JillbyS

Hey, New here. I just bought a viribus tricycle. Thought it would be a good starter bike since I'm 360lbs. Unfortunately when i tried to ride it the tires looked like they were going flat which caused my steering wheel to shift (even though it was tightened into place). Needless to say I'm disappointed. Were going to try max inflating the tires to 65psi, but what else can I do? are there any good tires for big people? Is there an insert I can put in to replace the tubes to maybe make them stronger? its a 24in trike. Please advise.

TheBlackPumpkin

The main thing is PSI when riding at high weights. Reduces pinch flats, protects your rims and more importantly, won't flatten and make you bounce around and lose traction etc. I started riding at 550lbs on 100 PSI tires, have been riding 120-100 PSI more recently but I'm now down to 350 so I think I have a pretty good idea of what you've got going on. 65 PSI should get you where you need to be on pavement, having recently ridden some tires around 55 PSI myself. Also, I'm not recommending you do this for safety and liabiltiy reasons, but I have pumped tires 5-10 PSI above their limit before as long as the rim is beaded (most are) without issue. If you're going to try this do it at your own risk.

The main issue is the larger a tire is, I.E the more volume of air it holds, the lower PSI max it has (because physics) so the more narrow your tire gets, the more pressure but less air volume it holds and becomes stiffer preventing your issue. My advice would be if 65 PSI doesn't fix the issue, go down to your LBS and tell them what's going on and ask if they sell any tires that go up closer to 100 PSI. If you swap your tires chances are you brakes and everything are going to need some adjusting as well though, so this is why I say just go to your LBS.

EDIT: Oh, also just a couple things to mention. The ride WILL be rougher the higher you go on PSI. You're going to feel every bump the closer you get to 100. So do yourself a favor if you can and try to dial it in without going all the way up to 100. Your hands will thank you.

Fangowolf

Looks like your back wheels are 26". My touring bike has those. I've run Kenda Quests on them for 12 years. Various widths takes up to 100 PSI, see if 1.5" will fit. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...TF8&th=1&psc=1

Leisesturm

From pictures on Google it looks like most models of your trike are around 1-1/2" in cross section. A tire like that will be soft at 65lb and will not hold your weight properly. 80psi should fill it nicely and 90psi is probably as high as you can safely go. It will be written on the tire what the safe MAX is. You don't need to go to 100psi for any reason. You don't need to try and find tires rated for 100psi. They probably don't exist. You would need to go to a 1-1/8" tire or even 1.0" to use 100psi and just because you are using 100psi doesn't make the 1" tire any better at carrying weight than the 1-1/2" at 80 or 90psi. So, you might not need to buy anything. Just air those tires up to 80psi. I'm pretty sure that any 65psi you saw on the tire was the minimum recommended pressure. If 65psi is the Maximum safe pressure then the tire is junk and maybe the wheels too, because that is an indication that there may be 'hookless' rims involved. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

stevel610 

Congrats on buying a bike and making a positive decision on your life!

ScottCommutes

Think of a dump truck vs. a Miata. You want bigger, wider tires, and higher pressure.