HowTo: Setting the front tire pressures equally each side.

[flapjackandbeans]

There are several stickers on a Spyder where the tire pressures are stated, also in the owner's manual. Check the frunk, check the book, check under the seat.

Good idea. I've been looking at the manual in my app, not thinking of the paper book I guess I'm too modern. Ha ha!

 

[RogerC60]

Good idea. I've been looking at the manual in my app, not thinking of the paper book I guess I'm too modern. Ha ha!

The paper book that came with my 2024 RT LTD says to check the sticker on the inside of the left service panel.

Take that with a grain of salt, because my paper book seems to get confused about left and right on a regular basis (e.g., it says the brake fluid reservoir is behind the left panel).

 

[pauly1]

If one is that concerned about tire pressure, make sure you:

• never attempt to add air once the machine has been ridden even a short distance
• never set the pressures on a sunny day and your Spyder is outside: the solar gain on the side in the sun will make a difference when the tires all come up to the same temperature
• never use air from a heated air compressor (it's all about PVT - pressure, volume, temperature)
• never set you tire pressures in a heated or cooled building and then ride outside in the opposite conditions (cold or hot)

By the time you crawl around and set up your gear, I will have set all 3 of my tires to the accuracy of my tire gauge, and the equipment put away.
.

 

[Albec]

The paper book that came with my 2024 RT LTD says to check the sticker on the inside of the left service panel.

Take that with a grain of salt, because my paper book seems to get confused about left and right on a regular basis (e.g., it says the brake fluid reservoir is behind the left panel).

One would think that tire pressure info should be easy to find in the paper owner's manual, one would be wrong.

In looking at the table of contents, no listing for tire info at all.

But somewhere it says something about the location of the safety stickers/labels on the machine somewhere.

On page 106 of my manual is shows the label that gives info on the tires and pressures. It clearly states, 15psi front and 28psi rear.

 

[racoon]

On page 106 of my manual is shows the label that gives info on the tires and pressures. It clearly states, 15psi front and 28psi rear.

I checked the Acrobat PDF copy of the Operators Guide for my 2024 Spyder RT Series.

There are 12 references to "tire pressure" and most of them recommend checking the pressure frequently, refer to the Maintenance Section of the Operators Guide, or refer to the label under the driver's seat.

There's a picture of the label on Page 101.

For my 2024 it recommends the following cold tire pressures:

Front: 138 kPa / 20 psi
Rear: 193 kPa / 28 psi

 

[Peter Aawen]

If one is that concerned about tire pressure, make sure you:

• never attempt to add air once the machine has been ridden even a short distance
• never set the pressures on a sunny day and your Spyder is outside: the solar gain on the side in the sun will make a difference when the tires all come up to the same temperature
• never use air from a heated air compressor (it's all about PVT - pressure, volume, temperature)
• never set you tire pressures in a heated or cooled building and then ride outside in the opposite conditions (cold or hot)

By the time you crawl around and set up your gear, I will have set all 3 of my tires to the accuracy of my tire gauge, and the equipment put away.
.

Regardless of all the above, your underlying 'pre riding/cold start pressure' before any of that ^ is what counts, riding your Spyder/driving your car/truck will start to negate any/all of those things mentioned within just a few minutes of actually starting moving, and will have completely negated them within about 10-15 mins of riding, so if you set your pressure in/under any of those conditions, taking note of that pressure THEN RIDE YOUR SPYDER FOR ABOUT AN HOUR and check your pressure again, you should STILL be aiming to see about a 4psi increase from your initial start pressure as outlined in my earlier posts.

As mentioned, it's all about PVT - pressure, volume, and temperature, and after an hour or so's riding, the riding you've just done takes all of those things into consideration, plus accounting for your loading, your riding style, your speed, the conditions you are riding in, and a heap more besides; so as mentioned in those earlier posts, if you get an increase of MORE than 4psi, your start pressure was Too Low; while if you get an increase of LESS than 4psi, your start pressure was Too High.

It's pretty simple really, and for most, their loading &/or riding style, conditions etc really don't change enough from ride to ride that varying your tire starting pressures with every ride is something you need to sweat about too much - if you're within a pound or two of that ideal pressure 4 psi increase after an hour's ride today, then you're probably OK for the rest of today's ride, and you can always adjust your riding a bit to cool off or heat up your tires today (if you want too); or you can simply store that knowledge for now and adjust your initial starting pressure as indicated for next week's ride if all those variables/conditions look to be fairly similar; or you could maybe even make allowances and increase your initial starting pressure up or down a psi or two for any changes you expect to see in the riding you're about to do next time you ride!

As for adjusting tire pressures on the fly - you'd only ever want to adjust your tire pressures by ONE HALF of the DIFFERENCE between the pressure your tires ARE at after an hour or so's ride, and the pressure they SHOULD have been if they went up by the ideal target of 4psi - so even if your OEM tires were grossly under-inflated initially and they went from saay, 18 psi to 28 psi after an hour's ride, you'd really only want to add 1/2 of the difference between the 22 that was the ideal target and the 28 actual pressure they reached, ie. 28 minus 22 = 6 and 1/2 of 6 psi = 3 psi... So a quick squirt of the forecourt air hose should do that easily! It's a bit harder if your tire pressure's don't increase by as much as 4 psi after an hour's ride, cos that means your starting pressure was too high, your tire/s are over-inflated, and yet 1/2 of the difference between what they are and what they should have been if they went up by 4 psi is going to be pretty small - saay you started your A/mkt car tires at 18 psi and now, an hour's ride later, they're maybe just 19 psi, when ideally, they should've been 22 psi... So those A/mkt car tires are clearly over-inflated for the conditions and riding you're doing today, buuut - 22 minus 19 leaves a difference of only 3 psi, and 1/2 of that is just 1.5 psi - it's gonna be pretty hard to drop that precisely, isn't it?? So maybe you'd just take that one on notice & remember it for next weeks ride, when, if conditions are pretty much the same, you juust might want to start out on your ride with your A/mkt tires at about 17 psi instead of 18 psi!

But don't get too stressed about it - for most, near enough will be good enough! Just like all those concerns in the quote above will be negated soon enough after you start riding, the difference of 1 or 2 psi between the ideal and your actual isn't going to be too critical in the overall scheme of things, well, not for maybe as much as the next 1000 miles or so anyway, meaning that you might want to learn from those 1 or 2 psi differences and make the indicated changes next time you ride, gradually adjusting your initial starting pressure over the next 10 or so hour+ rides you do, meaning that you're gradually getting closer and closer to your ideal pressure for most conditions; BUT if you're running 28 psi in an a/mkt car tire, there's a very good chance that your initial starting pressure is about 10 psi too high - I haven't yet found ANYONE who is heavy enough, loads their bike so much, or who rides hard enough to warrant that sort of pressure in any 'real' car tire fitted to a Spyder, or who needs anything much more than about 16-18 psi in an A/mkt tire for most Spyder riding - but the OEM Kendas & their clones are so lightly made that they NEED the tire placard sort of pressure in them simply to keep the metal bits off the road, and that brings all sorts of wear, handling, tire longevity, etc. issues with it!

Have Fun, Ride More, Worry Less!

 

[flapjackandbeans]

Yes, whoever said look under seat, they were correct! Here is the info, in case it can help anyone else. I went out in some great UK Spring sunshine wearing a so called hip compression sleeve, hoping it would reduce the pain on my hip whilst riding, but alas, it did not work. So I had to return home mid ride out... For anyone interested, I can REPORT the updated 2024-2025 software has made the Apple CarPlay and other running connections far better as in connectivity and usage. I just need my hip now...