Tire Inflation - New Info

[John Hawrylak]

Is there any new info on "optimum" tire inflation??

I am familiar with:

*  Frank Berto's article on tire drop (All About Tire Inflation)

* Jan Heine's 1 page article "Optimizing Your Tire Pressure for your Weight"

I use the Berto/Heine graphs for my 700c x 32 mm Paselas and find them comfortable without pinch flats.  Wider tires are not much of an option on y 1988 Schwinn Voyageur. 

I get the idea of the more supple casing results in a faster tire.  It's just hard to pay $45 to $65 per tire.

Does the 15% tire drop pressure for your tire width and weight still result in provide "optimum performance", a good balance between rolling resistance and comfort ???

John Hawrylak

I o 

s article "All

[WMdeR]

Dear John,

It is a reasonable and safe starting point. Adjust to find your personal optimum, and note that the resistance curve is pretty flat, so I wouldn't sweat a few PSI or even a bar one way or another as long as you're keeping your rims off of the ground.

For unloaded bikes, I'll determine my 15% pressure for the rear wheel, and use that minus a half bar up front. The front pressure is higher than predicted by Berto's chart, but hard braking into corners gets a little odd if I slavishly follow the chart for front and rear pressures.

I pump them up to pressure and let the tires self-deflate until I get a flat, or they start to feel funny when JRA.  With latex tubes, that's daily; with Challenge Parigi-Roubaix tires, that's weekly regardless of tube (regular flat tires); others can go a month or more.

Cheers,

Will

William M. deRosset

Fort Collins, CO