The 3to5 pound rule

[joe pain]

hey everone, does anyone subscribe to this air pressure rule? In case your not familiar with this rule, here goes......... pick a psi number fill the tires to that amount, ride 50 miles and check your tire pressure, it should have increased "3 to 5" pounds!!!!! if it didn't you have to much air in the tire, if it did your ok, now if it increased more than 3 to 5 pounds you need more air, I have used this rule for over 20 years, and I get very good tire milage, on a 2 wheel MC so, I am going to use this rule for my new trike as well, and 35 pounds increased both rear tires 3 pounds

 

[Wayne Harmsen]

Thirty five pounds is to much. We run twenty to twenty two in our trike and are getting great tire wear and it rides better.
That is what we found works for us your results may very.

 

[Nauga Mok]

The 3 - 5# rule works great when tires are running within their normal load range like a car tire on a car or a bike tire on a bike. However, we're runnng a car tire designed for, 1700# (aprox) each. In other words one car tire could easily cary the entire weight of our trikes -- & we're using 2 of 'em on just the rear for a whomping big load of 350 - 400# instead of the designed of 1700#. In this grossly under loaded condition, the 3 - 5# rule doesn't work. One of the reasons we ride trikes is the comfort. We get a more comfortable ride in the 20 - 25psi range where the trie becoms a cushioning component in our suspension. Since the tries we use are SO underloaded, the lower inflarion rates don't hurt the tire that much so we still get a decent tire life span. Try checking for pressure rise at the lower imflation levels on your trike & see what happens. The pressure needed in a tire is directly perportional to the load it carries. Now, when we load up for a trip with a passenger, pulling a trailer -- where you have some load on the tire, maybe we need to bump the pressure up to the 25 - 30 lb range.

NM

 

[Jimsjinx]

Thanks you guys! I never really understood it all. I just kept them at what is printed on em. I have played with tire pressures, but didn't really know what I was doing! LOL Thanks, good explinations.:yes: jimsjinx

 

[joe pain]

The 3 - 5# rule works great when tires are running within their normal load range like a car tire on a car or a bike tire on a bike. However, we're runnng a car tire designed for, 1700# (aprox) each. In other words one car tire could easily cary the entire weight of our trikes -- & we're using 2 of 'em on just the rear for a whomping big load of 350 - 400# instead of the designed of 1700#. In this grossly under loaded condition, the 3 - 5# rule doesn't work. One of the reasons we ride trikes is the comfort. We get a more comfortable ride in the 20 - 25psi range where the trie becoms a cushioning component in our suspension. Since the tries we use are SO underloaded, the lower inflarion rates don't hurt the tire that much so we still get a decent tire life span. Try checking for pressure rise at the lower imflation levels on your trike & see what happens. The pressure needed in a tire is directly perportional to the load it carries. Now, when we load up for a trip with a passenger, pulling a trailer -- where you have some load on the tire, maybe we need to bump the pressure up to the 25 - 30 lb range.

NM

holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you for taking the time for the explanation