How Much Is Too Much? | Get The Right MTB Tyre Pressure

Tyres are the first point of contact between your bike and the ground so it's vital to make sure you look after them and set them up correctly for the riding you are doing. In this GMBN Tech video, Anna helps run through some tips to help you decide on the right tyre pressure.
⏱ Time Stamps 👇
02:26 - Traction
03:11 - Cornering
03:47 - Comfort
04:35 - Performance
05:38 - Should Your Tyre Pressure Ever Change?
05:06 - Terrain
06:56 - Rider Weight And Force
07:47 - Tyre Width & Compound
08:59 - Weather Conditions
10:20 - Tyre Brand Recommendations
10:56 - Tubes Vs Tubeless
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What tyre pressure do you run? Do you chop and change pressures depending on the riding conditions? Let us know 👇
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[@DirtlovR]

* squezze squezze * hmm... * psssss * * squezze squezze * should be good.

[@nobrakes7247]

Exactly

[@djsonfire0001]

For real. I think I'd rather have a Schrader valve over a presta. They are just stronger. And easier to operate

[@mangoshake]

Honestly, I used that technique for a whole while before I got a digital pressure gauge. It turns out I was running 12psi front and 14psi rear all this time! No wonder my tires rolled so slowly and my tires looked flat all the time when I sat on it. But I felt that it was the pressure I wanted to run on the trail; that was, until I started running the recommended pressure on the chart accurately. It's a miracle I never got a pich flat.

[@dariusf2]

I also run a little higher in rear. Definitely experiment, I run much lower pressure now then when I started riding many years ago.

[@Milessongs]

This has to be the most comprehensive collection of useful, practical, well-explained tyre pressure info on line! Thanks Anna, well done!

[@gmbntech]

Thanks! We hope it helps.

[@danh925]

@@gmbntech its certainly given me more to think about, i hate having to think. But there is alot of truth in this clip. I have my bike set up perfectly for my local park. Take it a few hours north and i may as well be bombing on a tricycle because it feels so foreign. My riding friends laugh because I’m always tinkering. Im envious that they can just adapt to what ever is thrown at them.

[@zakariaabderrahmanesadelao3048]

Ive learned so much more than I expected going into this video as an absolute beginner.

[@nicolaslaurent7006]

I usualy like this formula : my weight (in pounds) / 7 - 1 gives my front tire pression in PSI my weight (in pounds) / 7 + 2 gives my rear tire pression in PSI That's my starting point (can't remember where i found it but works great for me and my HT)

[@DISABLED12-7]

This gives me 39 psi for the front for me, and 42 in the rear for me. I run about half that. :)

[@nicolaslaurent7006]

@@DISABLED12-7 yeah... I guess there is no real formula... As i'm 80kg (176ish pounds) i'm lucky to be in the ballpark ;p

[@maciejsiakowski5929]

@@DISABLED12-7 same for me! i'm 113 riding 21 and 25-26

[@BlackMan614]

Is that for tubeless?

[@brendontaylor7420]

Good on you Anna for tackling such a mine field of a subject. Awesome job.

[@backcountryFLcyclist]

On a 2.8-3.0 tire I ride 12psi in the front and 19psi in the rear for Sandy conditions and 20psi in the front and 30psi in the rear on hard pack or pavement. I weigh 250lbs.

[@j.albertogratacos2076]

I look at tires as my first responder suspension and approach pressure that way. Especially since I ride a hard tail more often, which gives you a better feel how your rear tire "suspension" is tuned. I noticed that when I hit the right low psi, rebound on small hits was better, but it was bottoming out too easily and hitting the rims on the larger impacts. So I added a volume space. In this case, a tire insert. This allowed me to keep the low psi rebound that I like with a nice progression and ultimately protecting the rim. Also, it cured the side effect of nice, low psi which is the bending on corners.

[@islarun4103]

Interest of what the diff Tire pplus insert vs more carcass tires

[@j.albertogratacos2076]

@@islarun4103 in theory, the softer sidewall with inserts is very progressive and provides better grip on sharp stuff while still keeping the sidewalls from flexing. A stronger sidewall without inserts will feel stiffer on all terrains. Good comparison for a GMBN video!

