Have I been pumping up my tyres wrong pressure to date???

[Drago]

Pump it to a pressure that provides you with your desired combination of comfort, rolling ability/resistance, and grip. There's no 'right' pressure.

 

[Lauris]

I think your key takeaway here is that although road bike tyres may look fragile compared to, say, a car tyre, they are designed to withstand the high pressures we are talking about

Really, unless the tyre has some significant defect it's never going to "explode" at 100psi or whatever. And weighing 100kg you should notice a significant improvement in both comfort and speed at the higher pressure

Totally agree! Was definitely rolling faster than before!

 

[Lauris]

Pump it to a pressure that provides you with your desired combination of comfort, rolling ability/resistance, and grip. There's no 'right' pressure.

I am going to keep it at 80psi for now.
Another thing I noticed is when I took off the old tyres they had this like a line around the whole tyre, it looks like something that would happen from having to low pressure so the tyre presses in to much when riding if that makes sense.

 

[mjr]

Another thing I noticed is when I took off the old tyres they had this like a line around the whole tyre, it looks like something that would happen from having to low pressure so the tyre presses in to much when riding if that makes sense.

Yeah, if you run tyres soft, the sides will be folding more than designed and crack up sooner, but there is a canvas or similar lining the inside so it's OK until bits start falling off. If you run tyres way too hard, the tops go sort of flat (because you mostly ride straightish) and ridges may form that eventually make steering a bit jerky. Often when either of these become noticeable, the tyre has not much longer before it wears thin

 

[Donger]

I once overinflated a Slime self-healing inner tube in my living room. Anyone who has ever seen Ghostbusters will recall the Library scene where green ectoplasm went everywhere. That happened. Green all over our (terrified) white cat, my (irate) wife, the telly and the ceiling. Even two months later we were still finding green splatter in new places .... the underside of our nest of tables, my inkjet printer, the spare TV remote etc. My wife and I agreed I'd do all my bike repairs in the garage in future.

As to actual pressures, I tend to do my rear wheel up to about 90psi, which feels firm but comfortable, and the front wheel to exactly 80psi. I have found that varying it at all on the front wheel distorts the accuracy of my trip computer, which is the old type that uses a magnet on the wheel and is calibrated by reference to the wheel and tyre size.

 

[winjim]

My rims are actually rated to a lower pressure than my tyres. I don't know what happens if I exceed it. Bad things...

 

[MichaelW2]

Quite frankly I'm surprised that you are still alive. An uncalibrated thumb is a danger to man and beast

 

[Twilkes]

I'm 100kg and 25mm tyres and anything over 100psi is a rough ride on UK roads. I generally aim for 90psi, and when the tyre starts to feel low I pump it up again - I'm generally surprised that this can be getting down to 60psi before it becomes noticeable. So 80psi is probably a good compromise between rolling resistance and comfort even at 100kg.

 

[snorri]

So I have always pumped my tyres and then checked firmness by pressing my finger that's how I decided if its enough or not

Exactly what many of us oldies did in our younger days, but when coming back to cycling and having some disposable income I bought a track pump with built in guage and now don't need to get my hands dirty when pressing the tyre to check pressure. Best cycling accessory I have ever bought!
Ignore if you aready have a trackpump.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Cover up the pressure gauge on your pump. Pump up your tyre using your previous thumb test. When happy uncover the gauge and see what you were pumping the tyre up.

Out on the road I do the thumb test after fixing a puncture. I don’t cycle round with a track pump or a smaller one with a gauge.