Please check your TIRE PRESSURE NOW before you crash

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The temps have dropped and likely so has your tire pressures.
If your bike feels spongy or sloppy when steering, go check your tire pressures asap.

How to:
1. do it in the morning or evening after the bike has sat for a few hours, not after you just rode it
2. use a proper gauge and NOT the one from the gas station, simple $10 CDN Tire digital works well imo
3. inflate to the tire you are using recommendations e.g. most modern sport bikes is 36PSI front and 42PSI rear is the recommended however I reduce mine by 5PSI so 31PSI front and 37 Rear (30/35 is easy as well to remember).

It takes you 2 minutes to check.

You are welcome:cool:
 
Agree with checking pressures when cold with a handheld gauge. I use a bicycle pump for top-ups.

Should be a sticker from the manufacturer recommending a pressure for single and with a passenger. On mine anyway. Pay attention to that sticker. It is based on the tire diameter/width it came stock with, the vehicle weight and the anticipated weight of the rider. On mine it specifies 25 front, 29 rear. Every bike is different. Look at the sticker, or the manual if no sticker.
 
Agree with the above. Rode home a couple of days ago, bike did not feel right. Felt twitchy on the highway. Got up the next morning, checked front and rear pressures, both low. Topped them up, went to work. Bike felt much better, almost as if it had a tune up. Easy fix and safe as well.
 
Already checked mine a few days ago, they had dropped a few psi each. Topped them up and good to go. you have to remember to check them regularly, that's the more important part.
 
.....correct me if I am wrong but it shouldn't matter unless you're way below the recommended PSI (as in -10 or + in any #).

The reason behind this is that traction increases as you lower PSI. There is, however, a point at which the tires get so hot that they become non-compliant with the road surface. The internal friction your tires create from spinning, which cause heat, will also be lowered due to the external temps.

There is also a crowd that believes in lowered PSI during colder temps to maintain traction because cold rubber is not compliant....you can guess which crowd I'm part of.
 
veno78 said:
Do you guys use a certain PSI for aggressive street cornering? On PP2CT tires..
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I use Angel STs and run 42 PSI back and 36 PSI front and check once a week. When it's cold I'll drop 4 and 2 respectively...

...I would strongly suggest you don't try any top speed runs with dropped PSI though lol
 
veno78 said:
Do you guys use a certain PSI for aggressive street cornering? On PP2CT tires..
Click to expand...

aggressive and street cornering don't really belong in the same sentence anymore... at least for me

getting responsible in my old age
 
油井緋色;2088834 said:
I use Angel STs and run 42 PSI back and 36 PSI front and check once a week. When it's cold I'll drop 4 and 2 respectively...

...I would strongly suggest you don't try any top speed runs with dropped PSI though lol
Click to expand...

Alright thanks. It's just that a mechanic from Rosey Toes advised it'd be better to front 32F and 34R for cornering and I'm getting different numbers from everyone.
 
I run high psi all year round, ran 40/42 last winter on my Dad's burgman. Currently running 36/38 on my VFR.
 
Don't go by the sticker on the swingarm, look up the tire manufacturer for recommended pressure. All tires are not created equal and do not have the same recommended pressure. 36-42 as said by a few people is way too high in my opinion for any aggressive sport tire.

veno78 said:
Do you guys use a certain PSI for aggressive street cornering? On PP2CT tires..
Click to expand...
32-34 is a pretty good baseline. I'd run 32-30 based on previous experience with those tires.
 
40/42 last winter on my Dad's burgman.
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If that's cold you are way above recommended and your rear will run over 50 psi as high as 55 and that's very skittish riding tho it will get great gas mileage.

I got a real time monitoring system that works very well and is accurate as the damn Burgman valves are so tight to get at with the big brakes ad smaller tire.
Was tired of eating rear tires.

I found the front at 40 went to 46 and 48 on a hot day riding hard and the bike felt way too skittish on rough twists

Even my son commented on my riding that day I tried 40-42 - there simply was too much jumping around once those tires got hot. The real time gauge reads heat as well and it's surprising how hot both get and especially the rear.

Dirt riders drop their pressure to 12 or so to get better traction but doing so on the street is very iffy.

I'd certainly stay within BIKE manufacturer recommendations ( hell with the tire manufacturer guide ) and within 10 percent of that and see how the bike feels once the tires are warmed up to operating temperature which will mean up to 20 percent increase in pressure.

I settled on 35 and 38 and try not to let it drop more than 2 psi below that cold
 
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A few pounds less than the recommended pressure often works well for people when they are not riding two up with luggage. Just bear in mind that lower pressures in the front tire will mean that it's a lot easier to bend the rim when you hit a pothole or road construction "edges". Rear tire, no big deal.
 
33F 36R is stock for 650R. Put a label on my handlebars because I got too lazy to keep looking it up and couldn't remember for some reason.

Topped mine up with a hand pump the other day. Only time I've topped them up all year.

When I checked them they were down around 20. Much higher than that and I can barely tell.
 
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veno78 said:
Alright thanks. It's just that a mechanic from Rosey Toes advised it'd be better to front 32F and 34R for cornering and I'm getting different numbers from everyone.
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Its according to personal taste & what you're comfortable with. I run 33psi all round. A buddy ran 30f 28r. Didn't get his logic.
 
RockerGuy said:
Its according to personal taste & what you're comfortable with. I run 33psi all round. A buddy ran 30f 28r. Didn't get his logic.
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I ran contiously throughtout the year 30/30 regardless of the brand of tire. Even ran those numbers at the track before buying tire warmers.
 
infernobuster said:
I ran contiously throughtout the year 30/30 regardless of the brand of tire. Even ran those numbers at the track before buying tire warmers.
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For my suspension & weight I just find it a better feel for me. I don't know why manufacturers recommend such a high rear pressure because its easy for your rear to slip at emergency braking.

But yeah, I've run those #s on all my tires
 
SB
Never had an issue with them when hot and they handled amazingly. This is on a set of metzeler feelfree's.
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That's what I was on as well. Anyway you heard my opinion :D.

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Re: Please check your TIRE PRESSURE NOW before you crash
Originally Posted by infernobuster
I ran contiously throughtout the year 30/30 regardless of the brand of tire. Even ran those numbers at the track before buying tire warmers.
For my suspension & weight I just find it a better feel for me. I don't know why manufacturers recommend such a high rear pressure because its easy for your rear to slip at emergency braking.

But yeah, I've run those #s on all my tires
Click to expand...

I think the manufacturers might err on the hard side for wear characteristics.
Many of the same tire fit different bikes which is why I say stay with the manufacturer of the bike for the initial guidelines and then alter to taste from there.
I can see starting lower on the track as they will change dramatically once the tire is heated and at high speeds.

If you are slabbing for distance with the tire on the hard side you will get very good mileage but may suffer from some handling loss in the twists.

If you are twistie riding then softer helps but of course will wear faster....you can't have it both ways :D

The real time reader is very interesting as you can compare handling with pressure. Likely of more interest to track and those riding twisties hard.
As I said I got it because the Burgman is so hard to check and my knees are not getting any younger.
Now I know every time I start out.

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