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Hi Everyone,

 looking for some advice regarding tyre pressures. I am not a CX racer or anything like it, I have spent virtually my whole cycling life on MTB's. 

I recently purchased a roadbike for winter use, and was rather amazed by the tyre clearance that this bike had, usually these bikes are only designed to get a razorblade width tyre to fit. The bike is not an all out CX bike, but it seems to have a bit of CX pedigree in its design, it is a Whyte Somerset 2015 model. The tyres that came on the bike are maxxis detonator 700 x 32. Once I realised that this bike could cope with wider tyres, I started searching and came across some CX tyres, I have purchased some Schwalbe rocket rons, as this is what I have on one of the MTB's. These are 700 x 33. I ride the MTB which has a tyre width 2.25" and these are inflated to 35-40 PSI. Most roadbike tyres are inflated to 90-100PSI, SO when I saw that these rons should be inflated to 50PSI to start and then may be able to drop 35-40PSI it left me gobsmacked!!

I am not a light rider, 88Kgs so the idea of riding these relatively skinny tyres at these low pressures, seems a bit odd to me, but on the other side of the coin I don't want the other end of the pressure scale and turn the bike into pogo stick.

The tyres are clinchers with tubes so running the risk of pinch flats was the first thing that concerned me.

I know it is probably a case of trying and seeing how it all works, maybe I'll go out with a backpack full of spare tubes for the first ride, but I am really struggling to come to terms with these tyres running at what seems a very low pressure for their size.

The idea of taking this bike off road is a thrilling prospect for me, and I already have my eye on a an all out CX bike, so any advice or opinions on where to start with this will be gratefully appreciated.

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Graham:
I weigh about the same as you. When I started racing cyclocross on clinchers, I found I needed about 45 psi to keep from pinch flatting; maybe a little less in the front. Maybe down to 40 psi if there were no roots or rocks. You will gain a bit more traction with lower pressure, but I'm not sure it's worth the potential risk of pinch flatting.
Enjoy.

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