ptdadams

Old guy here who has a great e-bike, a REI co-op 2.1. I ride with most of my weight on my seat. Keeping the tires at the lowest pressure as written on the sidewall is not enough to smooth those small cracks and small bumps. I need a SOFTER ride. Here is my question? Should I go with an expensive suspension seat post OR buy tire liners and reduce my tire pressure 10 more lbs? Would reducing my tire pressure even help? What would be the cheapest way to soften my ride.

David
PS I ride city streets and paved bike trails.

tyrion

Lowest usable pressure depends on total weight of rider and bike.

What is the pressure you run? Give us some details - tire model and size, tire pressure, and total weight on those tires.

For comparison, I'm 220 lbs. and my bike is well over 30 lbs. and my tires are 700x50mm and I run 25 psi front and 30 psi rear.

I'd work on dialing in the tire pressure before buying suspension seatpost etc.

You can estimate a good tire pressure with this tool:

https://silca.cc/pages/sppc-form

Rolla

A suspension seatpost might help, but you're never going to smooth out every bump or crack in the road.

According to the specs, the OP's ebike has Schwalbe Big Ben 27.5 x 1.95.

koala logs

The cheapest quality seatpost suspension there is, Suntour something model is less than $100. Fairly cheap I think.

ptdadams

You are correct that the tires are 27.5 and the air pressure is 50-110 lbs. I weight 175 lbs. The tire has hard to read markings but it does read 2.75x 2.00 but I do not know what this means. My weight is 175 lbs.
What would you do to soften my ride?
Much thanks for your help.

tyrion

That seems way too high of a tire pressure for those tires. I'd lower the pressure in 5 PSI increments, ride it and see how it feels. I bet it will feel best in the 25-30 PSI range. But lower the pressure in increments.

rm -rf

I plugged some numbers into the Silca calculator.
weight 175+50 bike = 225 lbs.
"worn pavement / some cracks"
650B/27.5 wheels
2 inch tires should be close to 50mm width
"mid range casing" tire
47/53 weight distribution front/rear.

Front: 29.5 psi
Rear: 31 psi
That sounds about right to me. Tire minimums are often quite high, and might only be necessary occasionally.

I'm 170 pounds. I ride my 23 pound gravel bike with 38mm tires at 38F and 45R psi and the ride is very nice, even on really rough gravelly chip-seal roads. 50mm tires have 70% more air volume than my 38s! so that allows lower pressures. My 38s are very flexible tires, with no tread and less puncture protection -- the advantage is that the tire can efficiently flex over small bumps on the rough roads, "soaking up" bumps. Your tires are likely a bit stiffer, but the bigger size helps a lot.

At these more comfortable pressures, there's a larger chance of "pinch flats". That's where the tire bottoms out against the rim edges, causing a tube flat where it's mashed between tire and rim. You need to avoid hitting deep potholes at fast speeds, and hopping curbs without good technique. (Tire liners wouldn't avoid pinch flats, they are good for sharp thorns or glass slivers going through the tread.)

koala logs

If you read 2.75 instead of 27.5, your sidewalls might be cracking but hoping that's not the case.

Camilo

You've gotten good advice on tire pressure, the summary is that yours might be too high. Go to one or more of these pressure calculation sites (links below), put in your weight data and see what they say. Since you say you pretty much sit on the saddle with all or most of your weight, I'd use at least a 60/40 ratio of your total "system weight" (60 rear), maybe even heavier on the rear tire.

They're probably going to be different, but similar. Start at the one that gives you the highest pressure, and then experiment by going down 5 psi at a time until you get to the lowest, and see how it feels.
Tire Pressure Calculator – Rene Herse Cycles
SILCA Professional Tire Pressure Calculator
Bike Tire Pressure Calculator - Road, MTB, Gravel | CS|Cycling-Sport GmbH

greatbasin

I have an Aluminum Cannondale comfort bike -- my wife's -- with those same exact tires. They're great tires, and very comfortable at the correct pressure. The Silca calculator linked above is what I use. The weight of my wife and her bike are a hundred pounds less than yours but on the calculator, it only makes a difference of a few psi. These large volume tires just don't need a lot of pressure. We run them about 26 psi, sometimes as much as 28 so we can go a week or 10 days before we have to pump them up a bit due to permeability of the tubes. You can use the calculator, and I think you'll find around 30 psi is right. I would not worry about pinch flats with that pressure.

