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Before I rode to work this morning, I decided to check tire pressures just for kicks. They both looked fully inflated, but I read somewhere that checking often is a good habit. The rear tire is supposed to have a pressure of 36psi. It was 10psi. I thouht the gauge was broken, so I used the backup pen-style gauge. It too showed 10psi. But the tire looked completely normal. It doesn't flex like flat car tires. I guess it's because the bike is so light. Lesson learned. From now on I will always check bike tire pressures before a ride because visual inspection just doesn't work.

My rusty spidey sense saved me today...

youch, been there, done that. except i started to ride before i noticed it.

My roomate went for a ride once, came back and told me he almost went off the road on the turn because the bike didn't want to lean (CBR929RR). We checked the tire preassure, it was off by 3 psi.

ill'n wrote:Before I rode to work this morning, I decided to check tire pressures just for kicks. They both looked fully inflated, but I read somewhere that checking often is a good habit. The rear tire is supposed to have a pressure of 36psi. It was 10psi. I thouht the gauge was broken, so I used the backup pen-style gauge. It too showed 10psi. But the tire looked completely normal. It doesn't flex like flat car tires. I guess it's because the bike is so light. Lesson learned. From now on I will always check bike tire pressures before a ride because visual inspection just doesn't work.

My rusty spidey sense saved me today...

Bias-ply tire, probably?

Check air frequently. Glad you caught it

Both front and rear tires are only short one psi on my honda, but I've already felt a noticeable difference. I never assumed such a minor offset would really affect the handling to such extent. But I plan on purchasing one of those digital pressure gauges to really obtain an accurate reading. Good call on yours though, 10psi es no bueno.

If you hadn't caught it beforehand, you probably would have noticed the first time you turned a corner. With pressure that low, it would have felt like you were riding on Jello.

matthew5656 wrote:Both front and rear tires are only short one psi on my honda, but I've already felt a noticeable difference.

You felt a noticeable difference in a single psi difference???

That's almost impossible on the street. The air pressure on the tire changes constanly as it heats up and ambient temperature significantly affects psi as well.

HYPERR wrote:

matthew5656 wrote:Both front and rear tires are only short one psi on my honda, but I've already felt a noticeable difference.

You felt a noticeable difference in a single psi difference???

That's almost impossible on the street. The air pressure on the tire changes constanly as it heats up and ambient temperature significantly affects psi as well.

Yea, more than likely you are correct and i'm simply getting lost with my imagination again. Once I discovered the tire was off by 1psi, the ride just felt softer and less responsive to me. Probably due to my reasoning above, and not the mechanics below. I need to inflate the tires soon, anyway.

matthew5656 wrote:


Yea, more than likely you are correct and i'm simply getting lost with my imagination again. Once I discovered the tire was off by 1psi, the ride just felt softer and less responsive to me. Probably due to my reasoning above, and not the mechanics below. I need to inflate the tires soon, anyway.

Yeah it's amazing how sometimes the mind can play games with us. I have ridden home on the superslab on my DP bike after a day on the trails where I got some cuts and slits on the knobbies and swore that the that it was starting to lose air, pull over and realize the tire is perfectly fine.

The fact of the matter is, air loss on a tubed tire isn't that gradual, it's pretty abrupt.

Ninja Geoff wrote:youch, been there, done that. except i started to ride before i noticed it.

My roomate went for a ride once, came back and told me he almost went off the road on the turn because the bike didn't want to lean (CBR929RR). We checked the tire preassure, it was off by 3 psi.

Wow, maybe I geuss cause its a heavier bike. My 250 was off like 4 or 5 PSI, and I didn't notice anything. Even when inflated to the recomended 28/32 I felt no difference. I'm 128lb's though.. so..