I also go by the owners manual recommendations. 36psi front & 40 rear for 2008 Road King with Dunlop 402's. So far so good concerning handling, cornering and longevity of service. I check my tire pressure daily.
Tire Inflation 1
- Thread starter glider.
- Start date
I also go by the owners manual recommendations. 36psi front & 40 rear for 2008 Road King with Dunlop 402's. So far so good concerning handling, cornering and longevity of service. I check my tire pressure daily.
Caper
Active Member
Something I don't understand about the Manual recomendations of tire pressure. An Evo Fatboy has a dry weight of 650lbs and a TC Ultra (03Manual) is 778 dry,128lb difference dry, they both according to HD should have 36psi front and rear for all FL's until you add a passenger(size not mentioned),then pump rear only to 40psi. Factor in the fluids and size of different riders and passengers( I'm 215 lbs and some of my large buds are 300+ lbs) Could this be part of the problem a lot of decker riders have with the tires cupping(underinflated characteristic)
I can't see how one size fits all in respect to tire pressure when there can be such a wide difference in load on the tires.
Some of these guys approach max load of the tires just getting on the bike and IMO should adjust pressure accordingly, especially when packed for a road trip.
I can't see how one size fits all in respect to tire pressure when there can be such a wide difference in load on the tires.
Some of these guys approach max load of the tires just getting on the bike and IMO should adjust pressure accordingly, especially when packed for a road trip.
Why is that? ... Years ago at Americade I cornered the Metz tech rep and complained of tire wear. I had the tire PSI set by the bike manual recommended PSI. The side wall max PSI was a lot higher. The Metz rep told me to set the PSI at max and I'd get much better results mileage wise ... Since then I have ridden some 150,000 miles set to the max with no problems and a lot longer life from the tires.
Running a tire at the MAX recommended pressures reduces the contact patch on the road and also when the tire heats up, it's then about 4-6 PSI over the max which IMO isn't a good thing to do. That's why there is a MAX pressure listed for those times when you load a bike up for traveling.