Tire pressure on gravel roads

[limewave]

You know what's funny, I have never, ever, put air in my mountain bike tires or checked the pressure.

Maybe I should start doin' that.

[Aggie_Ama]

You know what's funny, I have never, ever, put air in my mountain bike tires or checked the pressure.

Maybe I should start doin' that.

I am beginning to feel OCD. I check my pressure ever ride, adjust it for terrain. Less technical, usually a firmer pressure. Less pressure for the rocky/loose trails. My husband is super OCD and checks his fork/shock pressure every ride. Lube chain every ride but we live in a dust bowl.

[Catrin]

I am beginning to feel OCD. I check my pressure ever ride, adjust it for terrain. Less technical, usually a firmer pressure. Less pressure for the rocky/loose trails. My husband is super OCD and checks his fork/shock pressure every ride. Lube chain every ride but we live in a dust bowl.

It was drilled into my head to check my tire pressure for every road ride, and I do! Granted, I've no mountain bike experience yet, but it seems to me that if it is helpful to do this for road riding, that it doubly applies to off-road riding.

[jessmarimba]

Haha...I almost never check my tire pressure - since they're big ol' fat mtb tires I can look and feel pretty quickly if they aren't high enough. But to kind of answer your question, I run mine at 40 (I think they're rated 40-65?) and I ride road and bike path. I'd definitely stay lower for loose rock or sandy trails.

[Aggie_Ama]

Catrin - Exactly why it just seems like part of riding. Plus it gives me a second to inspect my tires.

It may also be that I check my tires often that I am perfectly comfortable running a low pressure. My mountain bike tires still lose about 1 PSI over night, granted on a road bike it is about 5 PSI but I check before I ride. Just part of my routine since I started, seems to be the norm in my area as well.

[limewave]

I'm a freak about my tire pressure on my road bike. I always check it before I ride. Sometimes I double and triple check.

For some reason, I don't mountain biking. And now I'm a little superstitious about it! I just can't bring myself to check them

[Catrin]

My legs were asking for a break from the bike tonight - so I went for a short hike and a look at the gravel in the park I want to take the mountain goat to next weekend. The gravel isn't very deep and in many places is washed out - small pebbles and nothing like the deep big gravel I have seen elsewhere. Also saw lots of puddles and where things have recently flooded. I wanted to go home and get my bike

Hopefully things will be dried out after I return from my conference next week...I will follow the advise here and start with highish pressure after asking lbs staff about it. They told me about the trail...