look like the ticket:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...03#post1503903

For road i ran 32 front 36 rear in my zxr ...

for track i ran 29psi front 31 psi rear.

seems to be about right, but yes with your weight i would say more i'm a lightweight, between 60-65 kg's is what i range between.

[DUCATI*HARD]

32/32

[pritch]

Do you run higher pressure in the rear or the front tyre? Why?

Insufficient information. It depends to an extent on what you are doing.

For road use I run the recommended pressures which happen to be higher in the back (where most of my not inconsiderable weight is located?).

[kiwifruit]

I left the question open to interpretation on purpose, honest....

If it was a me specific question it would have gone like this:
Should i run higher pressures in the front or the rear in my super corsas on my 1000cc road / track bike considering; I ride fast(ish) i'm not worried about tyre life, all i want is grip.

[jrandom]

I left the question open to interpretation on purpose, honest....

If it was a me specific question it would have gone like this:
Should i run higher pressures in the front or the rear in my super corsas on my 1000cc road / track bike considering; I ride fast(ish) i'm not worried about tyre life, all i want is grip.

Interestingly, a quick googling session led me to this page on suspension setup, which recommends 32psi front, 30psi rear as a starting point for track riding.

Which, of course, makes intuitive sense vis-a-vis wanting to maximise the contact patch on the rear.

Also, I wonder whether the rear tyre typically heats up more than the front when riding at track pace? You'd kinda think it would, wouldn't you?

It'd be interesting to use, say, a cooking thermometer to test the surface temperature on a bike's tyres as it came off the track. I'd love to see whether there was a difference between front and rear.

[The Stranger:Me]

It'd be interesting to use, say, a cooking thermometer to test the surface temperature on a bike's tyres as it came off the track. I'd love to see whether there was a difference between front and rear.

Well, we didn't use a cooking thermometer, however in measuring Two Somker's tyres when he comes off of the track, the rear was always clearly a higher temp than the front.

[Ocean1]

It'd be interesting to use, say, a cooking thermometer to test the surface temperature on a bike's tyres as it came off the track. I'd love to see whether there was a difference between front and rear.

You can feel the difference with your hand dude. Interesting, also, to compare tyre temp's across a group, there can be quite a difference in spite of having just completed essentially the same "workout".

[jonbuoy]

I thought you dropped the air pressure on track days because your tires will be running hotter than on the road, air expands when its hot. Unless you got nitrogen filled tires.

[lankyman]

Do you run higher pressure in the rear or the front tyre?
Why?

Had a play around with different pressures over my favorite local twisties, found my NC30 a lot lest twitchy under hard accel exiting corners with a bit more pressure in the rear. Matter of personal preference i suppose. Trust your instincts.

[Brett]

I too run higher pressures in the rear than on the front. Normally at track days I run about 31 on the front and 33 or so on the rear. My theory too is that prominantly it is the front doing most of the work under heavy braking etc. Also when cornering it is the front that is handling two vector force changes whereas the rear is generally just along for the ride. Granted, the rear is handling a lot of power under full throttle...

Still, I am much happier with my rear wheel swinging aorund than with my front wheel slipping out.

[jrandom]

You can feel the difference with your hand dude.

Yeah; oddly enough, I've only ever bothered to feel one at a time, rather than compare them.

[pritch]

I haven't seen many references to checking tyre temperatures at the track. It isn't uncommon though to see advice re checking pressures when the tyres are hot.

If the warm pressure is more than 10% higher than the cold pressure the tyre is underinflated.

There are variations on this theme but that's representative...

Then there's this: http://www.feelthetrack.com/tire-wear.html