Motorcycle Tire Pressure - Everything you Need to Know

How do you know what the optimal tire pressure is for your street bike, dirtbike, dual sport or adventure bike? We go beyond the owners manual and take a deep dive into contact patch, compliance, load carrying ability, airing down for dirt, tire wear and more.

Index:
00:00-00:29 Intro
00:29-02:37 What Is Pressure?
02:37-04:42 Temperature & Pressure
04:42-07:08 Pressure Guidelines
07:08-10:03 Street Pressure / Traction
10:03-11:57 Why Air Down?
11:57-16:38 Recommended Pressures DS/AVD/Dirt
16:38-17:25 Conclusion

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[BigRockMoto]

🏍 Support Big Rock Moto! Shop at Revzilla and Rocky Mountain ATV/MC using my links!

[mindful_moto]

Ignore the haters, I absolutely love your channel and thorough explanations, this is why you’re one of the best on YouTube! Great vid

[Tony_Seed]

Your totally right, I do the same and haven’t had problems, I’ve got a dual sport/dirtbike where I would run about 15 psi offroad and about 25-30 on road and I just always keep them at 20 psi because I always ride on the road to my off-roading spot then I need to ride back after I’m done so I take the guess work out set them at 20 and forget it

[NZBallBag]

Mate... thank you. To the point full of facts, backed up by science. Good job. Most accurate discussions I have seen on tire pressure. Good job

[Carlos-bpvp]

You covered everything.
One thing I learned from Dave Moss: for street riding, set the hot pressure +3-5psi from cold. So I set it 34 cold and after 45 min riding at my normal pace, I pull over and want to see at least 37.

[doublex]

Dual Sports, set and forget: 20psi F / 18psi R. Unless you like repairs in the middle of nowhere far away from home :) Great video's keepem coming, thanks

[allans]

I have a dual sport bike and I run higher pressure on street and a lower pressure off roading
I keep a handy electric mini pump on the bike to adjust the pressure

[richardsprings]

Thank you Ian I run the Africa twin with the trailmax missions it was nice seeing you at Adventure days

[kawabungah]

Excellent! What more can I say. You're a positive force for promoting good Motorcycling!

[mehdimirza]

Very Educational for all ages Thanks 🙏

[gordonflash]

Great video for me a beginner 650 v strom rider, Thanks so much, good clear advice.

[martinsaunders]

Excellent, very well explained. Too many people seem to think that the maximum cold tyre inflation pressure stamped on the sidewall of the tyre, is the recommended riding pressure. And IMO that could be a bit dangerous if someone rides around at the max inflation pressure all the time. Thanks …a very good, informative video. 👍👍👍

[Angry-Lynx]

Just have about 1.7- 1.8 for all around adventuring.
1.5 for mostly offroading and 2.0+ for mostly onroading.
I currently ride at 1.6front and 2.0 rear with 90/10 tires. Works great on gravel and onroad.

[dancier]

For me always the max pressure for the task, so I don't let my tyres down much and only ride gnarly stuff occasionally. Was out bush in the mud not long back and got a fast front leak so rode home pumping the tyre up at each service station along the way and noticed at the first small town from my bush exit a nice shiny KTM dual sport sitting on the sidewalk while the owner was having coffee. Be good to get your advice on roadside puncture repair, glue patches, pumps etc, plus tool kits, ideas for the future of course. ARR had a podcast on this, but it's not visual. Great work.

[brechtverfremdung]

I’d love to learn your take on tire tread! Fascinating topic for sure! 👐🥸

[leanit]

More pressure protects the tire carcass, your wheels, and tubes if present. More pressure also, equals less traction, rougher ride, and more load carrying capacity. More speed, weight, and/or less suspension travel/compliance (on dirt) will require more pressure.

[verdedenim]

somewhat new to this, so this is really great info! I can attest to wishing I knew this a week ago when I went up a road with rocks the size of my fist! I made it a little more than half way before i was dumped onto those rocks! I have a KTM 890 Adv R. It was mentioned to me afterward that airing down would have been a good idea. My tires are running around 36 psi on street, so I'm guessing the next time I go there I'll let them down to around 25-26. Thanks for the great information!

[mikesbigadventures]

Did RawHyde over Thanksgiving and they had us air down to 25 psi for the course and even though the Base Camp Alpha involved som freeway and highway riding we never aired up. In fact, after it was done, I rode 287 miles home on the freeway and forgot to air up. Luckily I never got above 75 because the buffeting on my 790 was so terrible (looking at the Givi 7710D replacement windscreen).

[twowheels]

from a 350-690 KTM is 15psi f/b off on road, I've never had any prob

[michaelhayward]

I run 4-6 psi in the rear and 6-8 in the front on my 250 85 kg classic trials bikes, depending on conditions. Getting the 2 kms to the practice area on compacted red dirt roads in 6th can get a bit sketchy....