[@jamesfiegel9675]

Excellent topic to cover and you did it well, thanks :)

[@reinholdachleitner2069]

Nice one Anna,thanks for the tyre pressure tips.It's part of the suspension in a way tyre pressure.

[@jimrutherford2773]

Yes, good point. Removing a few PSI is like adding a few millimeters to the suspension.

[@winklertribe5268]

Great episode Anna! Thanks!

[@danleil9897]

Great camera work. Helps to see how the tyres work in slow motion

[@BrandonTaylor-bg1xv]

Very informative video judt bought a emtb had a few incidents so am gonna lower my pressures hopefully i will be able to stay on a little longer than 10 mins ........ sweet bike in your video

[@XENOEFFECT]

I ride 50 psi and I'm 170 pounds, I tried going lower and the tires started folding around the corner...

[@johnreese3762]

Thanks, I needed that!!

[@notme-kc3pq]

That is full of great advice, suspension and tyres are always about choosing a compromise. As a beginner the find your favourite trail , make a 2psi change and repeat is the best advice as you can learn what too hard and too soft feels like without having to learn a new trail at the same time

[@gmbntech]

Definitely! That kind of bracketing testing (having a baseline, making a small change one way, then a small change the other way, then comparing the three results) is a great way of finding what works for you. Of course the other thing to remember with testing is to change one variable at a time, especially with suspension!

[@Motoadventurespr]

Thanks, very good information

[@raphaelwolff8205]

Cheers Anna very usefull information.

[@BoomerMTB]

Anna love your videos.. You keep me watching GMBN Tech!

[@gmbntech]

Awesome! Thank you! - Anna

[@Zmit]

Old-school "knowledge" is that the least rolling resistance is obtained when the tire wall sag 15% in height when under static load.

[@SafwanRahmanofficial]

I am on a hardtail using Assegai 2.5 tubeless, 15psi on the front, 18psi on the rear. My weight is 56kg

[@richardhaselwood9478]

My 2c worth is that it seems like people are riding too much pressure. For reference, I'm about 86kg, and on my 120mm trail bike, running Maxxis Forecasters, I'm running 17/19 psi front and rear. Any higher, and I feel I'm bouncing around and it's quite unpleasant. My trails are in Queensland, Australia, and I ride XC/ light trail. Even, a while ago, when I was a lot heavier, I would be only running 23/25psi on an XC hardtail. Indeed, on my road bike, with 28mm tyres, I'm running about 62 - 68 psi, with tubes (almost never get flats FWIW). Thanks for the video guys.

[@knott4me561]

It really does depend .im only 68kg and run heavier duty tyres but no way would I be able to run those low pressure you do I'd destroy my rims and the front tyre support would be awful .

[@richardhaselwood9478]

@@knott4me561 Fair point. I'm a super crappy rider, who doesn't "go hard". But, if I go any higher pressures, I feel I'm getting bounced around all over the place.

[@rrolleman4879]

I'm 175 lbs, have a 170/180mm travel bike, ride fairly hard and run 19 psi front, 23 psi rear on Maxxis exo+ with no inserts.

[@richardhaselwood9478]

@@rrolleman4879 Yeah, it's really a matter of how hard you are riding. I am riding at the XC end of trail (no inserts), and really feel like I'm getting bounced off roots and stuff if I run any higher pressures than about 1.3 bar on the back. If I was smashing into rock gardens, I'd have to run higher pressures (and inserts).

[@ikerteuscher]

Nice one Anna, well done on a complicated and controversial subject. Congrats

[@antc5010]

Well covered, comprehensive advice. However, pressure is pressure. If the temperature goes up or down, then the pressure in a tyre goes up and down, so you are only adjusting tyres to get back to your normal running pressure. Physics says cold air is denser at a given pressure, so it's efficient to use if you are trying to compress it into a scuba tank as it's "pre-compressed". However, because cold air is dense it takes more energy to compress at a given pressure than hot air. So technically cold tyres should be run at slightly lower pressure, though I doubt most riders would notice this small difference.

