What Is The Fastest Tyre Pressure For Road Bikes?

What tyre pressure do you ride? 🧐

Where I live, the roads are terrible, but I have a bike that is capable of running 32mm tires, and it has changed my life. Running high volume at lower pressure has made riding much more comfortable, and I honestly don't feel any loss rolling resistance. Coming from a background of racing in the '80s to the '90s when skinny and hard tires were the norm, this is a great change! I'm happy that cycling is letting science take the lead over tradition.

Not only is the information well presented to both the technically informed and layman alike but the I just have to add the videography is absolutely amazing in this video! These amazing shots/angles/speeds we just can’t ignore how much effort it must have taken to produce this masterpiece. Well done GCN.

As a 50-something who's been road cycling since the 80s, I ran 20 or 21mm at 115-120psi for decades. Went to 25mm in 2018 but still put over 100psi in them. I'm down to around 80psi now, so I'm slowly adjusting to what the science says, but it's a slow process. I probably need new rims before trying 28mm - mine are from 2009 and came shod with 23mm tyres.

I've been running 28c Conti GP5K at 70 psi. I use latex tubes which lose air slowly so I pump up and check pressure before every ride. Sounds tedious but it's my ritual and the added benefit of meticulous awareness of tire pressure is that there are no surprises when cornering fast downhill.

Si, as a nearly 60 yr old roadie, I’ve always used relatively narrow rubber 25-28mm at higher pressures. However, I’ve recently bought a Giant Revolt running hookless rims and CADEX AR tyres at 40 psi and the difference on ‘normal’ (i.e. potholed) roads is incredible - everything is better, speed, comfort, grip, and not one puncture all winter….I was very sceptical before changing, but wouldn’t go back to ‘narrow’ high pressure rubber now. If you’re a racer, I get that you still want narrow tyres at high pressure, but for most of us hobby cyclists who want to ride for fitness and enjoyment, low pressure tubeless would seem much better on rubbish UK roads. Love the videos, keep them up! Rich

Tremendous video. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately. I now realize that for years, I’ve been over inflating my tires. I used to run 80 psi irrespective of conditions. When the weather improves and I can move from the trainer to the road, I’m going to dial it down to 60 psi and see how that goes.

"Cumulative fatigue reduction on longer rides" is another important benefit. This was mentioned in another post and it makes so much sense I ordered a set of 32s just now. The marginal gains on short rides is nice, but the benefits for 100 or 162K rides should be much more significant!!!

I've been on tire pressure journey for about 1.5 years now - down from 120 to 80. So much more comfortable! This is best video on tire pressure I've seen yet - they key takeaway for me is to use the calculator to get into the right range, and then don't stress about it - you've shown that 5-10 lbs either way doesn't make that much difference. Take the Comfort...And don't forget - Resistance is Butyl!

Good video Simon, you got the theory about hysteresis vs vibration attenuation well dialled and explained it well. I've got a video series in production about the issue too. However for aero protocol, i couldn't get the hookless Zipp up to my control pressure due to the 5 bar limit. On my medium textured asphalt, a fixed-CdA test with pressure sweep showed 76psi to be fastest on my control tyre. Simple as that. For heavier riders on smooth roads, who don't want the aero and weight increase of tyre upsizing, hookless just isn't viable. And lets be honest, hookless is being pushed because its MUCH cheaper to mould and de-mould.

Well done Simon! I really enjoyed this one. I started on the lower pressure about a year ago and have had quite a few arguments about it with others. I think this video says it all.

Thanks Si - GCN’s ‘in-depth’ videos always get me thinking especially as I still consider myself a newbie. The SRAM and Silca guides (Silca prompted by another comment) agree on my front tyre. SRAM suggests 2.7 psi more on my rear tyre. The difference seems marginal. I’m not expert so I think I’ll go with the SRAM guide.

😊 I have these Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels and fitted the Tyrewiz as I had pressure anxiety running such low pressures. Very happy with the results.

I had to ride home with a lower pressure after a roadside repair the other weekend mainly because my emergency portable pump is crap! I was expecting to be slowed down by it a lot however on our rough county lanes it didn’t actually make as much difference as I expected and was a bit more comfortable! I am going to experiment with slightly lower pressure from now on.

In automotive industry we use coastdowns to measure frictional loses. Do it both directions to deal with wind effects. Similar to wahoo spin calibration but on the road.

Great tutorial! Thank you for sharing.e I have recently been gifted a Synapse disc alloy bike, and was wondering about tire width and pressure. This is a very informative tutorial with pointers to the excellent web tool to calculate pressure according to weight. I am considering 32s if they fit. My current bike - an excellent Scott, again alloy with carbon forks - came with 23s and, as I had been using mountain bikes pretty much all my adult life, I found it absolutely excruciating. Living in Scotland, where the motorways are little better than bridleways, you really need to be looking at gravel tires, which is why I'm considering 32s. I'm not so fussed about speed, and was glad to hear you mention the word 'comfort' - defo my priority!

I run pretty close to the Sram calculator value at 30 psi on 40c tubeless tires on my monster cross bike, they list ~36. Works well on and off pavement. I've had other road cyclists let me know I had a tire going flat as they passed me.

Only been riding 3 years, but as my bike (also of 3 years) came with 28mm tyres on 22mm rims, it seems I was reasonably lucky. Been running at max pressure (8Bar) as a heavy rider (80-96Kg) but just followed this advice, with 4.4Bar in the front and 4.7Bar in the rear and TBH I’m not even bothered about the speed, the comfort difference is incredible.

One of the most informative GCN videos I've ever watched. Super interesting and really well presented. Congrats!

Great video Simon… What a relief, no silly GCN bs! thank you. …I’m a 100kg strong rider and I run Road: 55-60psi with 32mm tubeless road tyres. Gravel: 30-40psi with 40mm - 50mm tubeless gravel tyres.