I checked the air pressure in my tires today and the front had 28 and the rear 30 psi. respectively. The manual says 36 in each for a solo rider. Is that correct? Seems high to me. I weigh 210 lbs

Randy

 

follow the manual.

a low front will tend to wander

we had a guy on here posting about suing HD for blah blah blah....and after a few posts it turned out he had 10 psi in the front.

the manual is your best guide, tires should be replaced at 6 years max regardless of tread.

mike

 

Those numbers are right. I actually run closer to 38 rear solo. Sometimes run a bit closer to 38 in front as well.

Neil
RDMC

 

Observe what the recommended psi is on the side of the tire.
Start with that.

 

Yep. Follow the manual of you're running the stock Dunlops but follow the tire when you install another brand. My Metzelers run 40 psi in both tires and those instructions came from the Metzeler rep himself.

 

[QUOTE=TheGrandPoohBah;15710778]Observe what the recommended psi is on the side of the tire.
QUOTE]

Wrong.
That is the recommended pounds for maximum for inflation purposes.


They don't know what bike you are putting the tires on so they can't recommend TP pressure.


Marked on the bike frame is your recommendtion for TP.
Use that as a start.

 

[QUOTE=gusotto;15711140]Short answer: This is usually correct.

Long answer: Every North American licensed Vehicle must have a Federal Certification Label (FCL) that spells out the vehicle's GVWR and maximum tire pressure to achieve that. However, all tire manufacturers may not have the same max PSI for their brand. Harley recommends 36 psi front and 38 rear on my bike. Fully loaded I have run anywhere from 35 to 40 on the front and 36 to 42 on the rear. Just depending on how the tire behaves which varies wildly according to the brand and size.

As an example on my one ton the FCL suggests a maximum of 60 psi front and 80 psi rear. Unladen at those pressures its like driving a highway packer. My truck tires are legal at 10 ply E rated but not OEM and have a manufacturer's maximum recommended psi of 65. I'd be asking for trouble if I was to put them at 80 psi.

I'm about 225 and on stock rubber I ran mine at 36 front and 38 rear. It was fine. As was pointed out previously that's a good place to start as long as it doesn't exceed the tire manufacturer's maximum psi.

If this doesn't make sense PM me and I will try to explain it better.

 

Some manufacturers have recommended pressures for particular model bikes on their websites. Checking my Avon site the recommended psi for my tires are: front...38 and rear....44. Strange thing is the stamped max. on the tires are: front....40 and rear....42psi. (note that the rear is recommended 2lbs HIGHER than the stamped rate.
My guess is you can't go wrong if you fluctuate just a little from the stamped numbers, lower being better of course.

 

Those max numbers on a tyre sidewall are a US requirement, in other words no brand can sell into the USA if they don't include them. Fortunately those of us who live in the Rest of the World can ignore them, as they are at best misleading! We can see that in earlier posts which recommend using those numbers, which is not wise IMHO.

Above all else, when changing brand away from stock tyres always check the manufacturer's website. As already mentioned, some of them use different pressures to the owners manual, especially Avon, my favourite.

Riders who are above or below average weight should adjust pressures up or down accordingly, also when riding 2-up or otherwise heavily loaded. When Mrs B and I tour, loaded to the gunnels, we are close to max weight for our bike and I use 44F/50R on our older bike's Avons. Using solo pressures when heavily loaded is a recipe for disaster!

 

Everyone has an OPINION, I will share mine. For tires, heat is the enemy, not pressure. The more a tire flexes, the more heat it generates. The lower the pressure, the more it flexes, the hotter it gets. Heat weakens the tire. If it gets hot enough it will blow out. Higher pressure minimizes flexing so it minimizes heat buildup. Use the manual recommended pressures as MINIMUMS, not as maximums. Few of us have calibrated gauges so we have no idea if the gauge reads above actual pressure, at actual pressure or a bit below actual pressure. Again, because HEAT is the enemy, I assume my gauge reads too high, that my actual pressure will be a bit less than what the gauge shows and inflate my tires to about 3 psi over the recommended pressure. Since I don't want to be bothered with finding an air pump if I pick up a load of anything, I use the max on the sidewall as the target pressure and I can load to the max without having to pump up the tires. Again, since I don't have a calibrated gauge I inflate to about 3 psi over the max on the sidewall. In 52 years of driving have never had a blowout and I get or exceed the manufacturer's claimed wear out mileage with no trouble either. As another contributor in here frequently says, your mileage may vary.