cxwrench

One of the main reasons to ride tubulars (on the road) is not so you can inflate them to stupid high pressure, it's the opposite.

Tire construction doesn't matter all that much. 110 (or whatever) psi is 110 pounds of air pressure per square inch. How the tire is made is not going to change that very much. If you think it does your feels are broken.

Dean V

Years ago.
Vittoria Open Corsa in 23mm are rated to 145psi.
If that isn't enough for you switch to tubulars and go for 200psi

datlas 

You could be right, but do you realize you are replying to a comment from 5 years ago?

Let’s call it a draw.

Carbonfiberboy 

That's not my expoerience, though. The Tricomps I rode at 140 were a 227g tire. They had a smoother ride at that pressure than do the Conti 4K2s tires at 100. The sidewalls were extremely supple. Downside: also fragile, but I rode them 10s of thousands of miles on brevets, sporting rides, and events, and at that pressure. Loved 'em. When I put these modern Contis on my bike, I couldn't believe how rough they rode.

cxwrench

They might have had a very soft tread but it wasn't supple sidewalls that had anything to do w/ ride quality when inflated to 140psi. It's physics, plain and simple.

Litespud

ha! Some comments just stand the test of time I guess 👍

Carbonfiberboy 

Statics determines the length of the contact patch, the reason that narrower tires usually ride more smoothly than wider ones at the same pressure, and also the reason that lower pressure rides more smoothly with the same tire. Within that contact patch however, it seems to me that carcass stiffness makes a difference. That's what riders mean when they talk about a smooth rolling tire. All tires of the same width do not roll the same at the same pressure. Construction does matter, and my feels and the feels of my fellow riders are not broken.

Atlas Shrugged

The point trying to be made is once you hit 140 psi unless you riding a 19mm tire there is not much deflection going on and the tire will ride like crap no matter how supposedly supple the sidewalls are. Not sure what tire you were referencing but at 227grams we are dealing with a fairly beefy tire unless its 28mm+

HTupolev

A 25mm Corsa Speed is about 227 grams.

Atlas Shrugged

There are numerous high-performance tires in the 25mm size under the 227g number however my key point is if you pump a 25mm tire to 140PSI, supple sidewalls will not be a factor as that tire's deflection will be virtually non-existant. The tire you quoted has a max psi rating of 130PSI. I am an advocate for supple tires and feel it's one of the best investments someone can put on their bike to increase performance and enjoyment on a ride. But to take advantage of that suppleness appropriate pressures should be used.

cxwrench

Statics? Tell me about these things.

79pmooney

Make sure your rim is rated for that pressure. (I trust that you have disc brakes or are aware the rim brake wear will quickly erode that max allowable pressure. Blown sideways are not pretty. If you are rolling when it happens, I hope you are riding a metal frame (fork). If it is a rear rim, that you are wearing sturdy jeans. Be aware also that larger tires and lower pressures have the same issues. (Very crudely, stated diameter times pressure = sideways force on the rim. So 35c tire with 93 psi is going to be about the same side force.

I'm not saying "don't do this". Just, be aware. I've done my crashes from ignorance and refusing to listen. One was life-changing and not for the better. I'm a light rider and kind to stuff. But I took chances with a fork I shouldn't have ridden. You probably should pay that same kind of attention to the rims you ride. Yes, the blown sidewall consequences are a lot lower than breaking a fork, but a ruined CF frame and the ER for stitches to a nasty jagged wound are nobody's idea of fun. (And most of all, I want you to be around here as a happy camper a long time!)

Ben

Carbonfiberboy 

People on this thread seem to be confusing me with the person who re-opened this 2015 thread, maybe because I'm defending his choice of tire pressure. The tires I used to ride were 23mm and they rode just fine at 140 lbs. Roads around here are mostly smooth asphalt, though they weren't that bad on our local chip seal either. On smooth pavement I rolled noticeably faster than other riders. I noticed little if any any extra effort on chip seal when staying with the group, though our speed did seem to drop a bit for the same effort. The tire to which I refer is no longer made, though there still is a tire of the same name. I have an unused example of that tire which I carry as a spare, it's so light. The old tires had a sidewall max of either170 or 175 lbs., I can't read that last digit - it's a thin, glued-on label.

The person who re-opened this thread weighs 385 and I can assure you that his Felt tires ride just fine for him at 130 lbs. In fact, that's probably not enough pressure to prevent pinch flats.

BTW, one can easily estimate the pressure of any tire on a rim by multiplying tire size by the pressure. So 25 * 130 = 3250. I note that my old Tricomp tires' max pressure is at least 170 and the product would be 3910 at that pressure. At 140 lbs. and 23mm, it's 3220. I rode those for many years with no problem.

Rim wear is a real thing in the PNW. Our tandem tires at 32mm and 110 lbs. with a product of 3520 work just fine. I replace one rim every other year, so 4000-6000 miles on rims ridden all winter in the PNW. I've been trying 95 psi this past year on the tandem, product = 3040, no pinch flats yet, but that's probably the lower limit for our team, with a weight of 283, plus the extra weight of it being a tandem of course,

JohnJ80

Not if you're running tubeless. The slightest sealant in the head and it needs to be disassembled and cleaned or it won't work any more. About a 50-50 deal for successfully cleaning out the head and getting it to work right again. I gave mine away.

Yup.

Even that might be a bit high. OP should get an accurate gauge and should then spend some time with Silca's inflation calculator.

63rickert

I remember the 70s 80s and 90s. Most everyone rode at 130 or 140. It did not hurt the rims. With supple tires the bike still handled well enough. Yes, supple still functions, partially, when drastically overinflated. It did overwork the pumps. The sound of a blowout was memorable. There probably were more blowouts.

One of the big reasons to not use wider tires was they would be pumped to the same 130 and the wide tires did not like that. Still happens today. People buy fatbikes and are surprised when they won’t hold 50psi. It looks like a truck tire, don’t you inflate it like a truck tire?

Inflation pressure should be physics, more often it is just fashion.

merlinextraligh

that’s not true. The ideal pressure for your car tire depends on the weight of the car, the load in the car, ambient temperature, how you drive, and what your goal is, i.e. performance, fuel efficiency or tire wear.

The tire pressure’s on the inside of your door are what
you should run for the fully
loaded vehicle and they are not the maximum pressure the tire and wheel can handle.

Many cars spec a lower pressure for the front tires than the back, so clearly the spec’d front
tire pressure
is below the maximum.

If you run the maximum pressure your tire can handle its highly likely you will have excessive tire wear on the center of the tread an unnecessarily harsh ride, and poor grip.

As an example the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires on my car have a maximum inflation rating of 50psi.
On the street I run them 36psi front, 41psi rear which is the Car’s spec(which Michelin says to follow on road driving)

on the track I run 32psi front, 36psi rear which is again Michelin spec. However to achieve that hot, I typically am running 28 psi front and 32 psi rear cold.

So the actual optimal pressure is way below the maximum.