NoGoodID

So the manual says that tire pressure should be roughly 30.5 psi in the front and 32 psi in the rear. However, today I noticed that the tag on the right side of the bike that contains the vin number says 33.4 psi front and 37.8 psi rear. Does anyone know why there is this discrepancy?

Also what pressure are you guys running? My dealer put 35 in the front and 38 in the rear...which made the ride hard as hell. I lowered it to 30/32 and it seems perfect...but not sure how the tires will wear.

doctorj

Here is the deal,

Your looking for a operating pressure, heat creates pressure.

If your start at 30 psi, and go crazy sliding, braking turn hard ...the bike around and build tons of heat you could get that pressure up to 40 psi easy.

So the bigger question is what does the manufacture want as a operating pressure, all manufacturers are different and street compounds vs race compounds.

The OEM tires on the 1199 are a hybrid.

My guess ( because i don't know ) is that they will be very happy at 38 psi.

The question is where do you have to start to get there, ...well that depends on outside and tarmac temperature and how you ride.

So start at 32/31 and ride like you do, then check your tire pressure.

However here is where it gets tricky, if its to high, then add air don't remove air... i know what your are thinking...WHAT??

Less air will cause more heat because it will create more friction. Add air to cool tire and cause less PSI.

Then next time start with one more pound.

Hope that helps..

akalapovic

If u look along the sidewalls of the tyres u should see something like 36psi for front and 42 psi for rear COLD.

At least thats what i have been seeing with my tyres(diablo rosso corsas, dragon supercorsa, diablo rosso2s) on other superbikes.

zvez

aren't those pressures on the sidewalls generally a max. psi inflation?

Delta One

@ ZVEZ Yes I agree with you, they are normally Max pressure Cold.

I wouldn't put those max pressures in them. I've had a club member here do that and blow his valve out when the tire got hot. Not fun, but luckily didn't get hurt.

I agree with DoctorJ start with about 32/31. Also remember that the "recommended" cold tire pressures are probably to ensure longevity of the tire, not to give maximum contact and grip which you achieve by going a little lower.

On my 848 I generally use 29/28 on track, but I know guys that will go as low as 26 cold on the rear with certain tires. Also note it gets hot here so we might be going lower than you would want to in the US/EU.

1198freak

On the 1198 I experimented with tire pressures. What I found was for fairly hard riding in the canyons and around town, 31 front and 30 rear (cold pressures) worked well as the supercorsa's build heat pretty quickly and stick well. I didn't like the way the bike felt with much more air than that. For just cruising around leisurely I would go with 33 front and 32 rear. Never inflate to max pressure on the tire sidewall, those pressures are for fully loaded two up riding and will cause you problems for sporty riding..

zaster

+1, have the same experience with mine

zvez

Here's a good article on reading a tire for track days.

DIY: How to Read Tire Wear on your Motorcycle | 2WheelTuesday

and here's an article on tire pressures:

http://bostonmoto.com/uncategorized/...ure-dial-it-in

No Trellis

Little confused about the pressures. Is it with just Pirellis that the recommended front tire pressure is higher than the rear?

DIABLO SUPERCORSA SC , Motorcycle Tyres - PIRELLI INTERNATIONAL

TransNone13

I've never heard of a higher in the rear, so no....

My Tires:
Dunlop 21/31
Michelin 28/31

No Trellis

I too always believed Rear pressure greater than the Front until I read the link that I posted above from Pirelli's site, about the Supercorsa SCs.

WAfatboy

So anyone who knows about tires want to chime in? I've never had a front with higher pressure than the rear either? Any Pirelli stalkers on here?

zvez

Dave Moss told me start with cold pressure 27 rear 29 front when he set my bike up.

sifubs

This is a very interesting post on this subject:

Determining Best Tire Pressures - Ducati.ms - The Ultimate Ducati Forum

I copied the text here credit to the OP SHAZAAM from Ducati.ms forum:
"
Determining Best Tire Pressures
You'll get a lot of opinions on what tire pressure to run, but the correct tire pressure for you is not a matter of polling other rider's opinion. Here are the basics you'll need to decide for yourself.

