tire pressures

[rodeo1]

o.k

got the roadsmith installed and painted, looks good and rides super.

what tire pressures are everyone using ? i have a new elite 3 on the front and wont change it till it wears out, then i will trash the radial for a mich. bias rear tire, but in the mean time what pressure is working good for long distance touring ? front and rear ?

its a valkyrie standard

 

[trikeleader]

I run my tire pressure at 40psi on the front and 22psi on the rear tires. I have over 50,000 miles on the trike and never had a tire issue. :wtg:

 

[rodeo1]

wow 22 in the rear, sounds really low. do you have any problems with wear on the outside edges of the tires ? i would love to run them that low, aught to give a great ride. 40 is about what i have always ran the front so that sounds fine.

i will definitly try the 22 on the rear.

thanks

 

[93TrikeWinger]

This topic runs rampad in alot of motorcycle sites... and can get quite confusing. <br />
I'm running a '09 GW1800 with a '11 CSC Conversion. It came from it's previous Owner with 31 in the front and 28 in the rear.<br />
<br />
Today, based on what I can determine from some research... I switched it to 38 (front) and 21 (rear).

 

[trikeleader]

The rear tires on a trike are automobile tires, they are designed to support the weight of a car. A trike weighes around 1100 pounds so the side walls will support that weight with very low pressure. I have totally even wear on the tires and the ride is very smooth. With the higher air pressure in the tires the ride is much more rough. At a pressure of 32# the trike will bounce down the highway like a basketball.

 

[Cycleguy]

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<img src="images/misc/quote_icon.png" alt="Quote" /> Originally Posted by <strong>rodeo1</strong>
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<div class="message">wow 22 in the rear, sounds really low. do you have any problems with wear on the outside edges of the tires ? i would love to run them that low, aught to give a great ride. 40 is about what i have always ran the front so that sounds fine.<br />
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i will definitly try the 22 on the rear.<br />
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thanks</div>

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</div>Most people run the rear pretty low, since the load is so much smaller than what the tire was designed for. Get the rear tires wet, and then roll them on dry pavement. It's pretty clear that wearing the outside will not be a problem in normal riding. <br />
<br />
The front is the exact opposite, it's very highly loaded when turning the trike, maybe moreso than on any two wheeler. So a lot of people use the max recommended pressure on the sidewall to help it cope.

 

[Nana]

Actually rodeo, most of us run our rear tires around that level. Some of us who ride solo and are quite small in size (me <img src="images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" />) even are lower than that. The trikes don't weigh any where close to what a car does, so the pressure on the tires is relatively low. The Champion dealer who built my trike actually filled my rear tires to 17-18 psi and as long as I keep it at that level -- and no higher than 20 psi -- my ride is very comfortable.

 

[rodeo1]

gotcha !

i understand what you all are saying, so its 22 for me and 40 on the E-3

thank you all so much

dennis
colo. CMA

 

[Lonerbtw]

Hi All<br />
Both my wife and myself ride Valkyries that I built and when I put them together I did the same thing and asked what pressure to run. Got the same ansers. But at that pressure it would wip the bars from my hands when I would hit a bump. Kept droping down till it quit. Now we both run 12 left 14 right to adjust for road crown. Now handles great with no wip. I am running 295/50/15s and my wife runs 245/60/15s so we both have alot of rubber on the road. The frount we run 30 to get more track on the road. You just have to play with it and find what works the best for you.<br />
Lonerbtw

 

[rodeo1]

loner

not here to tell you what to do with your ride, but i have to tell you this, in my opinion, 12 to 14 lbs. of pressure is asking for a de-beaded tire in an emergency situation.

regardless of the opinions of people on this or any other board. spend a minute talking to people who know tires, they will tell you that running tires at that low a pressure is very hard on the sidewalls, and like i said is asking for a failure.

my tire co. told me not to underinflate much under 25 lbs. on any car tire regardless of the load. so for me (and it is my opinion) i will stay above 25 psi. and run the front where the manufacturer says to run it - 41 psi.

personally i would rather be safe than have a cushy ride, and i can't see much difference anyway. and i still think the road crown issue is a bunch of baloney.

