Air Pressure in Rear Tires

[frankj]

Hi, seen many posts here about running 20-22 lbs of air pressure in rear tires, other than longer wear out of the tires, what kind of "ride" does the trike now get, is it softer more comfortable ride, handles bumps etc.?

Is 22 psi with a passenger okay

Thanks

Frank

 

[Ronbo]

Hi, seen many posts here about running 20-22 lbs of air pressure in rear tires, other than longer wear out of the tires, what kind of "ride" does the trike now get, is it softer more comfortable ride, handles bumps etc.?

Is 22 psi with a passenger okay

Thanks

Frank

I found that lowering the pressure to 20-22 psi made a HUGE positive difference for me (solo). If you have air shocks play with that too. The 'recommended' air pressure assumes a much greater load than what you really have, but lowering your pressure leaves less room for changes due to temperature, etc so check them often. I've running mine at 20-21 (unless fully loaded on a trip) for right at 10,000 miles now with no problems and no signs of rear tire wear. If they ever do wear out I will definitely look at getting the smoothest riding tire I can.

If you want a bit more technical info check out http://www.lehmantrikes.com/assets/docs/uploads/Manuals/techbook-master.pdf

 

[bikerbillone]

I'll be following this, believe that Zook had some good words to say about lower pressures smoothing out the ride, not sure about 'other RS' trikes, but the proverbial bump rattles my teeth. I know there are those out there that are smooth as silk, mine ain't one of them, but there are so many positives about the RS, that is my ride of choice.

 

[hogcowboy]

I personally don't have a trike yet. My wife does. But here's my thought anyway. You got regular car tires versus motorcycle tires unless you have a Spyder, we do, and even those are getting changed to car tires in many cases, we have. So you are going to be getting better tire mileage right from the get-go. Lowering the air pressure until you get the kind of ride you want isn't that big a deal I don't think. So you lose 500 to 1,000 miles. Big deal. We've lowered our Spyders front tires, which is a little different but still my wife gets a better ride without losing any control. I say go for what works for you.

 

[bikerbillone]

Randy (Zook) had a post here on tire air pressure, now I can't find it doing the search thing.

 

[tfdeputydawg]

Mine was a Hannigan. remember the rear end is off set to the right to align with the Wings drive shaft out put. I dampened the drive and kept rolling over the wet area removing air from purposely over inflated rear tires until I got what appeared to be full flat tread width marks.

LR was 22psi, RR was 24psi

 

[Trail Blazer]

Hello Frank

yes 22 in the rear tires is good, you will hear 20 to 30s, depends on who you ask, also some say they have a lot of crown in there roads and will run the outside rear a couple of lb higher or the inside a couple of lb lower. now these people has played with the tire pressure, & it feels better to them at whatever pressure they like.

I have done the same thing and to me I have used 22 lb, 1up, 2up & loaded. I have a goldwing with a champion Kit. with all said on a trip I do feel it when the road has a lot of crown but not all roads have a lot of crown. if I changed every time I felt it I would be changing many times on my trips. it is not that bad when it does pull one way or the other, so easy to ride either way.

PS when 2 up or pulling my trail I will pump up my shocks a little

 

[hogcowboy]

Interesting about rear tire pressure. Just for reference or what I found interesting, my wife is running 23-24 pounds on the one rear tire of her Spyder. It would appear that's a common range for trikes.:Shrug:

 

[Burnerboy]

Mine was a Hannigan. remember the rear end is off set to the right to align with the Wings drive shaft out put. I dampened the drive and kept rolling over the wet area removing air from purposely over inflated rear tires until I got what appeared to be full flat tread width marks.

LR was 22psi, RR was 24psi

Yes this is what I found to be the "smoothest" ride air pressure also.....A much smoothe'rrr ride

But I also enjoy the feeling of the rough'rrr ride also, almost like riding on a bull dozer!

Ronnie

 

[bikerbillone]

Ronnie, are you saying you're using the same air pressures that deputy dawg is using, i.e., different pressures in left and right rear?

 

[Burnerboy]

Ronnie, are you saying you're using the same air pressures that deputy dawg is using, i.e., different pressures in left and right rear?

YES! due to the crown in road (this is what my builder told me/I truthfully really "don't know" exactly what that means) but I run two different lbs of air in the rear tires, and I found 22 lbs does make the ride a softer more enjoyable ride, w/o the bulldozer feel....:clapping:

Ronnie

 

[bikerbillone]

Hmmm, maybe I'll give that a try, deputy dawg usually knows what he's talking about, I'm sure looking for any improvement in the ride, for a long time. Guess ya need to keep an eye on that slack tire for wear, seems to me riding two up with luggage might get some weight shift to the slack tire side, but with only a few lbs, it makes no difference, and the slack tire will be to the crown side of the road. I'll try it and see.

 

[bikerbillone]

Did adjust the pressure per 'deputy dawg' this morning, went for a ride, by golly did seem to 'feel better', maybe it's a 'perception, I'll continue to monitor.