Rear Tire Pressure Survey

[darrell]

Darrell - Maybe I've asked this before - do you aim for different pressures without the 40 - 60 pounds of luggage (which would be under 10% of total weight)? I still do this out of habit, but can't say I'm feeling the difference at speed.

Until about 10 years ago I used to change tire pressures based on the load I was carrying. This likely was a result of the bike manuals giving you different numbers to use based on load. There was a period of time when I would set tire pressures based on a 10% increase from cold to hot. Now I just set the RS at 38/42 and the GSA at 40/42 regardless what the load is, what roads I’m on, altitude, weather conditions, etc. At the BMW performance center course using a R1200GS they had the pressures set at 30/36 for both our paved road and off road portion of the course. I probably would not know the difference if my tires were 4 PSI low or high but checking my tires frequently forces me to inspect for any defects that may eventually cause some unplanned road time.