 

[skuuter]

My Original "Perfect" settings were 39 Front, and 20 Rear.....I have since gone to 42 Front (Less sidewall deflection and cupping).....I jockey the Rears between 20 and 24 now depending on 2-up/solo, and/or aggressive twisties riding (...tryin' to kick this habit...), cruisin' semi-straight highways.....ThumbUp

38-42 Front and 18-25 Rear seems to take in "Most" TRIKE TALK .com Members.....

 

[dirtdobber]

Had my trike for 3 days now. I lowered my rear tires pressure and wow what a difference. Smooth now, like I had hopped for. Now if I can figure out the how to tame the front some. Not bad mind ya at riding speeds but slow speed it is rather irritating.

 

[Nana]

dobber, do you have a rake kit on the trike? If not, that would help the front end a lot, and give you "power steering". If you already are raked there are possibly some other fixes the GW riders can suggest.

 

[Saltywheels]

Have had 38-40 / 22-24 Front / Rear almost from the get-go. Like Skuut, I am a twisties junkie (honest..I am trying to kick-the old 2W sport touring habbits.. and just plain love to flog ye ole trike. Wifey & I took great pains to play with the pressures, almost a pound at a time. The afore mentioned pressures have proven to be the most acceptable. AND...I have talked to quite a few manafacturers. So far no one has even remotely hinted at de-beading or any other major impending catastrophy. This just IMHO. But to each his own.

 

[dirtdobber]

Nanna, no I do not have not had the rake kit installed.
Perhaps this winter when the $$ are better.

 

[Teal]

rodeo
that doesnt add up,, you need to talk to another tire guy,,, its all about load,,, ie,, my f150 has 39 lbs in the front and the side wall look pooched,, does that mean i need to increase it,, not according to Bridgestone.,,,
check the tire patch on the road as stated above but i wouldn't go low enough for the tire to come loose from the wheel,,, 12 ?? i would not go that low without some testing.

 

[Lonerbtw]

Rodeo
I don`t want to start a fight just state personal knowledge. I have serviced several race trackes with fuel and tires for many years. Have mounted tires with as low as 8 lbs. on a 2000 lb. car with no sidewall problems. I understand that 8lbs. is not normal but most run between 15 and 20lbs. and not all of them were race tires some were pasenger car tires. I feel that that is more abuse than I could ever put on any tire and feel very safe and comfortable with what I am doing. I did go back to Big O tire where I bought them to ask about the pull and to see about putting my trike on there alignment machine to see if I built it correct. He is a friend of mine and with a little work we figured that the wheels were leval and square to the machine. He is the one that sugested to drop a couple of lbs. on the left and said is that not what thay do in nascar to improve handleing? I tryed it and it worked. Just wanted to make sugestions on personal experance and knowledge and not tell anyone what thay should do. I believe that you should ride what you like and set it up for what is comfortable for you. I found what works best for me(so far) and knowing me will probably change more than once in the future.
Lonerbtw

 

[rodeo1]

loner

o.k. so you don't want to start an argument, thats good, because all i said was too low pressure is a recipe for disaster, you jump up and star throwing your race car experience at me.

try this on for size my friend. in 1982 i was nascar rookie of the year, i raced all the way from street stock, sportsman, late model, to grand nat. on both dirt and pavement. yes you are correct, on some dirt tracks we ran very low air pressure. but if you have half the experience you claim to have you need to tell these folks that we ran bead locks on those wheels.

there is a heck of a lot of difference between a 13 inch wide weldwheel with a hooser one ply race tire, tube, liner, and beadlock, and an aluminum street wheel running tubeless with no damn air in it.

i repeat, go talk to goodyear, dunlop, or any other tire mfg. and ask them if they would run 12 lbs. of pressure on the street with a convetional street tire and rim, running tubeless.

then go run whatever you want to run -- your ride -- your head.

