08-25-2012, 05:56 PM
I have seen here and many other places where people inflate their tires to relatively low pressures, and then complain that the tires wore out fast.
Bicycle tires, like all pneumatic tires (cars, trucks, motorcycles, 747-400 jets, etc) will last the longest if they are maintained at their maximum recommended pressure.
This is because, the higher the pressure, the less bending of the tire there is. Just like a paper clip, if you bend it back and forth over a large range, it will fail much sooner than if you bend it back and forth a little bit.
Too low a tire pressure lead to the Ford Explorer / Firestone tire fiasco 10 or so years ago.
Bottom line - the vast majority of tire failures are due to too low a pressure.
Bicycle tires, like all pneumatic tires (cars, trucks, motorcycles, 747-400 jets, etc) will last the longest if they are maintained at their maximum recommended pressure.
This is because, the higher the pressure, the less bending of the tire there is. Just like a paper clip, if you bend it back and forth over a large range, it will fail much sooner than if you bend it back and forth a little bit.
Too low a tire pressure lead to the Ford Explorer / Firestone tire fiasco 10 or so years ago.
Bottom line - the vast majority of tire failures are due to too low a pressure.
Nigel
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