Rear Tire Pressure Survey

[Ray]

I’ll watch closer in 2020 but at the last 3 Ride-In’s where 35 total motorcycles showed up I don’t remember 1 rider showing up, unpacking and then removing 4 psi of air from their tires....
Just sayin”. It would be interesting to use the same calibrated gauge and do a pressure check on 15 bikes in a parking lot the morning after they arrive with no adjustments made from their ride in. Each owner write down what they think psi is before it is checked. I’d bet 20 of the 30 tires would be different by 2 psi or more from what the owner thinks it is.
I know it has to be perfect temperature morning to match what BMW says their reading is compensated for but if not someone smarter then me should be able to figure that out.

I agree with your thinking. These surveys are always fun, but can always be tweaked for a little more data.

Would also be fun to check the TPM data at the ride-in to see how well cold pressures agree with what we calculate the TPMs should show. Bet there's a little variation in calibration among the bikes - especially after a few years of use.

By the way, you might recall seeing me adding some air in the parking lot that first cold, wet morning in Eureka Springs.

My only point was that folks who tend to travel loaded might tend to keep pressures higher all the time. Folks who generally ride unburdened might find they naturally keep the rear pressure a little lower.

An old habit carried over from bicycle racing, I generally adjust pressures before every ride with a hand pump. If the ride is a 400 mile day with only a tail bag, I run a little lower in the rear than what I posted for the survey. (Front forces under braking are probabaly similar to those when loaded.) If the ride is going to be multiple days of carrying a load, I'll start the trip a little higher - but I'm only talking 5-10% difference.

(Fun facts to know and tell. I'll note that MotoGP runs pressures 10% higher front than rear (~2 bar vs. ~1.8 bar - that's about 29 pounds of pressure up front to help the carcass handle 2500 newtons (560 pounds) of force. For comparison, the rear will catch up to 2000 newtons in turns.)

Would be interesting if some of our TPMs are off by 10% - another explanation for differences in in the survey.