Setting Tire Pressure In Mountain Bikes

Setting tire pressure in mountain bikes

Alison Addy

This article talks about setting the pressure for a bicycle tire for mountain biking. It also helps us understand the different pressure level needed for different situations of riding.

Having the pressure set for your tires is one of the important and basic things that a cyclist should learn in mountain biking. A Perfectly inflated tire gives a controlled and smooth ride to the cyclist. Tires with less pressure increase the chances of having a flat tire and in turn make cycling hard for the cyclist and on the other hand high pressure would make the bike uncontrollable and bumpy.

The pressure in the tire would vary accordingly depending on the rider's personal preferences, the tire's condition, nature of the mountain track and also the terrain type. Pressure in the tire can be regulated with the usage of bicycle pump of better quality. A correct gauge is also needed for noting the pressure reading accurately.

Watch the bicycle ride after inflating the tire according to the instructions of the manufacturer and this can be adjusted as required. Using the same pump and gauge would be ideal as different gauges display different readings.

Starting with a very high pressure is a good approach which would be 40-50 PSI (3-3.5 bar) and lower the tire pressure and check out ton the kind of pressure that would match to your bike most. High pressure would be needed if one is on the heavier side of the track.

Taking a test ride is the best way of determining the pressure in the tire. Now observe the behavior of your tire on different tracks, its sliding on the mountains and how does tire hook up in corners.

If the tire has a high pressure, then drop it by 5 PSI in each of the tires. After you decrease the pressure, if you find the tire to be more stable and also improves the grip on the ground, then make this pressure as a standard one else, decrease the pressure again and test the above again.

Notice how we can ride without having any flat tires to know the lowest of the pressures. You get a flat tire whenever an object compresses the tire and the tube of the tire would get damaged.

It is always suggested to use low pressure about 30 - 40 psi for a tubeless system. The risk of flat tires is very less in a tubeless tire system and also we don't see any frequent rim contact so that we can easily ride on very low pressures. Be careful not to dent the rims of the tire or have the air burped out along the bead. The tire would roll under a rim while we ride hard corners on very low pressure.

Another test for balancing would be observing resistance for rolling on low pressures. The additional resistance for rolling needs more efforts but also gives us increased climbing traction and control. For inter-country racers efficiency is more important than control.

For mountain bikes, squeeze the tire with hand and feel the pressure and this is one of the most common methods to understand the requirement of air for the tire.