? tire pressures recommended for 1100rt

[Glacier_g_rt]

Would someone out there please give me a little guidence on the correct tire pressures front and rear. A new front tire is being mounted as this is posted. Thanks

[Rob L]

The pressures are listed under the seat. OR fill them somewhere between 35 and 42 PSI depending on who you listen to and how you ride and how much weight is involved. I use about 40 in both.

[Glacier_g_rt]

Thanks Rob. Sound about right to me.

[Ken H.]

Opinions will vary, but there is some consensus that on the higher side of the range is better than the lower side. 38/40, 40/40 or somewhere around there.

[tomk99r11]

Ken has the most oft cited perspective. Excess tire wear can occur if too high, as well as the contact patch gets smaller which can affect handling depending on the type of riding you do.

 

As an aside, I have several pressure guages - a couple of digitals, many old pop up guage type, and now a dial guage type. I trusted the digital type, newer and cost more so they have to be better, right? While changing tires, I used both of the digitals while airing the tires. One guage is a full 5 psi higher than the other, and that guage is the one I most often used. So, the tire has been overfilled during its short life, shortened by being over inflated. So, make sure you trust your guage is my caution.

 

Don't think we need to get into the necessity or benefits of using nitrogen vs plain ole air!

[Boffin]

Would someone out there please give me a little guidence on the correct tire pressures front and rear. A new front tire is being mounted as this is posted. Thanks

 

I always look on the tyre manufacturers web site for their recommended pressures - they can vary quite a bit from make-to-make.

 

Andy

[Mudman]

I pretty much follow Metzler's recommended pressure for my bike when I have their tires. It works fine for me, but use a quality guage that is accurate or all bets are off

[Al Navecky Jr]

I run 36F\42R. With my Smartire system I normally see a 0 PSI increase or decrease as the temp goes up. The Smartire compares the PSI and temp and give you a + or - of what the tire should be.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Al,

You wanna explain that to me?

Not a knock, but how the hell does the Smart Tire system know what the pressure should be and why would it compensate its reading for temperature, ambient or otherwise?

I want to know what pressure my tires are at, period. I tend to use a different method from most here in that I like to check my tire pressure hot. Ride for a hundered miles or so and then check pressures. I usually shoot for somplace close to the maximum recommended cold pressure for the tire. Can be a little mushy on a cool morning but we don't see that many of those in Florida.

 

If I haven't ridden one of my bikes in a few weeks, which is often the case, I'll shoot for something around 36f/38r as a starting point and then adjust from there.

[BUSTED]

Most abnormal and premature tire wear can be attributed to underinflated front and overinflated rear pressures.

[Tony_K]

Not meant to be a hijack but how do you confirm the accuracy of whatever guage used?

 

I've read of digitals being accurate but seeing in this post one that is off by 5 lbs.

[BUSTED]

I can't speak for others but I carry the same gage on the bike at all times. When I'm home I use as many as 4 gages to check pressures on all my vehicles,(2 mechanical and 2 digital),and record their differences of which have been a 3lb difference high to low. Even if the one I rely on for the bike is wrong, it will be consistant by always using it as my standard.

[Bob Palin]

Even if the one I rely on for the bike is wrong, it will be consistant by always using it as my standard.

True, but how did you establish your standard? (This is actually the interesting question, not what the number representing the pressure is) We already know about the 10% hot method so no need to repeat that if it is your method too.

[Deaner]

Ken has the most oft cited perspective. Excess tire wear can occur if too high, as well as the contact patch gets smaller which can affect handling depending on the type of riding you do.

 

I thought the lower the pressure the greater the wear. I understand BMW recommends a low tire pressure but the consensus was that it will wear down your tire more but give you better handling than a higher pressure.

[tomk99r11]

Ken's post is that higher pressures, but not what most of us I am guessing, is excessive. The difference in handling between the bike or tire mfgrs cite and what we are talking about here is hardly perceptible to most of us, but the wear will happen much quicker at the lower pressures. At too high pressure though, the contact patch gets smaller so you won't want to ride tight twisties real hard! Wish I was as close to lots of tight twisties like you have in CO.

[smiller]

but the wear will happen much quicker at the lower pressures.

I'm not sure that's right. Too high a pressure will cause excessive wear as well and by running on the high side as I have been doing for many years I think I may have been doing myself more harm than good. After some recent experimentation it seems to me that best performance and lowest wear occurs at... surprise of surprises... BMW's recommended pressures. Who would have thought..?

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Really not all that surprising, Seth. I have long disagreed with the idea of inflating the tire to near max pressures unless the loading of the tire calls for it. When so doing, the tire will tend to a rounder profile placing the majority of the load on a smaller patch of the tread. By using lower pressure, the tire will assume a flatter profile and spread the load over a wider area of the tread.

