Tire Pressure Observation

[canamjhb]

I'm currently on a road trip and have been touring for 3 weeks now. Before leaving, I set my tire pressures correctly. Mid way on my trip, and at sea level, I adjusted the pressures by adding a couple of pounds. Yesterday when stopping for the night, I checked pressures and all the tires were 4 lbs overinflated. This was at over 5,000 feet in elevation and 3 hours after riding with the bike sitting in the shade. In past years, I knew that higher elevations would increase tire pressure but I thought it was only a couple pounds. When riding through some mountains and up over 9,000 feet, I thought the bike felt a little harsher. So I adjusted the pressure at the 5,100 foot altitude yesterday. Today while riding between 2,800 and 5,000 feet, the bike felt really good. I'll make one more pressure adjustment after I get out of high altitude riding. Maybe (probably) I'm getting anal about my tire pressures. Altitude does make a difference

[Woodaddict]

My guess that even "3hrs and in shade", for tires to cool down would take more time, like 8 hrs.

[bigbadbrucie]

I'm currently on a road trip and have been touring for 3 weeks now. Before leaving, I set my tire pressures correctly. Mid way on my trip, and at sea level, I adjusted the pressures by adding a couple of pounds. Yesterday when stopping for the night, I checked pressures and all the tires were 4 lbs overinflated. This was at over 5,000 feet in elevation and 3 hours after riding with the bike sitting in the shade. In past years, I knew that higher elevations would increase tire pressure but I thought it was only a couple pounds. When riding through some mountains and up over 9,000 feet, I thought the bike felt a little harsher. So I adjusted the pressure at the 5,100 foot altitude yesterday. Today while riding between 2,800 and 5,000 feet, the bike felt really good. I'll make one more pressure adjustment after I get out of high altitude riding. Maybe (probably) I'm getting anal about my tire pressures. Altitude does make a difference

Yes, methinks that you are worrying TOO MUCH. Ride more, worry less....the tire will not blow out because of 4 lbs.

[JayBros]

In 2019 I set out for a trip from NC, altitude about 720 ft to CO where highest altitude I reached was 14,130 ft at the top of Mt. Evans Scenic Byway, the highest paved road in North America. Didn't notice a darn bit of difference. My tires were at 18 F and 20 R when I left home; never checked pressure during almost 5,200 miles of the trip. As Brucie says RMWL!

[2dogs]

Maybe (probably) I'm getting anal about my tire pressures. Altitude does make a difference

Yep, LOL. RMWL! My PSI fluctuates no less than 3 PSI daily. One more pound isn't going to change a thing. Ride happy.

[MrMagicFingers]

Yes, methinks that you are worrying TOO MUCH. Ride more, worry less....the tire will not blow out because of 4 lbs.

Great words of wisdom here!!!

There is absolutely no need to alter your tire pressure like this and this much.

WORRY LESS!!

Tim

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I'm going to agree with all the other posters .... I have a Van that can carry ...7 pass. I wouldn't be concerned about the PSI if all the seats were filled ..... JMHO ..... Mike

[Peter Aawen]

.......... Yesterday when stopping for the night, I checked pressures and all the tires were 4 lbs overinflated. This was at over 5,000 feet in elevation and 3 hours after riding with the bike sitting in the shade. .........

.....Maybe (probably) I'm getting anal about my tire pressures. Altitude does make a difference

Yep, probably something like 2 lbs for the altitude, & as Woodaddict notes, another 2lbs or so for the 'not enough cool down time' just yet!

My guess that even "3hrs and in shade", for tires to cool down would take more time, like 8 hrs.

Spot on - it'll usually take at least about 8 hours of daytime temps; altho that'd probably be long enough if it was the normal (lower ) o/night temps anywhere but a desert or somewhere that the temps didn't/don't generally drop too much below the daytime's max temp each night!

Yes, methinks that you are worrying TOO MUCH. Ride more, worry less....the tire will not blow out because of 4 lbs.

