tubular air pressure

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Permalink Reply by Mark on September 21, 2011 at 4:41am

This is a difficult question to answer without knowing your weight, riding style, etc. With that said, I would start around 32 psi and go from there. Make sure that you are using a good tire gauge. The gauge on your pump measures the pressure in the hose, not the tire, so it's not accurate enough for the low pressures of CX.

 

Enjoy! 

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Permalink Reply by Hamilton on September 21, 2011 at 6:56am

You can go pretty darn low, but it does depend on your riding style and the course conditions. I weight 190 and went with 27 psi for most courses, but I don't tend to bang into rocks and things too hard. One way to judge is to start around 30-32 and take a lap or two around the course and drop the pressure until you feel your wheel bottom out softly a couple of times per lap. Or at least that's what works for me. It will feel a bit odd at first, but trust me you're going to like it.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Mayhew on September 21, 2011 at 7:24am

http://pittsburghcyclocross.com/2010/09/tech-skill/cyclocross-tire-...

 

Typically you want the lowest pressure that works for the course. You don't want to be folding the sidewalls in corners unless it's incredibly muddy, in which case you're going pretty slow in corners anyways usually.

 

Typically with tubulars you want to feel the rim once a lap, or close to it.

 

In general I'd say find a pressure and then over subsequent laps at practice let 1psi out each time. You can feel a real difference in the corners. And at some point the tire will get too squishy for the speed you're taking around corners and you've learned your limits.

 

Both Jeremy Powers and Shawn Adamson have told me that it takes awhile to learn to corner on tubulars and suggested just taking a lot of time to corner on them and play with the pressure. So far that's working out well for me.

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