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Buddy, follow the advice of the other posters here, but check the pressure every week (I found out the hard way).
If you are losing pressure fast enough to check it weekly, make sure your valve stems are secure. My best bike would keep its pressure for months (I still check once a month), my worst bike would lose a couple of psi over a months time. I always check my pressure when the bike has been at rest for a few hours, usually overnight.
Good question. I run 2 more front and back over the manual. You risk cupping tires if your are low. My laces spoked wheels lose pressure as fast as someone can say the word search or manual around this forum.
Here's an excerpt from an interesting article on tire pressures:
A technique for those wanting to get the most out of their tires on the street is to use the 10/20% rule.
First check the tire pressure when the tire is cold. Then take a ride on your favorite twisty piece of road. Then, measure the tire pressure immediately after stopping. If the pressure has risen less than 10% on the
front or 20% on the rear, the rider should remove air from the tire. So for example, starting at a front tire pressure of 32.5 psi should bring you up to 36 psi hot. Once you obtain this pressure increase for a given rider, bike, tire, road and road temperature combination, check the tire pressure again while cold and record it for future reference.
It sounds more complicated than it is and results, once determined, seem to be remarkably consistent requiring few if any adjustment to cold tire pressures once they are determined,, especially if you increase determined cold pressure by 1 psi or so in the interest of conservatism.
All I know is it is a royal PIA to get my gauge or my air pump fitting on the valve stem of the rear tire with my large hands. Check my tire pressure once per month whether it needs it or not... Probably should do it more often.
Did I miss something? Did the OP even state what kind of tires he had? My Michelin C2's run nice at 41 psi each..... OK. Start the bashing. I can take it.
The manual and bike label pressures are for the Dunlops the bike came with. Any other brand of tire, check the brand's website for their figures. As you might notice in the Avon chart above, they run higher pressures and they're not the only ones.
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