 

The only real reduction in contact patch, btw, occurs at the straight up and down position. As you roll onto the sides of the tire, the contact patch actually increases and there is very little difference in the surface area within the normal inflation range. Now, compliance is a different matter, the tires make up a significant portion of the suspension of the bike, especially when leaned over and it is here that a softer inflation pressure can provide some real gains.

 

Some further food for thought on the mfg. recommneded pressure thing. My 1100S and my Blackbird weigh within 50 or so pounds of each other, have similar wheelbases and use the same size/rating tires. Yet, Honda recommends 42/42 and BMW 33/36 as I recall. Who is right? I realize there is a considerable speed potential difference between the two bikes with the S unable to even reach the speed rating of the Z-rated tires it comes with.

 

In the real world, where I seldom exceed 100 mph on either bike, OK, OK the Blackbird sees the other side of 100 far more often due to the ease of getting there, I run 36/39, unladen, on both bikes. 37/40 when running with loaded luggage. I get, what I consider, fair to good tire life, typically 8K rear, 12-14K front. I do tend to change tires on the early side, worst case being 2500 miles on the D208 I fitted on the back of the Blackbird after the Z6 went to the cords at 7K miles. No more of those for me. The Pilot Roads I just fitted to the 'bird are just great. Wear remains to be seen but I can say that the elephants are starting to look a little ragged after a trip over the Cherohala, a return on Deals Gap and then a couple hundered miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway from Fancy Gap to I64. Those are cold numbers BTW, hot, they come out to 40/42 when running the laden bike.

 

On to standards and accuracy of tire gauges. I used to have about 8 or 9 gauges in my various tank bags/tool kits/ tool box. All are gone now but my BMW digital gauge. I brought them into work and calibrated them against a dead weight manomter loaned to us by our calibration service. Turns out the BMW gauge was spot on with none of the others within 2 lbs and the worst, an aftermarket lookalike to the BMW gauge was reading nearly 6 lbs high at 35 PSI. The gauge on the two stage regulator on my N2 tank is pretty accurate as well and I use that to inflate my tires when in my garage.

[Bob Palin]

The Pilot Roads I just fitted to the 'bird are just great. Wear remains to be seen but I can say that the elephants are starting to look a little ragged

Your Pilot Roads have elephants on them?

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Not for very much longer.

[Bob Palin]

I've seen elephants on Metzelers but not on Michelins.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Just put on my specs and went out and looked, your right, it is the Michelin man. He's missing his hand and part of his head now, so the resemblence to my increasingly poor eyesight, fooled me. I'm kinda dumb sometimes when it comes to corporate logos.

[BUSTED]

I had the one I carry on the bike tested by B.F.Goodrich Racing technicians. Also, I run 42psi in the rear tire only when 2-up and loaded with gear. I average 12/14,000 miles on them.

[Al Navecky Jr]

Al,

You wanna explain that to me?

Not a knock, but how the hell does the Smart Tire system know what the pressure should be and why would it compensate its reading for temperature, ambient or otherwise?

I want to know what pressure my tires are at, period. I tend to use a different method from most here in that I like to check my tire pressure hot. Ride for a hundered miles or so and then check pressures. I usually shoot for somplace close to the maximum recommended cold pressure for the tire. Can be a little mushy on a cool morning but we don't see that many of those in Florida.

 

If I haven't ridden one of my bikes in a few weeks, which is often the case, I'll shoot for something around 36f/38r as a starting point and then adjust from there.

With Smartire (correct spelling trade name) you set your tire pressure and calibrate to that pressure. When you are traveling down the road you can read the tire pressure and temperature. The system compares the set PSI the current PSI and the temp and tells you the if the PSI is correct. When I first used it with my PSI set at 38F\44R I was always 2-3 PSI high. Running 36F\42R the compared PSI is normally 0. For more info go to www.smartire.com

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I guess I don't understand how this thing works. We do know that tire pressure will rise with internal temperature rise, that is simple physics. I don't understand their deviation warning though. At least not for the pressure/temperature thing. Just my opinion but that thing looks like an answer to a question I never asked. I know my tires are gonna be a little low on a cold morning and a little high on a really hot day. Hardly need another gadget up on the dash, although I am adding a digital voltmeter to my portable dashboard.

[Al Navecky Jr]

Hardly need another gadget up on the dash, although I am adding a digital voltmeter to my portable dashboard.

My motto “He who dies with the MOST TOYS WINS”

[RFW]

Would someone out there please give me a little guidence on the correct tire pressures front and rear. A new front tire is being mounted as this is posted. Thanks

Whatever the manufacturer states in the manual or on the notice printed under the seat.