MTB Tire Pressure: What PSI are you running?
It never ceases to amaze me. Every time I visit a local or destination trail head, there is a wide range of tire pressures run by mountain biking enthusiasts. With new mountain bike tires entering the market that are lighter, stronger and have more volume, more mountain bike riders are enjoying the benefits of a beefier tire that still rolls quickly on fast, technical trails, but each rider handles their tire pressure needs differently based on preferences.
After seeing the wide range of pressures run by different mountain bikers over time, I thought I would run a short poll here on Mountain Biking by 198 to see what you guys are running on your mountain bikes. The poll is simple, pick the PSI range that you run in your mountain bike tires and then let us know what width tire you run on your mountain bike currently.
These results should get interesting…if you feel you need to elaborate on your answer…hit up the comments section at the bottom of the article. We want to hear your feedback on this issue.
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Tags: mountain bike tire, mountain biking, tire pressure
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I played around with pressures for a good while before settling on my standard setup of 30psi front and 35psi rear with tubes on my hardtail. I do play with it a bit to suit conditions but as I’m about 90kg, that’s about as low as I go without pinch flats.
One of my regular riding partners is about 55kg and he gets away with 24psi/28psi (f/r) on the same tyres and tubes.
There needs to be a poll that splits these answers into two buckets, tubes or UST.
I’m running tubes, 225’s, 35psi up front and 38psi in the rear.
About the poll, I agree with randyharris.
My feeling, lately, is the rolling efficiency of a tubeless set is much greater than that of a set with a tube. The reason for this, I think, is that it has something to do with plying the tube against the inside of the tire creating a stiffer surface… or at least that’s what gets me through the day. At least they seem to feel a bit faster.
I’ve been running about 29 psi in the back, and about 25 psi in the front (it goes up and down some depending on the trail/weather/etc.). This is on a standard Nevegal tire with Stan’s rims and sealant.
Typically, you can run lower pressures with a tubeless system (size kept constant) than a tubed system.
I run the same in each (27 psi on 2.35 or 2.4 tires…bring on the volume!).
I would guess rider weight would have a lot to do with it also.
Yep, weight and riding style does come into play. Another is tire and rim fit. At 240lb and an aggressive cornering rider I have never been able to run much less than about 35psi. Any less and things get interesting. Tires squirm, fold over, or even roll right off the rim. And then there are pinch flats at lower pressure too.
Yep. I run 240lbs and keep my pressure around 38psi. I can tell real quick when the pressure gets low, cause the tire starts to squirm.
I used to have to run really high pressures, until I went UST.
Running Schwalbe BB front at 26psi and rear Fat Albert 30psi has been eye-opening. At 240 riding weight with these mounted on DT5.1s, I have been happy and flat free for a long time.
A combination of weight and trail type makes a big difference. As a Clydesdale rider who likes to earn his downhills, high pressure makes the climb up more tolerable – a beeeeeeg diffence. But, if I don’t lower the pressure at the top, I can feel the tires bouncing off objects on the way down. Lowering the pressure lets the tires grip and guide. So, I drop about 15 lbs at the top and pump ‘um back up at the bottom. Currently experiementing w/Nevegals – 2.1 up front, 2.35 rear. 48 lbs going up hill, 33 going down.
It depends on the tire and the trail obviously. If I’m rocking some Intense System 3 I’ll run 30 psi on smooth single track. If I’m running dual ply dh 25/27 psi is optimal.
It would be nice if you could put together a chart based on rider weight, terrain, tube/tubeless setup, and 29 vs. 26.
And does duallie/hard tail change the pressures too?
its comfortable for me to run 25-29psi using the 1.75 width i am 32lbs with this my speed is great, im a cross country rider using the mtb.
Obviously weight is a key factor. Tire pressure is similar to determining the proper sag in your rear shock. 50kg person can run 25PSI even if he’s riding very aggressively. 100kg person can’t ride 25PSI even if he’s very gentle.
Then the rest of the variables like tubeless, trail condition, cornering speed (g-outs) etc are start to play and can’t the base pressure few PSIs to each direction.
I’m 70kg and I think my SAG pressure is about 25-26 PSI. As I’m getting better rider I’m riding faster on the rock gardens, taking burms much faster, and has better body English on turns so I can ride higher pressure without washing a way. All of that caused me to run higher pressure up to 29-32PSI today since at 25PSI, I manage to dent my rims to death in few weeks.
I’m 180 +/- on a given day and riding a hardtail XC. I have been running 40-41 on the rear and 36 on the front w/ the Kenda Komodo. I like the faster ride with the higher pressure in the rear and the 36 seems to let me corner well enough in the front. Maybe some of the other high volume tires will be better for experimenting with lower pressures and less probability of a pinch flat. I am thinking of switching up to Nevgal front and Karma rear tire set up for mixed clay-root-rocky terrain here in East TN. Any thoughts from more excperience riders?
I use a 2.0 Kenda Karma (tube) in the front w/about 22 psi and a 1.9 UST w/about 23 psi in the rear. I ride a Blue XC, and have found that the lowest pressure I can run without pinch flatting provides the most shock absorbtion, so I don’t feel abused by my hardtail.
I had to average my clicks.
Front is a 2.35 and rear is a 2.1.
Front tire is around 35-40 psi.
Rear tire needs to be 38-42 psi. Otherwise I start killing rims.
Tubed wheels, Ritchey tires, and rider about 200 pounds.
Terrain is playing a part into it too. I was riding a lot of rocks early in the year, and low pressure – and the rim showed it too! Had to get the wheel rebuilt.
James
As a large (230#) rider I find that I need to run at least 40 psi in the rear and 32 psi in front in order to keep the tires from feeling squishy and unmanageable in the turns. I’m running Kenda Nevegal 2.25 on a 29″ Turner Sultan.
Hola i am sure that the riders weight is very important so the tire size and the bicy weight and the terrain that you will be riding on.Try to work on a chart that take this points in consideration.I am a 63 years old very active person i ride my mountain bike every day possible but i havent found people my age that like to ride on trails so i ride with young people and they are very shock to see me riding.
Like other riders have pointed-out, PSI totally depends on the variables.
Rider’s weight, type of tire, size of tire, riding style, conditions, bike-type (hard-tail, full-suspension), etc…
I weigh 200lbs, usually ride a hardtail 29er, usually ride XC (single-track) mostly hard-pack trails, usually use 2.1 Kenda small block tires…
For me, the ‘happy’ PSI is 32-34/front and 34-36/back
If I’m up at Tahoe and riding my Blur, you get a different answer
In summary…
Gnarly conditions = Bigger tires = Less PSI
Fast/Quick conditions = Smaller tires = More PSI
body weight. Im 290 and run 50 soft conditions 60 hard conditions. Also run two sets of tires mud set and trail set. Also a tire man for 24 years and believe in running them hard as possible let the tire do the work its compounded and designed to do. Its easyer to peddle a hard tire than a soft tire,pump them up.
Running Conti MK 2.4s out back, WTB 2.5 Weirwolf up front, Stan’s tubeless, running about 38 psi front and rear. SICK traction!!
38 psi with that much volume? Have you tried lower?
I weigh about 250lbs and run Conti Mountain King 2.4s on a hard tail. Can anyone give me some advice on what sort of pressure I should expect to be running? Most of my riding is road/fire trail/moors so quite a variety.
Appreciate it!