5/12/15 11:30 AM

Just a quick curiosity of this community/riders.

On average, have you, and if you have, lowered your pressures VS say 10 years ago for your road bike.

Conversely, are you running bigger tires [as a lot of us are].


I've adopted bigger rear smaller front, anyone else doing this.
23/25 or 25/27 winter with clean-ish roads.

5/12/15 12:18 PM

Bigger front smaller rear. Latex tubes, good bike, dry rides.

Front 25/90 psi, rear 23/100 psi.

Will try rear 25 eventually.

5/12/15 1:08 PM

Lower pressure: yes

Bigger tires: yes

differential sizes: no

running 25 at 80-90 F-R, vs. previous 23 at 95-105.

It's better.

5/12/15 2:56 PM

Lower pressure: yes (~95 psi -> ~80 psi)

Bigger tires: yes (25/25 -> 28/28)

Differential sizes: no

I find the bike more comfortable with these sizes/pressures.

5/12/15 3:17 PM

I should qualify the smaller front on the go fast bikes. [the ones I try to go fast on] I also use an ultra light front tube up front on the 23/25 combo. And sometime a lighter front tire. Example the Scott had a Pro 4 rear and Hutch paper front tire.
Still flat rear more too... Gotta use up the light tires hanging around too.

The Paramount and Disc Roubaix are 27-8mm tires. SS Strong is a 25 rear [bigger than the 28 on the Paramount] and what ever bike a take the front wheel off to ride it. ;) Usually one of the two that the front rim is the same as... Yada.

5/12/15 3:45 PM

Not so much over the last ten years, but between 25 years ago and ten years ago.

For racing I changed from using 23mm tyres at ~110psi to 25mm at ~90psi, and for touring I went from riding 32mm @70-75psi to 42mm @40-45psi.

Also, quite a number of wheel manufacturers now make racing wheels with wider rims than were available for racing years back. I bought such a pair recently - DT R23, using 23mm rims.

5/12/15 3:57 PM

- Go fast is 23mm F&R @110 psi. I'm still waiting for the Conti GP 4 Season 23mm's to wear out as I bought GP 4S's in 25's for this bike 2 years ago. Will run the 25's at 90-100
- Go fast commuter is 28mm F&R (Ruffy Tuffies), 90 psi
- Tourer commuter is 32mm F&R, 60 psi

I'm also a heavy rider so tend to run (and am OK with) higher PSI.

5/12/15 4:18 PM

On the road bike I just went from 23 to 25 or 26 and maybe 10-15 psi less. Now use 95. Different front and rear tires are way too complicated for my simple mind and sucky riding ability.

I also have additional bikes now (commuter and rando) that I ride on the road with bigger tires and lower pressures.

5/12/15 6:09 PM

That's a good point; I recently switched to wider rims as well, and with the 28mm tires, they help give a sense of solidity to the system. It feels like more rubber on the road and less bulge.

5/12/15 7:46 PM

I still use the same size of tires and similar pressure as always.

Granted, having never raced nor any need to "keep up", I never gone narrower than 25 nor above 100psi. I just never needed the "performance" that was associated with the narrow tires.

Being a light weigh rider, I'm far more sensitive to too high pressure, which forced me to go low in pressure.

Having always mtn biked, I had ready available fat tires for the other end of spectrum. I just kept on adding to the middle: cross bike and commute bike (converted fron mtb)

As a result, my road tires stay the same.

5/12/15 9:26 PM

10 yrs ago:
23's F&R, 120-130 psi F&R, Open Pros
Today:
25's F&R, 95 psi F, 110 psi R, wider Bontrager rims. Much less buzz while riding, but a good part of that could be due to the carbon frame

5/13/15 5:27 AM

10-15 yrs ago 23mm and around 105 front and rear.
These days 25mm and 90 (F) and 95 (R). Feels just as fast, is more comfortable and hangs on in the corners better.

5/13/15 5:37 AM

Ten years ago I was riding tubulars exclusively, though I was using reasonably low pressures (~80/90, F/R), so I guess I was ahead of my time, pressure-wise. ;-)

I'm now on 25mm clinchers at 72/82 F/R, which seems to be the sweet spot between too hard and mushy.

5/13/15 6:00 AM

What Brian said, but using 85/85

5/13/15 6:17 AM

90 front, 95 rear, 23mm both. Used to run 115 or so but found I like the softer ride better.

It all depends on your weight. I am 168lbs right now and find that about right for me. My wife's bike I run at 75/85 same size tires but she is 125lbs.

5/13/15 10:04 AM

25's 110 rear, 100 front, for decades. I used 23's for a while before that. Almost always some Conti performance trainer with an occasional Michelin pair. Those Avocet 20's always sang the siren song but I resisted, wax build up, right?

When I started using high performance clinchers in the mid '80s a few snakebites left me shy to risk lower pressures. It sounds like I may need to try lower pressure again. Plus I'd be willing to ride 28's or 32's.

Thorn proof tubes, I despise flats more than a smooth ride I guess. And the sneaky rotating weight loss at race time compared to group rides seemed nice (no matter what the experts say about training heavy.)

Rider weights may be necessary data points for this survey, much to my chagrin.

In the '80s my racing weight was 165-172 and I felt like I had ten lbs available to lose to help move up category. Today I'm fifty freaking pounds over that and that's after losing some (and keeping it off!) It's not pretty! ;0)

BTW, I was known to run Conti Sprinter 250s at 175+psi in races. Maintaining grip in corners was never a problem, no tire problems actually.

5/18/15 3:58 PM

No offense to anyone who posted, but without knowing rider weight these tire pressure discussions are meaningless. My 120 lb. wife can/does easily run 10-15 psi less than me at 175 lbs.

5/18/15 4:13 PM

Weighed in a few minutes ago @179. Last year this time I was about 195. 10 years ago about 205. 15 years ago 225-30. I never rode higher than 110 psi or so, 15 lbs higher than now, but I'm not very analytical.

I was actually faster at the higher weights but not as good over long distances.

5/18/15 9:07 PM

Weght: true and I was going to say it, but did not bother. The trend of lower seem obvious. And I though every one knows I am a 210 far ars...

I am just not willing to put in the time and to starve to weight less faster. More I ride the closer i get to 200. I think my 188lb days may not been seen again, my lightest riding weight when I was probably the most significantly lean and strong. My thighs were 27.5" around and that was 15 years back... When I my wife she had a 27" waist. ;)

5/19/15 5:18 AM

I'm ~175 on a good day and a pound or two heavier than that at the moment. In the summer, I'll get down to 172 or so. As I mentioned above I'm on on 25mm clinchers at 72/82 F/R.

5/19/15 5:56 AM

This time last year i weighed around 74kg, this year around 84kg - pressure remains the same on 25mm clinchers 90/95 F/R. Haven't noticed any difference other than I'm a lot slower uphill!

5/19/15 10:56 AM

"other than I'm a lot slower uphill!"

I thought that was the rotation of the earth, cause I am faster depending if going east or west... maybe that is the wind...

5/30/15 10:49 PM

After many years of 23mm (true measure) tires at 110#, the last few I have gone to Michelin 25s -- that measure out to about 28mm wide. I also now use much lower pressures, as suggested by this calculator that supposedly calculates pressure for each tire for a 15% drop in tire height. At 180#, I run about 70 F/90 R. Nicer ride and no pinch flats so far. As best I can tell, no change in rolling resistance either.

http://www.biketinker.com/tire-pressure-calculator

I am sure I would like the new tubeless tires too, if I could ever get around to the doing the effort to change.