Tire pressures are key to getting the maximum performance from your tires. Perfect pressures will get the tire shape working as it's designed to, which will increase comfort, grip and produce predictable cornering. Perfect pressure is not about setting and forgetting, it will take a bit of trial and error to get the right pressure for your wheel setup, weight and riding style. You can use our systematic approach to dial in the right pressure within 3psi accuracy.
Too high and you'll reduce rolling resistance (in some terrain) at the loss of comfort and grip. Too low and you'll get the tire rolling which leads to slow rolling and instability in high speed corners. You'll also increase the risk of pinch flatting or denting / cracking rims.
How to get the right pressure.
It's probably best to start a on the higher side, this will give you a bit more protection for your rims. Set the rear first, a good starting point is to remove the rear wheel from the bike and load up the tire with all your weight - you should be able to get a small amount of flex in the casing.
Check the pressure and note, work by dropping the pressures 6psi at a time. You want enough pressure to resist pinch flats and bottoming out your tire. Different trails will need different setups. Fine tune the pressure by going up or down 3psi.
For the front, you can set the baseline 5psi off the rear and work from there. The front is not as likely to pinch flat so you want to feel for when the tire is getting squirmy or too soft in corners but firm enough to be weighted and biting into the dirt. You can start by dropping pressure by 4psi and adding 2psi once it gets to the "almost soft" point.
- It's going to be best to use a quality digital gauge it will allow precise repeatable pressures. Pump analog gauges are ok, but you don't get the precision to the digit.
Remember no one pressure will work for person to person. Just because Pro X has xx in there tyre - weight, tire, rim and style all add to the mix.