[@Lighty_mtb]

Some tyres like Michelin E wild are more grippy when run higher pressures there’s so many factors

[@michaelbatey348]

As far as I'm concerned. Ride low psi for comfort feel it on a longer ride when your legs are tired from pulling ya low psi about. Ride high psi yes not so comfortable but cover far more distance easier

[@fudganuld]

I've been riding for decades and still don't have a PSI gauge,I just pump them up to they feel hard and thats its...Ha !!

[@doctajuice]

180lbs, riding 27.5x2.5 and I usually go with like 22psi rear and 20psi front

[@jamesmcgowen1769]

I ride my 3x9 HT XC at 60 psi for less rolling resistance on road I drop it down roughly 50% when on a fire trail - which isn’t often enough!

[@stevengoodwin3154]

I ride faster at lower pressures. I found my preferred pressures by doing what Anna said, start at 25 to 30 psi (depending on all variables) and lower 2 psi every so often. When I feel the tires start to deform in corners, I add 2 psi for the safety factor.

[@FcryCola]

I use the schwalbe tire pressure calculator. Really good for road, trail and park

[@stevehayes8867]

Around 30 psi for my riding, maxxis dhf dhr tubeless setup 👌

[@marcusneal7428]

I have a lapierre e-zesty and i weigh 15stone, so i go with 30psi rear and 28 on the front, tubeless. That seems to work for me

[@filipdrs8998]

I ride a 150mm hardtail with tyre inserts and downhill rims. And I usually run about 1.4 bar in the front and 1.5 bar in the back on my local trail. In bike parks or mud I go even lover something like 1.3bar in the front and 1.4 in the back it’s also important that I run super downhill tyre casing on Schwalbe magic Mary that’s the equivalent to double down or dh casing Maxxis tyre.

[@MrJob91]

Lol

[@jaad7562]

Actually you should pump your tires to higher pressure when it's hot because in low temperatures the tire carcass is stiffer than in high ones and the rubber compound gets softer and sticker when it gets warmer so you don't loose that much grip.

[@islarun4103]

I'am running 1/3nitro 1/3 sealent and 1/3 insert The pressure vari acording to the trail himself between compression

[@olibrown4270]

I like to ride a higher pressure especially on hard pack so on my tubed magic Mary's I ride about 30 psi which is quite high but I like the feeling

[@gmbntech]

If you like it, that's all that matters! Everybody has their own preference 👍

[@thevapingpolisher9717]

I run rear 28 front 25 for my xc trails

[@phenofinder9145]

18psi front 19 rear

[@cornishcactus]

27.5, 2.4 Kendas, about 220lbs all up weight. 18psi front 25-27 rear, went 20-30 the other day as I've felt a little drifty on corners just recently but the harshness was horrible, two taps on each valve ( about 1 psi each tap ) and was feeling ok again, still drifty tho, not sure why.

[@alfagtv100]

Super useful tips. The 20% guideline was new to me and I love it as a starting point recommendation. 👍👌

[@tomsing98]

That seems WAY too high. At 200 lb, I should be at 40 psi ... But I regularly ride at 14 psi on 27.5 x 2.6 on a hard tail on sandy trails.

[@jamawhinney]

@@tomsing98 Agreed, Tom. I'd be at 42psi and that's WAY too high. At 210 lbs, I run 30-32 rear and 26 in the front on 29x2.4 and 29x2.5. Any less in the rear, the tire tends to roll in high speed corners.

[@jefflockyear1241]

My takeaway from this video is that we need automatic, on-the-fly, tire inflation systems :)

[@ichewtoast111]

27.5 20 front 24 rear

[@rogercmerriman]

I’ve run the same pressure for few years now, about 30psi which seems to for the tires and use be about right, ie if I really push it in berm I can feel the tire move but not squirm. And can get chattery on very rough trails though making sure I’m at 30% sag seems to mostly smooth that out. I have wondered about plastic tubes, as they did feel fairly great on the gravel bike though the MTB has much stiffer tire sidewalls, so how much it would notice?