 

[trikeleader]

I checked the Michelin site and they show a chart for tire pressure and it shows different pressures for different vehicle weights. I emailed the online tech and asked about running 18-20psi on the rear of a trike with a gross weight of 1250 lbs. and they said it would have no adverse effect on the tire in any way. I askd about de-beading if running at 18-20psi and they said absolutly not unless the rim is defective.

 

[Lonerbtw]

Rodeo
WOW I quess you told me off good. I thought I made it perfectly clear that this is the way I set my trike up for ME. Weren't you the one that asked in the first place? Then jump my case for telling you what I did to get the best ride out of my machine. You seem to have enough on the ball to set it up the way you are comfortable with so enjoy.
For the other folks out there just to get it straight I have mounted plenty of IMCA and Street stock tires on stock rims and have had many talks with both Hoosier and Goodyear tire reps about air pressure.
Well thats all I have to say on this subject. My opinion take it or leave it.
Lonerbtw

 

[rodeo1]

you guys that have been triking for a long time know what works, i just hate hearing people using race cars and street racers as some sort of guide to tell folks with little to no experience what to do with a safety issue.

to begin with no one in their right mind would look at a race car to find the right thing to do on the street, any more than one would go to a pilot to decide what to do about his tractor, they just ain't the same thing.

the only point i was trying to make in the first place is that in an emergency situation when one might be called on to make a hard turn to avoid a wreck, you might find yourself breaking a bead on a tire that is underinflated. a very high price to pay for a "cushy" ride. wouldn't you agree ?

just because someone has "gotten away" with it for years don't make it safe.

but my real problem is with all the opinions one gets when they ask a reasonable question on just about any forum. pretty soon you cannot trust any info. you get. don't believe that ? just ask about hydrolock on a valkyrie sometime, there is a cottage industry sprang up around valk owners when someone mentioned hydrolock, selling them pingle petcocks. never mind the fact that you cannot hydrolock an engine without a bad needle and seat in a carb, it was all blamed on hondas vaccume petcocks, hundreds of posts and opinions about it. then we ran a straw poll and asked how many people had ever really hydrolocked an engine - HA! we got 3 out of hundreds of responders, the percentage was way less than 1%, but they had all the newbies scared into selling their bikes.

what about all the honda trannys that have cratered due to trike kits being installed? anyone notice that ?

 

[Gorilla]

rodeo/loner its time to drop the subject please.

 

[skuuter]

rodeo/loner its time to drop the subject please.

Yes it is.....

 

[Lucky]

What Gorilla and Skuuter said PLEEEEEEASE

 

[skuuter]

Sure, but what's "underinflated" on a trike, with weight load way under anything contemplated by the tire manufacturer?

Many people, some riding relatively fast, have been using tire pressures in the 20-22 range, and I've never seen a report of the tire coming off the rim. Looking at the tire contact patch (using water, say) seemingly indicates that normal tire pressures for a car are too high for a trike, the sides of the treads aren't touching the road.

12 is unusually low, and I would not be comfortable there. But your comments haven't been limited to that pressure. In fact you said: "i will stay above 25 psi". Many (most?) of us won't. A trike is not a race car, and its tires aren't race tires.

But it's not a 3000 lb. automobile either. An interesting question is why trike manufacturers use oversized tires. Is it a cosmetic deal? Would people reject a trike with tires sized more properly for the load? Or would it have some handling problem? Do you need two relatively gigantic tires pushing it straight ahead for stability? Do they put them on so you have the large air volume softening the ride? I'd love to have an answer from a trike manufacturer, especially one like Motor Trike, that claims to have a very high tech suspension design.

Always wondered this also......Assuming (without any actual knowledge) that it's primarily cosmetic to get away from the Old Servicar Look. The early VW Trikes looked much better with Their Fat Tire stance when Folks started building them. Having a Junk Yard, I did put some really small 185/70/15s on mine one day for about 80 miles to test it. Handled as well (can't really say "better"), absorbed the bumps much worse, especially according to my Wife's input on back.....ThumbUp