David HoQuestion for #BikeTooter: I’ve had this bike for 15 years but this is the first time I’ve taken it touring. With this setup where I have most of the cargo on the back, would you inflate the rear tire more? If so, by how much more than the front? Thanks.
Becca@davidho@mastodon.world People don't inflate their tires to 90 PSI as a rule?
😅
I inflate both to 90 PSI on any road or city bike. I'm lazy and I like less rolling resistance.
Several decades ago, I was also the only CX racer running their tires that hot. The big tradeoff was traction, not so much flats from sharp objects.
Calamity Jan 🐍
@bweller@mstdn.social @davidho@mastodon.world the new research is that high pressures increase rolling resistance; the feeling of lower resistance is an illusion unless you’re on extremely smooth roads. The tyres deforming over the terrain is better for traction and resistance, assuming the tyre is made well. (To a limit, of course, and 90psi isn’t that high depending on your weight. 80psi is the most I tell my gf to run on her aero bike, and she could probably get away with less.)
Becca@vjgoh@mstdn.ca @davidho@mastodon.world link to the paper?
Calamity Jan 🐍@bweller@mstdn.social I’ll find some sources for you. There are a few places that do rolling resistance tests.
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/
But if you literally search for “bicycle rolling resistance” an absolute deluge of articles will come up. It’s a really popular topic. I’ll find some other ones in the morning. 😊
Becca@vjgoh@mstdn.ca nice site! my bike shop is going to hate me now 😅
Calamity Jan 🐍@bweller@mstdn.social Here's another good one, and your bike shop will listen to these guys. :D
https://silca.cc/en-ca/blogs/silca/tire-pressure-calculator-explained
Here he is with Dylan Johnson talking about pressure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuxUWFziuGI
And this is about gravel racing, and the choice between gravel tyres and MTB tyres. It's a bit in the weeds, but I find it's got a lot of generalizable information both on tyre pressure but also tyre choice and tyre width. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq9ydwkRt0Q
From my own personal experience, I try to run at a pressure high enough that the tyre has the handling characteristics that I want, and stop there. So in CX, I ran 19-22psi (I was 75-80kg). On gravel now (at 95kg) I run tubeless with a foam core at 30-45psi, and on the road (same bike & wheels) I go up to 60-70psi. If nothing else, the comfort gain from the lower pressure lets me maintain my speed for longer. I'm way less beat up than when I was a roadie on 110psi road tyres.