[@ltrtg13]

I currently run something 21 psi front and 25 psi rear. This is due t having a hardtail. I did run something similar to that on my full sus when I had one. That bike had 27.5" wheels with 2.3" tyres. My hardtail runs 29" wheels with 2.6" tyres. I could possibly go slightly lower on the front. However I may not want to much lower on the rear as it's a hardtail.

[@drouleau]

I'm around 160 lbs (73 kg) and on my hardtail with 29 2.6" tires, 14 psi front / 18 psi rear seems to offer a good balance of grip and comfort. I don't go crazy on the rocky stuff, so haven't had any rim strikes. I have tried putting one hand on top of the other on a tire and pressing down with all my body weight (feet off the ground), and the tire doesn't seem to compress too much (relatively speaking), so I definitely have some room to play with. Fortunately I'm not good enough to bomb down super technical, steep and rocky trails at mach speed.

[@GIFD]

At an enduro style bike park where you have to pedal back up the hill a few hundred meters between every run do you reinflate your tires for pedalling up? If I run such low pressures I just feel like I'm pulling a piano behind me when going up.

[@Whyusadd]

Type of trail really is key.

[@MTBstuart]

Not sure the 20% works for everyone or I'd start at 48 psi 😂 unless that is for tubes? Tubeless I go around 25-28

[@toddkx2807]

I run 23.45 lbs in the front and 24.67 lbs in the rear. If it’s wet I’ll shave off .06 on the rear.

[@mike78bassmanify]

Printed on my stock 29" 2,3 tires it says 35-65 psi. I guess I will try them at 35 then.

[@jasonprfrost1]

I Don't have the time to keep changing the pressure . I find if I squeeze the wall and it feels like a orange it is too soft and it should feel like an apple very hard. Really easy method to teach beginners as well.

[@knott4me561]

Really does depend on the type of tyre .a exo maxxis at 25 psi compared to a scwalbe supergravity at 25psi will feel completely different using the squeeze test

[@rrolleman4879]

You don't have 90 seconds to do something that makes a significant difference to ride quality?

[@nudgeA7]

what a pretty bike, :)

[@gregknipe8772]

it is important to note that tubeless and tubes ride very differently at the same tire pressure. tubes dont burp at low pressure, and heavier riders dislike tubeless for this reason.

[@areyouoffit]

I'm a fat bloke gotten back into riding weighing 300lbs and I run 34psi in the front and 40psi in the rear 😂

[@theknights1512]

Got any info about how to measure you pressures? And also how to let air out of a tubeless set up without the risk of getting sealant in the valve and then it doesn’t seal correctly??

[@gmbntech]

A good quality digital pressure gauge should help you measure your pressures accurately, and let air out of the system to get them to where you need to be. You may find a small amount of sealant escapes when you drop your pressures a little, but it shouldn't be enough to clog your valves. If you do find your valves are getting clogged, taking them out and giving the valve core a clean should get them working properly again.

[@milktop1]

18 front, 20 rear up to 22. 200 pounds and probably 207 with clothes and gear. 29inch wheels. Aggressive trail riding. 5 more for enduro

[@fredboudreaux9663]

She is awesome

[@mikemazzantini6397]

Usually right around 15 psi for me.

[@chickenclips]

You must weigh 100lbs

[@bobothericefarmer1878]

Squeeze think pump or decrease

[@Cous1nJack]

Apple on the back. Orange on the front.

[@ltrtg13]

On my hardtail. The Maxxis tyres had a max pressure of 40 psi. How ever the original wheels had a max pressure of 38 psi. Sometime the wheels can require a lower pressure then the tyres.

[@user-mu9ke9ex9f]

Mountain bikers tend to use tyre pressure as a form of suspension. They lower the pressure for the comfort and then they start imagining all sort of other non existent benefits. By looking at her tyres visually, I can see she is running on to low pressure but I guess she likes the soft ride feeling.

[@laeljon]

11.5 psi rear, 12 psi front on both hardtail, and full squish....

