air pressure

[blitzcraig]

sorry if this is posted somewhere, i honestly spent 20 minutes searching around and didnt find anything. it's getting cold here in maryland and i am wondering what the best way to check the air pressure in the tires is. would it be better to run the bike around for a while to get it into 'operating temperature' and then check the tire pressure, or should i check it while it's cold? i guess i just dont want to add air to cold tires to bring it up to what the manual says it should be, only to have that pressure potentially increase after 30 minutes on the road. would rather have the pressure a bit too low than too high i think.

thanks! :thumbup:

 

[dark_isz]

..........

 

[blitzcraig]

ahh, we call that RTFM round here. guess i wanted a second opinion

 

[mstewar1]

This was an interesting question to which I did not know the answer. Did a quick search and stumbled on this little write up. Can't vouch for the site or the poster, but the approach seems logical. YMMV

Basically, check them cold and air them up to the psi where you'd normally keep them. Then after you've gotten to a your destination, check 'em again. If the psi increase is greater than 10%front/20%rear, then adjust them down accordingly. If they're lost pressure, break out your repair kit...

Hope this helps.

 

[MarinaFazer]

:rtfm:

hee hee...you said it!

 

[reiobard]

with the Extremes that you may be running in it is always safe to check. best practice though is to always check before setting out on the ride, checking cold is the correct way to do it.

If the tires are very cold then it is safe to assume that the roads will be very cold, outside air will be very cold, and therefor the tires will never reach their normal operating temperature. if the temperature starts off really cold and changed drastically (more than 20 degrees i would say) then check them after stopping and letting them cool for a bit and make sure they are still on par.

 

[mabbott]

would rather have the pressure a bit too low than too high i think. QUOTE]

The pressure you run depends on what kind of riding you do. If you are commuting then you want higher pressure to get more life out of your tires. If you are hitting the twisties then you want to have the pressure lower.

Just my 2 cents.