Stupid Tire Pressure Question

1982 750 Seca.....What is ideal tire pressure front and rear?

 

It depends on the tire manufactures recommendations. I've seen tires have a rage of 5 pounds of air and I've seen tires that have a 15 pound pressure range. Check the tire sidewall for what the manufacturer recommends, then go from there.

Other factors include road surface, air temperature, gross weight of the vehicle and riders, etc.

Examples:
My tires are rated for 30 to 40 pounds of air pressure. I weigh 250 with nothing else on the bike so I run them about 37 pounds. If I had a rider I would run the 40 pounds.
Road surface-If I have to switch to gravel roads (sometimes do) then I'll run around 33 pounds in them. I've had tires get holes from sharp rocks with them fully inflated.
Temperature- if it's 100 degrees out I could run a couple pounds less because of the heat expansion at highway speeds.

However, all that being said, I run my tires at a constant pressure, within the manufacturers specs, unless I have to do a lot of gravel roads.

Just don't run the tires outside of the company's pressure and weight recommendations, bad juju.

 

under inflated tires blow out more then properly inflated tires when it's 100 degrees outside.

you never see tire treads in the winter. but come summertime you'll see all over the highway.

being a truck driver. the only time i get a blowout is during the summertime due to underflation. and them tires run at 100 psi.

 

Haynes (the only 750 Reference I have) says 28F 33R and 33F 36R for "high speed" riding.

Some "premium" tires (Avon, Pirelli, Metzeler) run a tad higher or at the high end of the range.

I'd split the difference at around 30F 35R and see how it feels.

 

But is that for a 138 pound Japanese test pilot ?? On 1980 Bridgestone tires?? Can we trust the books on this??

 

No, those are the "above 198lb" numbers, and no, we don't fully trust the book, especially the Haynes; hence my disclaimer.

Like I said, I'd split the reccomended ranges and start there; and do a little research as to whose tires they are and what the manufacturer recommends. But 30-32 in the front and 33-36 or even 40 in the rear will be perfectly safe in lieu of other recommendations.

 

It has always been my understanding that the stamp on the tire was the max pressure and is only related to the recommend pressure if you intended to exceed it. Just because you can put 45 psi in that expensive tire doesn't mean that 33 won't handle better. If it says heavy weight and/or high speed, put it at that pressure. My side cover has the pressures on it I'm pretty sure.
I doubt a few extra pounds will hurt if you regularly commute two up on the freeway, but don't give it all the pressure it can take. That's just dumb.

 

That wasn't what I was recommending.

I said that the best thing to do was to check the manufacturer's recommendations, NOT "go by the stamp on the sidewall." That is indeed (usually) the maximum, and probably not a good idea unless loaded to the max.

But TIME had a good point, the factory recommended specs could be off by a few pounds when it comes to newer technology, premium tires.

For example, here are Avon's recommendations, as you can see they are right in step with what Yamaha recommends, but a bit to the higher side. http://www.avonmoto.com/tech/tire-pressure-guidelines

 

I haven't bought a lot of tires but that's the first time I've seen tires come with a manual. Of course go by the manual for the tire if you have one but most people I think would presume that the manufactures' only recommendation is what's stamped. I wouldn't even split the difference, go with the recommendation for the tire you have, just like yamaha did in 1983.

It seems clear also that anyone asking that question doesn't have a manual that tells them the answer.

And someone did mention to check the sidewall, btw. You're so sensitive