Loosing pressure on gravel?

I just bought a 2004 Fz6 about three weeks ago as my first bike (other than a Honda ruckus) and have bee enjoying it immensely.

It came with just over 9000 miles on the odo. and a fairly new set of Bridgestone BT 21s. The tires only had a year and 1000 or so miles on them. They appeared to be in great condition when I bought the bike.

Now they are loosing pressure very quickly. I couldn't see any damage, and checked for leaks (without removing the tires) without finding any but they both have lost about 1 pound of pressure in the last 24 hours with riding of course. I haven't been able to leave the bike parked long enough yet to see if they loose pressure standing

I was wondering if riding the bike on coarse gravel could be leading to my pressure loss. It's a tough way to learn to ride btw!

The front tire is now what a mechanic at my local bike shop referred to as "cupped." There is a raised ridge, or ring, about two inches wide all the way around the front tire. It has noticeably affected the handling of the bike. Is this dangerous? I now check and adjust my tire pressure prior to each ride.

Thanks for your help

-Will

One of the tires I've seen that seems to lend itself to cupping is the Firestone BT-020. I think that tread design wants to cup. I've never had a tire after that that did the same thing so badly. I would put fresh rubber anyway.

you sure you're not losing pressure from testing the tyre presure so often?

greg said:

you sure you're not losing pressure from testing the tyre presure so often?

Click to expand...

Hahaha!:rof::rof::rof:

greg said:

you sure you're not losing pressure from testing the tyre presure so often?

Click to expand...

Good stuff,

The tire does lose pressure on its own though.. after a week of riding w/o testing I was down to 24/28 yikes!

yokel84 said:

Good stuff,

The tire does lose pressure on its own though.. after a week of riding w/o testing I was down to 24/28 yikes!

Click to expand...

I check tire pressure once a week, on all my bikes.. Pretty normal to need to add a couple psi on occasion.:noworries:

My bike came with the Bridgestone BaTLax, (however they spell battle axe), tires. Factory tires = no problems. I picked up a huge self-tapping sheet metal and to replace the rear tire at 800 miles. The new tire lost about a pound per day for nearly 3 weeks and then suddenly stopped losing air! Go figure. (Dunno if this could somehow apply to your's?)

Might be a cold morning and an afternoon hot riding measurment ???
Just a guess.

Thanks y'all. We'll see how it goes.. measuring the tires cold before every ride and still losing a 1 psi per day. Seems fast to me, but the tires look good and feel good when inflated properly/warmed up so I guess I'll keep riding them until I notice anything sketchy.

Don't forget about your valve stem. An old one will deteriorate around the area where it meets the rim and leak without any visual clues.