[@KiaAlvin]

What's the animal in the background at 2:00? 🤔

[@cornishcactus]

by the tyre? its a fern

[@dlastmohican71]

Im more confused now

[@TimMillernapavalleyfilmworks]

Where’s Doddy???

[@TivonSanders]

A little trick I do when I'm on the trail if the trails is gonna get too rough, is simply get off the saddle and stand up a bit, that way I'm not feeling the impacts. I still run tubes on my tire, so I need to run about 40-45 psi, and I'm around 200 lbs.

I weigh 374 Bananas. How many Fliewatüüt should I put in my tires max?

[@cornishcactus]

42

[@truepaulesko]

Am I the only shows ne who doesnt measure the pressure on tires? I just inflates untils its more or less hard 😂

[@colinmcnally5931]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!!!

[@galenkehler]

Push your thumbnail into the tire, and pump up the tire to the pressure that allows your thumb to push in the correct amount.

[@dystopiaisutopia]

Less skilled riders love low pressures lol

[@Ghostina1]

Too much Tyre Pressure is when your spokes brake when you land in a transition!

[@dystopiaisutopia]

Break*

[@madagascarcookingchanelfoo9544]

This New présenter is too commercial

[@colinmcnally5931]

I run mine rock hard for road rides and much softer for Ridgeway rides. Never ever done ant pressure testing to see what psi they are. Just do what feels right and works for you. Life is too short to be worrying about have I got the exact right pressure. There is no exact right pressure but I guess you can make a youtube video out of it !!

[@crankshoptv8141]

Most people run their tyres too hard. Back in the (tubes) day higher pressure was necessary to fend off punctures. Modern tyre technology lets you get away with much lower pressures.

[@dystopiaisutopia]

25psi is perfect

[@jannetuovinen6371]

If you get a lot of tube punctures with low pressures then the rocks are hitting your rims (snakebites) and the same thing will happen using same pressures riding tubeless. The only difference is that your tube doesn't break running tubeless but your rims and tires will still get damaged. Ride correct pressures and you will have no problems tubes or tubeless.

[@crankshoptv8141]

@@jannetuovinen6371 running tubes at low pressures almost guarantees a snakebite puncture. With tubeless that simply isn't the case, I can run as low as 10psi on a 2.4 27.5 Tubeless and am yet to get a snakebite style puncture.

[@jannetuovinen6371]

@@crankshoptv8141 You get snakebite puncture on tube when rock hits through the tire to the rim due too low pressure. Taking the tube away and running the same or even lower pressure doesn't change the fact that rocks still hit your rims. You just don't get the snakebites anymore but your rims will still get hit and IMO thats when the tire pressure is too low tubes or no tubes. You must be ultra light riding 10 psi on 2.4 tires. I get rim strikes sometimes using 20 psi on 2.5 tires.

[@mitchellmtb7202]

Didn’t know tire technology has made great strides in the last 20 years.

[@madmountainman5197]

6' 5" and a tad under 240lbs of fit middle aged rider gives me 48psi, which is over the manufacturer limits. I find 24-28psi works dependant on tire casing. Oh, and if you were single and I was ten years younger, i'd be asking you out on a ride down here in Devon!😁😉

[@SovranMonk]

60psi in a 2.4x26

[@davidtomasi7450]

Please add kg for the civilized world 😂

[@kennywallace1]

Schwalbe Pressure Professor online calculator. Google is your friend

[@colinmcnally5931]

Got 1.52 minutes into this and that was too far!! Sorry.

[@markwilliams5654]

Bar is metric psi is old measuring like the American dinosaur

[@JB-1138]

Seems like if you have good quality tires and a full suspension bike you shouldn't need to mess with the tire pressure. However, thanks for the informative video.

[@markwilliams5654]

Use metric in 2023 lol

[@darrenwall5439]

Na...

[@simonm1447]

Even Nasa uses metric. Most countries on earth and the space are metric

[@mangoshake]

Personally, not with tire pressure. Bar and atm units are too small for me when 1psi increments can change the tire characteristics a lot.

[@havitharry]

Where’s Doddy?