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Old January 26th, 2022, 08:25 AM   #1
Bob KellyIII
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AIR PRESSURE in your tires ???

On my newly aquired RX4 a 450cc Chinese bike that is fully modern in just about every way, I have discovered they have something like 30psi in the front tire and 35 psi in the rear tire..... and I was wondering why it rode like a truck.... now I know.... these tires are wide profile their not skinny by any means... but 30psi is excessive to me so I lowered the air pressure in the front to 24 PSI and the rear I have yet to lower because i have to move the bike to get at the valve stem....it's hard to reach !
but I am planning on lowering the air pressure to 28 PSI in the rear.
that may well be excessive as wide as the rear tire is it may need 30 psi
but with the hard tires in their stock pressure the ride is quite rough
although the suspension smoothes out alot of the ride on the bigger bumps and chuck holes it has a tendency to make me say OoooF ! reminds me of driving a pickup down a paved road that has not been maintained in it's entire life time and is worse than just a dirt road ! (grin)
.....
so what air pressure are you guys running ? I imagen fairly hard as most of you nuts are crazy ! LOL but I like a soft ride if I can get it.
many of you have bigger bikes than the Ninja and these heavier street bikes
need a smooth ride as well so I am wondering what air pressure are you running?
.... sense 99% of my riding in the past was with older technology it really doesn't correlate well with radial tires and fancy suspension of the new era
...in the past I simply let air out till I could see flex in the tire when I bounced on the bike.... a small amount of flex is just about right and that was usually around 24/28.... psi front and rear
....
this bike is heavy though 450lbs dry with a huge 6 gal gas tank and lots of storage space so I am thinking I should do some testing to see what works best....
there is no best air pressure for all bikes...obviously . each bike is different
on a 250cc yamaha DT1 I aired up the tires till I could flex them with my hands ( I had real good grip back then) and that was something like 18/20 psi for that light dirt bike....

but I don't think that is a viable method of setting the air pressure on todays bikes ! LOL
....

Your input is greatly appreciated !
....
the manual calls for a fixed set of numbers for the bike which is as hard as a rock..... 32/35 psi If I remember correctly .
so you get no flex at all in the tires on bumps.... sorry guys that's just not right !
simply because your contact patch is reduced that way and 75% of your
smooth ride comes from your tires !
....
Bob........
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Old January 26th, 2022, 08:33 AM   #2
thedrewski86
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28/32 front/rear on the Ninja, 33/36 on the Suzuki. Certainly, lower is what you want for unpaved roads; I bet being in the 20s like you are doing will work well. That's a new bike too, the suspension needs some time to work in.
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Old January 26th, 2022, 02:01 PM   #3
Bob KellyIII
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thanks Drew !
.....
Bob.....
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Old January 26th, 2022, 02:22 PM   #4
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I usually start at pressure in manual 28/32 psi and adjust slightly for load. I use about 1psi more than manual for all-around riding since I'm heavier than average Japanese bloke.

On my VFR, I use Honda's recommended 32/42psi for 200-lb load.

Be careful of using lower tyre-pressure to make up for poor suspension tuning (Ford Explorer). Lower pressure causes more flexing and heat, which is not bad thing on track, but can be overwhelming on rougher street roads. Hitting pot-holes can also pinch tyre and damage rim.
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Old April 11th, 2022, 05:45 PM   #5
Bob KellyIII
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Name: Robert
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That's the down side of running less pressure ! for sure ! you can and will damage stuff if you happen to hit a real bad object in the road
I bent a rim on one of my bikes some 35 years ago because of that "Low air pressure" I did manage to fix it myself though without having to buy a new rim and lace it up . ...But I just got lucky and I know it !
to me it's a battle of the mind ...if you run too low of air pressure you can and will damage stuff if you happen to hit it hard.... but the soft ride the lower pressure provides is always a noticeable improvement !
.... I am hoping by the time I get 500 miles on this bike that the suspension will ease up ...but at just over 100 miles on it now, it's got a very long way to go to be soft enough for a comfortable ride ! ( in fact I don't think that bike will ever have a soft ride unless I do something to the rear suspension .)
I did order a softer rear spring but there's been no sign of it yet and it's libel to take another month to get to me... but that SHOULD help I guess we'll see.
....then if in the future the ride is too soft I can put the old spring back in there... but it's like I'm not going to ride the thing if it beats me to death every time I get on it.... so I gott'a do something ...even if it's wrong ! LOL
.....
silly weather here, the weather forcast calls for rain and snow mix off and on for the next 5 days lows as low as 29 deg and high in the mid 30's
.....what happened to the nice weather we just had man ! that was so nice
...oooh well.... that is spring for ya !
...
Bob........
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Old April 11th, 2022, 06:08 PM   #6
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I run 32/32 front/back. Works good for my 180 pound bod.
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