Tire pressure question

[ace]

Hi guys,

I'm not sure to what psi I need to inflate the tires on my new road bike. The tires are Vredestein Fortezza 12 bars, 23s. They say they're inflatable to 175, but I *think* bike shop guy told me to inflate to 115 on the front and 120 on the back, although I'm not sure I'm remembering accurately. I'm a big gal (over 200 lbs). Any advice appreciated.

Thanks!
Amy

[KnottedYet]

Can you call the shop and ask them to repeat what they said?

I keep my tires below the max pressure, generally 10-20 lbs low, but I run wider low pressure tires. (28's on my roadie, 38's on my utility, and both max in the 80 lb-90 lb range)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

A formula that works well for me is to put the front tire at 20 lbs less than Maximum listed on the tire, and the rear tire at 10 lbs less than Maximum.

[bikerz]

I pump both front and back to 120, and to 110 when the roads are wet.

[Eden]

That's a lot of tire pressure! One thing you need to be concerned about if you wish to take your tires up to very high pressures is what the rim is rated for - even if the tires could take 175 psi - the rim may not. I'm light and I generally like to run my tires around the 110-115 - of course my tires are only rated for a max of 130psi...

[mimitabby]

Those are really high pressure tires. Mine are something like 5 bars!

I think you should call the shop and tell them what the specs on the tires are and have him repeat his advice after that.

[Geonz]

(And don't forget to look on the tires ;))

175 is higher than I have ever heard before. I would want a second opinion even, not just a repeat. That just sounds rock hard!

I also run mine a bit below the max (100 and the max is 110-120).

[Eden]

(And don't forget to look on the tires ;))

175 is higher than I have ever heard before. I would want a second opinion even, not just a repeat. That just sounds rock hard!

I also run mine a bit below the max (100 and the max is 110-120).

yeah I thought that sounded incredibly high too so I looked it up on the Vredestein web site and indeed it specified 12 bar as the max pressure!

[ace]

Thanks, all. So do heavier people generally have to have more air in their tires?

[Eden]

Thanks, all. So do heavier people generally have to have more air in their tires?

I'm not so sure its a case of heavier people have to have more pressure as it is one of lighter people can get away with less..... (I suppose thats 6 of one 1/2 a dozen of the other??), but really the lighter you are the rougher the ride you tend to get from high pressure in your tires, so you can go with less pressure for more comfort. If you are heavier using less pressure in your tires can make you more susceptible to pinch flats (when your innertube gets pinched between the tire and rim). Most tires don't go as high as yours and don't get pinch flats - my husband, who is around 187 or so, usually keeps his tires at the max for the brand he uses, which is 120psi.

[bikerz]

Hmm - I guess I've been using too high a tire pressure.

Now I'm trying to remember who suggested I use 120 psi - it was so long ago, but it was said with sufficient authority for me not to doubt it. I haven't gotten very many flats in the last 3 years (probably just jinxed myself!), and I am definitely a heavy rider.

So I ust looked up the specs on my wheels and tires: My Mavic Ksyrium wheels (rims, I guess) are rated for 138 psi max according to the Mavic website, and my tires (700x23mm Hutchinson Quartz) are rated 100 to 110, so I guess I am using too much pressure for the tires. Maybe I'll drop down to 100 on my next ride.

[Melstar]

I think there's a chart which tells you what tire pressure a rider should have for your weight.

http://stevensbicycles.com/page.cfm?PageID=662

Click on "step 3"

[wannaduacentury]

My lbs told me 110 psi, I put them on 100 psi-both tires and I'm kinda light so it works well for me. Jenn