Dirt bikes (motorcycles) use even less pressure, and even fairly small 125cc kid's playbikes that don't have enormous tires can run around 12 to 15 psi -- and they jump those things at that pressure without pinch-flatting. Now to be sure, those tires are fatter than your Big Bens and I'm not suggesting a pressure lower than the calculator does. Just don't believe that some much higher pressure is needed to avoid pinch flats. What you may have some concern about is tearing valve stems off with your e-bike's torque. This will depend on how much torque it has and how you ride it. You don't give the impression of someone apt to whale on the throttle and brakes, so there's probably no concern. More powerful dirt bikes (which are the main type of motorcycle that still uses tires with tubes), have bead-locks that clamp the tire to the rim so it does not spin and tear the valve stem off. I've actually torn the valve stem on little 125's (with no bead locks) not with the engine torque, but with the brakes (front wheel). Brakes often have more torque than motors, but e-motors can be pretty torquey and right-away. I doubt that your bike will do this at anywhere near 30 psi, but this can become a concern in addition to pinch-flats if tire pressure were much lower than the calculator suggests.

Leisesturm

A 2.0" tire with 50psi is pretty damn hard. In fact I usually fill to 60psi and anything over 50psi just doesn't feel any different. I do it because I don't mess with my tires again until they get scary in turns. About 20psi. Takes around 4 months! The extra 10psi at fill-up doesn't make the ride any worse and buys me another month of no fuss riding time. I refuse to obsess about my weight, my load weight, and what tire pressure(s) that requires. At 175lb the o.p. is pretty light, and unless I way miss my guess they don't have all that much padding, and THAT is the main reason for their issues.

As stated earlier, I fill my tires to 60 psi (max = 70psi) and ride them down to 20psi. The sweet spot for comfort/handling is indeed around 25psi but I wouldn't exactly say the ride is comfortable then! And I need to drop a gear to cruise. At any pressure safe and practical for good handling (and rolling resistance) the ride will still be quite firm. It's a bicycle. An unsuspended bicycle, and it is NOT ever going to ride like a fully suspended off-road rig. If more comfort is needed, the tires are the worst place to look for it. Does that need to be said? Clearly so. Way too many posts are about this or that tire pressure. The post about the shock post is very much on the right track. And this saddle should get thorough consideration. In fact, I'd buy the saddle first and see how that goes.

BobbyG

A suspension post plus a seat with springs. My wife has a comfort bike with both plus front suspension. It's a Columbia step-through...I think around a 2003. Very isolating, it that's what you're looking for.

Fredo76

IME, a Kinekt (2.1, I think) spring seatpost soaked up about 1" worth of bumps and cracks, etc., so 2" bumps feel like 1" bumps. Better, but not a miracle.

63rickert

Schwalbe Big Ben is narrower than what it says on the sidewall. Unless mounted on very wide rims. First step is to measure the inflated tire. Guesses are guesses.

I've used that tire and liked it enough to use it until the tread wears through. Rides well and handles well. Over inflated it might as well be a solid rubber tire.

70sSanO

As others have said, you’ll need to experiment with tire pressure to get the balance between comfort and flats, if you are riding surfaces with jarring sharp edges.

There are 2 “basic” types of suspension seatposts. One is basically straight down suspension where the pedal distance changes. The other, and more expensive, moves the seat down and rearward to lesson the compression impact on pedaling.

John

ClydeClydeson

As above, try around 30 psi.

Also look at this saddle:
https://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/flyer.html

or this one:
https://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/b67.html

Bogey Speedwell

whooooooaaaaaa Nellie. According to Schwabe they are supposed to be 30-55 PSI. NOT 50 - 110 lps

https://schwalbetires.com/Big-Ben-11100554

veganbikes

A Kinekt post is the way to go. If you want a little more comfort that is going to be your best bet. Avoid the other stuff and go for the best. It has replaceable springs based on your weight or riding preference and it really works nicely. Certainly avoid any pogo stick seat posts as those don't really work well and eventually spin around like a captain chair but also don't do well for your knees.

Of course keep in mind the seatpost can only do so much and an entry level bike with no suspension or really poor suspension is probably going to ride a bit rougher but it will certainly help and I could not imagine riding an e-bike without one.

phughes

Well, you're almost right, but you gave the pressure for the 20 inch not 26 inch tires.

OmenGregg

Low tire pressure with larger tire is good enough to make a soft rider,but the downside is you lost some speed and power transfering efficiency,If you don't mind the speed much,larger tire with lower pressure would be best solution,if care about the speed and responsive of the bike,suspension is a good choice.

big john

I ran 9 psi in the front tire of my dirt bikes and never had a tire problem from that pressure. I use 15 psi in the front of my mountain bike (27.5x2.8) and have never had a pinch flat even with tubes.

I don't know what the OPs' situation is but if any road shock is intolerable and money is no object I would get a short travel full suspension e-mtb and set it up soft. Or one of those monster e-bikes with the 4 inch wide tires.

big john

It's an e-bike.

Bogey Speedwell

See.. close counts in more things other than horseshoes and hand grenades

phughes

No, not really.

phughes

No you don't, in fact on rough roads you gain efficiency.