acaurora

So my question goes as follows: how often do you check your tire pressure (weekly, before every ride, after ___ miles ? ?)

Lately I have been checking my tire pressure more frequently, and by checking I mean simply pinching the tire and seeing how much "give" it has. I seem to be doing it more often because the tire pressure seems to be dropping faster ever since I got these GP4000S tires a few weeks ago. I am finding that if I don't ride my bike for a couple days, the PSI drops to about 80, I normally pump to about 110 prior to a ride. Is this normal? I am running these tires both front and back, and this PSI drop seems to happen on both tires. I have not yet checked for leaks, and I have never had any issues with my tire pressure being too high/low.

awesomejack

Every ride. Add air about once a week

that drop in pressure that you're seeing is normal

10 Wheels

Everyday.

enjoi07

air..ha. we are using helium these days.

acaurora

Hmm okay. I just never seemed to have to reinflate / check my tires this often until I got these new tires. Maybe it's just paranoia or good practice finally kicking in. Both of which are good I guess? (I previously had Conti Gatorskins, that and I've had my Tarmac for only about a month so far, previously it was an Allez using the same Gatorskins)

Jed19

I check and top-off my tire pressure before every ride. I have always done it that way.

a_phat_beat

every single ride.

NorthWestDork

I use latex tubes so I check daily. But I guess regardless, I check daily.

RacerOne

Every ride. I did however learn something just this week. In the past I checked the pressure by sticking my floor pump on the valve and reading the pressure. No matter what it seemed that I had lost 15-20psi. I've had a seperate pressure gauge for years but hardly ever used it. I got it out and checked the pressure the other day just for fun and it said I had no loss from the previous days ride.

What I learned was that upon attaching my pump to the valve it has been back filling the hose up to the gauge creating the pressure loss. Duh. Oh the years I've wasted reinflating perfectly pressurized tires.

deepakvrao

Thanks - never realized that.

cyclezealot

Every ride.. Plus, monitoring pressure loss per ride gives me a sense of rather I might have a slow leak or not..

Braden1550

I also confess to this, now even more so with latex tubes.

Homebrew01

Are these tubeless ?? Otherwise, it's the tube losing air, not the tire. I've had tubes that only needed topping up once a week or 2, and others that are worse, so it depends.

RichinPeoria

check and add air before every ride out on the road

about every week or so for the bikes on the rollers and trainer

Namenda

Every ride. Only takes a minute, so why not? Helping to avoid pinch flats makes it worth the effort.

kayakdiver

depends... Roadie with 23's every ride. 28's on the touring/pickup/do it all.. less often.

fmcooper

No less frequently than every second day. My pressure usually drops from 120 to 100 in a couple of days. However, I attribute some of the pressure loss to attaching the pump to check, as there's very little air in 700x23's.

Nachoman

I do the finger squeeze before every ride and air up every few.

alcjphil

Tire pressure drop has nothing to do with the tires, unless you are using tubulars, or even tubeless tires. This is not your case. The pressure drop is due to the inner tubes you are using. The lighter the tube, the faster it loses air. If you replaced your tubes with thinner lighter ones when you replaced your tires, that is the reason your tires are losing pressure faster. Tires should be checked not by the amount of mileage you do, but according to the amount of time that has passed since you topped them up, the lighter the tube, the more often you need to check tire pressure.

BigBlueToe

I usually go at least a couple of days between rides, so I normally pump before every ride. I use the gauge on the floor pump. On tour I ride every day and check pressure every two or three days. I use the gauge on my Road Morph.

FR4NCH1SE

Every Ride, but I get lazy sometimes and just go out and ride, but its better to check the PSI every ride.

StanSeven

Yep. After a while, I can tell the pressure almost exactly without a guage. Very little give is 110 lbs. The sidewall deflects slightly is 100 lbs. If I can make it give some, 90 lbs. (note - this is for Conti 4000 GP. It varies by tires and outdoor temps)

johnny99

Heavier tubes hold their air better than ultralight tubes. Still, even with ultralight tubes, I can usually pump up my tires every other day instead of every day (unless I'm doing a century or something on the second day).

Nate552

Butyl - every other day. Latex - every ride

khatfull

Every ride, no matter the tube material. Checking often can alert you to slow leaks too that may become faster ones at the least opportune time.

Pre-ride checklist:

1) Check tire pressure.
2) Check brake quick releases (never know when one might have been monkeying with them).
3) Check brake pads (never know when you've picked up some crap in the pads).
4) Check seatpost height (the one I have right now slips every so often).
5) Check wheel quick releases.
6) Check wheel brake surfaces for dings (hate to grind away brake pad unnecessarily).
7) Check seat bag for all the "stuff".

I do pretty much all these before I ride, or before I load up to drive to a group ride (yeah, I know, but necessary sometimes). Takes about 3 minutes.