Start with the BIKE (not the tire *see below) manufacturer's recommendation in the owners manual or under-seat sticker. This is the number they consider to be the best balance between handling, grip and tire wear. Further, if you're running alloy wheels on poor pavement, consider adding 2 psi to the recommended tire pressure just to reduce the likelihood of pothole damage. Just as you would for a car, increase the pressure 2 psi or so for sustained high speed operation (or 2-up riding) to reduce rolling friction and casing flexing. Check your tire pressure regularly, as they say.

In order to get optimum handling a tire has to get to its optimum temperature which is different for each brand of tire. Unless you own a tire pyrometer that will measure tire temperature directly, you’ll need to measure it indirectly by checking tire pressure since tire pressure increases with tire temperature. Tire temperature is important to know because too much flexing of the casing of an under-inflated tire for a given riding style and road will result in overheating resulting in less than optimum grip. Over-pressurizing a tire will reduce casing flexing and prevent the tire from getting up to the optimum operating temperature and performance again suffers. Sliding and spinning the tires also increase tire temperatures from friction heating.

A technique for those wanting to get the most out of their tires on the street is to use the 10/20% rule.

First check the tire pressure when the tire is cold. Then take a ride on your favorite twisty piece of road. Then, measure the tire pressure immediately after stopping. If the pressure has risen less than 10% on the front or 20% on the rear, the rider should remove air from the tire. So for example, starting at a front tire pressure of 32.5 psi should bring you up to 36 psi hot. Once you obtain this pressure increase for a given rider, bike, tire, road and road temperature combination, check the tire pressure again while cold and record it for future reference.

Each manufacturer is different. Each tire model is different. A tire design that runs cooler needs to run a lower pressure (2-3 psi front) to get up to optimum temperature. The rear tire runs hotter than the front tire, road and track. So the rear tire cold-to-hot increase is greater. Dropping air pressure has the additional side effect of scrubbing more rubber area.

When I used the tire pressures recommended by Ducati (32.5F/36R) for my 916 on my favorite road, I got exactly 10/20% on a set of Bridgestone BT-012SS. So I guess I'm an average rider and the BT-012SS runs at an average operating temperature compared to other brands.

For the track you'll have to drop the cold tire pressures an additional 10/20%. Track operation will get tires hotter (increasing the cold-to-hot pressure range) so starting at say 32/30 psi now should bring you up to the same temperature (and pressure) that 35/39 psi gave you for the street. Don't even think about running these low track cold pressures on the street.

Finally, dropping tire pressures on street tires for track use has its limitations, so street compound tires on the track often get too hot and go beyond sticky to greasy. That's why you have race tires. Race tire compounds are designed for severe operation at these higher temperatures for a limited number of thermal cycles. On the other hand, a race tire on the street usually won't get up to the appropriate temperature for good performance. At street speeds, the race compound often won't perform as well as a street tire.

Finally, a tire that is inflated to a lower pressure than recommended will have a tire profile that will sag slightly in the middle. This sagging profile results in increased rolling friction and causes the tires to run hotter. This will reduce tire life but it will also increase tire traction or grip. Depending upon racing conditions and the overall setup of the bike the increased grip may be necessary to be competitive even at the cost of tire life.


* Tire Manufacturer's Recommendations

Japanese sportbikes seem to have an extra 4-6 psi specified for their tires, compared to the equivalent Ducati. Why?

A tire manufacturer will recommend a pressure that is a balance between tire life and grip. When a bike manufacturer is developing a new model their test riders will determine what pressures in their opinion, best suit the new model. The recommended pressures are the best for general street (not track) riding, so you can increase grip somewhat by reducing pressures.

But to answer the question about higher recommended tire pressures for Japanese in-line fours versus Ducati twins - in-line fours heat up their tires more than a twin so a higher starting pressure is needed to prevent overheating the tires, particularly the rear tire.

Years ago, superbike racers discovered that it was easier to modulate the power to prevent wheelspin on the Ducati V-twins than it was to do the same on the Japanese inline-fours. This is because there is a longer interval (in terms of both time and crankshaft rotation) between cylinders firing, which gives the rear tire a "break" - time to recover traction and match its speed to that of the motorcycle.

More recently, more sophisticated traction control systems have been tried to reduce tire temperatures, improve tire life and lap times."

On the pirelli web site the pressures are below 30 psi.

WAfatboy

Great summary, thanks for digging it out.