And YES!! ^^ Unless you are really keen or a tire pressure freak like me, there's really not a great need to check them all that often once you've worked out that an hour or so of your 'normal ryding' on this trip or for your general daytime running will get them somewhere close to increasing about 4psi - once you've got them pretty close to that, you really won't be able to 'fine tune' your pressures anything much more with the sorta gear most of you'll generally have access to in order to check pressures &/or tread temps etc! That's why the desireable tire pressure figures for normal car tires that Mike & I regularly quote are gonna be pretty close for most Spyder Ryders, there's just no point in trying to get anything more accurate for most cos you're most likely right in the guts of the 'acceptable' ball park of pressures given the accuracy & sensitivity of the gear you're using. . And a pound or so difference either way really isn't going to make that much difference in the overall scheme of things!

So you can just Ryde More, & Worry Less!

[Little Blue]

....I checked my Tires every day for a while. Now I wait and check them all once a week or so. I have enjoyed ryding more than checking out the tires and air pressures.

What ever makes you Happy and Safe. Go for it.

Stay Healthy. ....


PS : I always check for a low/flat tire.

[Gwolf]

If you adjust for altitude going up the mountain, you have to adjust again coming back down. You would lose your mind running the Blue Ridge Parkway.

[troop]

Reading this post got me to thinking Mid summer, I installed some Fobo II's. Over this past winter, I put on a Goodyear Ultra grip M/S 215/60r15 rear tire to go with my Vredestein fronts. A few weeks ago, I prepped for my annual Sturgis trip. Set the front Fobo's/tires at 17# and the rear at 19#. The (6) day 2100 mile trip had multiple days of 95* + air temps, let alone pavement temps. In that time frame, I opened up my Fobo II app ZERO times. Tires were never a concern. Ride more/worry less

[Peter Aawen]

Reading this post got me to thinking Mid summer, I installed some Fobo II's. Over this past winter, I put on a Goodyear Ultra grip M/S 215/60r15 rear tire to go with my Vredestein fronts. A few weeks ago, I prepped for my annual Sturgis trip. Set the front Fobo's/tires at 17# and the rear at 19#. The (6) day 2100 mile trip had multiple days of 95* + air temps, let alone pavement temps. In that time frame, I opened up my Fobo II app ZERO times. Tires were never a concern. Ride more/worry less

It'll tell you if a tire starts losing pressure or goes over temp (they still do that last bit, don't they?? They used to! ) so once fitted & set up, you shouldn't really hafta worry - and that means you CAN.......






RYDE MORE, WORRY LESS!

[canamjhb]

Message received! I'll be riding at altitudes between 4,500 and 7,000 feet for the next few days. Then I drop down to my home elevation of 1,500 in the last 75 miles of my trip. I'll reset pressures a day or two after I'm home. Thank you all..... Jim

[Revrent]

Jim, I for one am looking forward to your results on tire pressure at different altitudes (if you decide to continue checking them). I found your first post very interesting as it was something I had not thought about. As others have said "ride", but I would like to add one of my favorite sayings from my wife "ride YOUR ride". Ie, you just do you. If you enjoy checking your pressures at different altitudes and temps, then do it. there will always be those that do not, but on the other side of the coin there will be folks like me that learn from your results and post's.

John

[vito1943]

I guess I am not fanatic about tire pressures at all. This spring I added the FOBO2 Bike TPMS system and got the tires to 30 rear, 20 front. I use the FOBO2 app to check the pressure before each ride, and now, about 4 months after I filled the tires, the pressure is at 18.5 front and 29 rear. At this rate, unless I get a flat, I can finish the riding season without ever having to lay on my back to get to the rear tire. I'm expecting that tire pressure will be a once a year chore, each Spring, and even with my prosthetic knees and bad shoulders and back I can tolerate the annual task. For what its worth, my 2021 RT has the stock tires which still look good at about 6,000 miles so far.

[canamjhb]

I didn't mean to give the impression that I constantly change tire pressure when changing altitude.
I have motorcycle toured the western US for over 30 years. Those that have not been here should know there a lot of western states that are completely higher in altitude than most of the rest of the US. A person can cruise most of eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah & northern Arizona and never go below 4,000 feet in elevation. The western states really do look down at the rest of the country. On this trip, as I have done on others, I adjust my TP when I am going to be in areas for extended periods of time.

