There’s a lot of discussion about tyre pressures and the consensus seems to be that it’s necessary to have 700c tyres at 100psi or thereabouts. This is fine in the workshop with a floor pump and pressure gauge, but what about whilst on the road? Is it just a case of pumping the tyre as hard as possible and then relying on the thumb test?
Personally i check my pressure before each ride with a track pump. You could take a pressure gauge on a ride with you, but the whole process of checking pressure means air escapes…
Hi everyone, tyre pressures on the road is all dependent on you and your pump.
A small tyre pressure gauge isn’t going to cost you much lost air.
You can purchase good and bad pumps, some even fitted with a gauge.
With the combined wieght of both riders, remember to get in as much as possible.
Because that front or rear tyre without the right amount of pressure will be dangerous to try and corner with.
And you don’t want to inspect the tarmac, now do we!
We bought one of the cycleair pumps at York Rally in 2006, having seen them in 2005 and thought they might be a bit of a gimmick. It’s great, takes up a bit of space in the tool bag but it does a great job of getting fairly high pressure into the tyres and it’s less strain on the arms than a conventional pump. Still no substitute for a proper track pump though .
As for pressures, we run 90 fr and 100 rear on 700C, 85 fr and 90 rear on 26”, maybe 95 when we’re touring although using a trailer means there isn’t too much extra weight on the rear anyway.
As previously mentioned, check the pressures before setting off with a good track pump and you should be OK for most things. After a puncture, any pressure is better than none. When the puncture was front tyre, downhill on a wet road across Dartmoor, I’d have been happy to blow it up by mouth
Schwalbe Marthon, 26 * 1.5 HS308. They’re rated 45psi to 100 psi. With a combined weight of ‘a bit too much’ and a suspension stoker seat post, they’re very comfortable and so far they’ve resisted punctures. If I was doing a reasonable bit of off road stuff, I’d probably let them down by 10 psi but we don’t do much off roading on the tandem so I don’t usually bother.
On an associated subject, I seen advertised recently some sort of lubricant which helps tyres - especially 77c - slide over the rim. Has anyone any experience of this. Obviously with rim brakes a lubricant would be a potential problem but with disc brakes it seems like a good idea, bearing in mind the job I had the last time I fixed a puncture at the roadside
John and I use a HPX4 pump on our tandem. This is the one we recommend to customers, as it fits on the frame and will go up to the required pressure. Of course I have an advantage as John knows what 100 psi feels like.
Hi everyone, tyre pressures on the road is all dependent on you and your pump.
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