36 Front, 42 Rearshdwghst457_imp said:
You can do as you wish, of course, but with that kind of excessive pressure, you are asking for trouble.wayne van horn_imp said:
You can do as you wish, of course, but with that kind of excessive pressure, you are asking for trouble.Red Mist_imp said:You can do as you wish, of course, but with that kind of excessive pressure, you are asking for trouble.wayne van horn_imp said:
For anyone contemplating following this lead to save wear on the front tire, here are the down sides (pun fully intended):
1. 10 psi over the maximum pressure recommended by the tire manufacturer is going to put too much stress on the tire carcass and could lead to failure of the tire.
2. You will never get proper grip or ride quality from the tire for several reasons: a) the tire cannot flex because it's rock-hard, thus it can't conform to the road surface; b) the contact patch is greatly reduced in size because of the high tire pressure; c) the tire will never warm up to the proper operating temperature, it will always be "cold" and will not be able to deliver the grip, handling, and performance you need in an emergency where hard braking/cornering are needed.
Moreover, it is incorrect that most of the weight of the motorcycle is on the front tire. Most of the weight, especially for cruisers, is absolutely on the rear tire. Even sportbikes, which are normally well-balanced, usually run about a 51/49 percent ratio, front/rear, without rider. That's one of the reasons the rear tire is larger and requires more pressure than the front tire. The actual weight distribution for a road-ready, but unladen CB1100 ABS is 264 lbs. on the front tire, and 282 lbs. on the rear tire. Now sit on it, and imagine how that changes. The weight is going to be much more biased toward the rear; add a passenger and luggage and guess what happens.
36 PSI in the front and 42 PSI in the rear are the maximum recommended pressures for the maximum rated gross vehicle weight for this bike. Less than maximum means that lower, not higher, pressures than recommended are acceptable, but the manufacturer will never tell you to do this, at least not any more. Why? Because a lot of guys never even check their tire pressure, so if they are set high, they are less likely to run too low before it's discovered by another check.
On my bike, I run 34 psi front, 36 psi rear. I'm 160 pounds road-ready. Those pressures are within spec for me and the type of riding I do.
Bear in mind that under hard or moderate braking the contact patch on the front tire can increase by 50 percent or more, as it should, giving plenty of traction. That's only if the tire is run in the proper pressure range. Same for cornering, you want maximum contact patch, optimum temperature, so set the pressure correctly.
Same goes for the rear, the contact patch grows under acceleration, usually not quite as much as the front on a bike like this one.
Wayne,wayne van horn_imp said:
In all seriousness take that pressure out before you have a problem. Better off running a couple pounds under than over. Usually front tires at about 5000mi are cupped with peaks and trailing edges. Run your hand across the tire and you can feel them, this is time to change them regardless of wear.