I checked and set my pressures before leaving home (1500 feet elevation). I cruised north to Washington State and had many elevation changes over a period of 6 days. The next 10 days I spent in Western Washington and the Oregon Coast at sea level. I added about 2 lbs for that 10 day period which brought my tires to the correct pressures for that altitude and climate.

I then went to much higher altitudes which will continue for most of the rest of my trip. This is when my tires registered 4 lbs more than what I usually run and I adjusted accordingly. I'll have a lot of elevation changes between 2,800 and 7,500 before I get home but my tires will stay where I inflated them at 5,100 feet. I'm not riding today because we are experiencing heavy monsoon rain here in central Utah. (I'm a wuss) But, for my own anal piece of mind, I checked pressures that I set a few days ago when at 5,100 feet and they are exactly the same down here at 4,300 feet.

Bottom line, If I'm going to be high altitude cruising for a week or two, I adjust for that. If I'm cruising sea level for a week or two I adjust for that too. That's just me being me..... Jim

[budC]

A point I haven't seen mentioned:
Acuracy of the Gauge.

I have 4 different tire pressure gauges: a M Accu Gauge dial, a Joe's Racing Products dial, an Accutire Digital, and a Jaco Tire Inflator with a digital readout.

None of them match. As a matter of fact, there is a 4 PSI difference in reading between the lowest and highest reading.

Since I don't have access to a calibrating service, I adjust to the average, knowing which gauge I'm using, and then I don't sweat it. The only real issue would be if any given gauge would not read the same, because you need the fronts to be within a half-PSI of each other.

[Peter Aawen]

It's not all that critical that your gauges are 'truly accurate' or even 'vaguely accurate' so much as 'consistent in their inaccuracies' - if one is out by 4psi or so, who cares what the actual number is, so long as it's the same sort of variation from 'truly accurate' every time!

So don't use a different gauge every time, pick one & use ONLY it for setting the Spyder's tire pressures; and use the 4psi Rule or something similarly 'responsive to use' in order to work out what pressure you should/want to run in your Spyder's tires, then stick with it. If you start out using the cold start pressures often recommended here on the Forum & then adjust up or down a little as necessary to suit your particular needs/wants in your Spyder ryding, the pressures reported by that one gauge & whatever its inherent inaccuracies are, it'll STILL always reflect the 'closer to ideal' pressures for your tires than the 'one size fits all guess-timate' that is shown on the tire placard for the OE spec tires that may/or may not reflect the necessary pressures for any other brand/type of tire - and in this case, are pressures that obviously DON'T apply to any other tire! Plus, that way it doesn't matter if the number shown on the gauge is not truly accurate cos it'll always be fairly consistent in it's inaccuracy; and this also highlights why YOU need to work out the tire pressure that works for YOU; the ryding YOU do; the conditions &/or temps YOU ryde in; and whatever 'maybe accurate, maybe not so much' gauge that YOU use!

Make sense??

[canamjhb]

Peter, I couldn't agree with you more. A few years ago I purchased 3 metal pencil gages. I compared all of them with a calibrated gage and one of them was very close. I put a ring of electrical tape around that one so I would know which one was good. Knowing my pressures are relatively close helps. But knowing the increase from cold to running temperatures helps me make sure I am inflating to correct pressures.

BTW: I have 2 days more riding on my trip. I haven't made any adjustments to TP since I was in Idaho at 5,100 feet. When I get home in a couple of days and check tires then, I will post results if anyone is interested...... Jim

[budC]

That's sort of the point I was trying to make, thanks.You have a better explanation. Rather than me trying to add anything, I'll just recommend Duck Duck Go'ing ( I think Google is a privacy nightmare, and use it only when I have to) the phrase "accuracy vs resolution". Not a trivial subject - We spent a couple of weeks on the subject in one of my engineering classes.