Ricford,
I'm no expert, but have been doing a bunch of tests to bear out what I have been told. Trust, but verify. I have tried everything, including the 4 PSI heat buildup rule, handling, etc. What finally convinced me is the wet tire footprint. Some folks use chalk, some use water. Here's what I did.
1. On smooth dry concrete. Air your tire up to about 20-22 PSI.
2. Spray bottle with water, mist the front patch on the tire until slightly wet.
3. Roll bike forward until you see the wet patch on the concrete behind the tire.
4. Measure the footprint. Compare it to the tires tread width. If all the tread width isn't hitting the ground, how can you expect the tire to do its best? I don't consider the edge where the tire curves up to the sidewall the tread area, even though it's got grooves and sipes.
5. Adjust tire pressure up or down to get the correct footprint. Take into account your bikes load at the time of the test, your body weight included.
6. Come up with a 2 pressure system, unladen (you only, or maybe you and a passenger)., and fully laden, including max weight of the bike with everything in the bags.
Have you noticed in all the threads the amazing differences people are getting in tire mileage before wear out? I figure it this way, if all the tire is supporting load, there should be less load per square inch. I'm currently running 17 PSI front and 17 PSI rear for my unladen pressures. You can't rely on my numbers, your tires are different, bike weighs different, etc. I was amazed how low the pressures can get before total footprint contact, still testing to see if they're correct. So far, it looks very good.
hyea:......PS it's coming back to me now, why you are on my Ignore List :clap::roflblack:...…….
