Tyre pressures

[Tango]

Loaded the Galaxies for the first time today prior to France on Wednesday.

I have about 23kg of luggage plus 15 st 6 of Tango, the tyres are Schwalbe 700x 32 please can any one advise on pressures.

All the weight apart from a bar bag is on the rear of the bike

[Malaconotus]

All the weight apart from a bar bag is on the rear of the bike

It's not, you know. The way the weight is supported by the frame and wheels means it's probably about 60/40 rear and front. This calculator, based on a Bicycle Quarterly article which it links to, gives 94PSI rear and 62PSI front for optimal rolling... http://www.dorkypantsr.us/bike-tire-pre ... lator.html

[BeeKeeper]

I would blow each of them up to the minimum it says on the tyre wall and see how that goes. You don't say what sort of tyre you have - if they are Marathon Plus you need to visit the dentist before you go to check all your fillings are secure.

[Tango]

Marathon something or others.

Ran at 80 - 85 front and rear on a fully loaded test ride today and all seemed ok

Just wanted thoughts as to whether I was going wrong or not

[Aushiker]

I have Schwalbe Marathon Mondial on my Surly Long Haul Trucker and on the bitumen I run the pressure around 80 to 85 psi and on the dirt I drop it to 65 psi. Seems to work okay for me.



Andrew

[willem jongman]

These tyres are rather narrow for so much weight. You will need to inflate the rear one to the max. The front one you can do 1-2 bar less.
Willem

[Mark1978]

What advantage does inflating tyres to less than the max have?

[willem jongman]

Comfort, better handling, faster on bad surfaces, fewer punctures.
Willem

[Stonepark]

If you have a smart phone there is is neat little app for this, called "Bicycle Tire Pressure Calc" available from google play for £2.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... sure&hl=en

Lets you store multiple bikes and weights, tyre changes, bike profiles. Just on it's initial release but I like.

[foxyrider]

Ran my Panaracer Tourguards at 100psi for my German tour, travelled on just about every surface you can think of from new tarmac to completely unmade hard core with not a puncture in sight across 1600km. Same tyres last year on mostly good tarmac at @ 80psi 2 punctures. Almost every touring puncture i've ever had has been caused by low pressure pinch punctures (bits of glass/thorns etc also penetrate easier at lower pressures) regardless of tyre brand/model/age.

just an observation

[willem jongman]

Punctures remain an elusive subject, because our own experiences all suffer from the limited number of observations: we do not have enough punctures to do statistics with them. Recieved opinion is that if your tyre pressure is too low, you risk pinch punctures. However, above that level, relatively low pressures are though to reduce the risk because the tyre rolls more easily over glass and other sharp objects, rather than press them into the tyre. Wide tyres at low pressure are thought to be best (as long as you avoid the pinch pressure range).
Willem