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Tire pressure on Sidewalk is MAXIMUM PSI. Tire companies make lots of different tires for all sorts of different bikes. That's why manufacturers do lots if testing to see what works best on their bike and at what pressure. So always go with owners manual when it comes to tire pressure. Race mechanics also say that you should see a ten percent increase from cold PSI to warm. So try starting at what the manual says and go for a ride, then after a while pull over and check tire pressure. If you set at 30 PSI cold, for example, and then get 33 PSI then you ate spot on. If its less than 10% try one pound more cold; if more then go one pound less. You'd be amazed at how much of a difference just one pound of pressure can make. As for tire wear, proper inflation is the way to get the most miles. As mentioned before, too much psi will overheat and accellerate wear, too little will stress the side walls and increase wear as well. Impropper inflation effects both traction and thus handling as well as braking. You can also contact the tire manufacturer directly for more info. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[E.L. Green]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, CLS wrote:

> > Tire pressure on Sidewalk is MAXIMUM PSI. > Tire companies make lots of different tires for all sorts of

different bikes. That's why manufacturers do lots if testing to see what works best on their bike and at what pressure. The only testing Kawasaki does with the KLR-650 is to make sure the OEM tires don't overheat at legal speeds at the designated pressures (that would be a safety issue). For their dual-sport bikes they have always published pressures that are the *minimum* you should run in your tires on the highway, because the lower the pressure, the better it behaves *off* the highway (within limits -- go below 15psi, you better have rim locks).

> So always go with owners manual when it comes to tire pressure.

If you're dual-sport riding without an air pump, that's probably a good compromise. But it certainly doesn't get you good tire life at high speeds on the pavement. Furthermore, the owner's manual pressures apply to the *OEM* tires. "Tires are tires!" you say? Uhm, no. For example, Kings KT-966 front tires work for me at around 25PSI. Below 25PSI, they get "squishy" due to their soft sidewalls and make the bike feel unstable. Above 25PSI they start to "hunt" and make the bike feel unstable. How did I find this out? By varying the air pressure and riding the bike, of course. On the other hand, Kenda 761's want to be at 30PSI, they get scalloped below that and hunt above that, and Avon Gripster front tires work great at 35PSI and wear like iron at that pressure. And Conti TKC-80's want to be 30PSI front -- the front gets scalloped at under 30PSI but gets really harsh and unstable above it. As far as back tires, all of them get quite warm on the KLR and tire life is drastically enhanced on pavement by pumping them up to the max. One thing I *will* say is that if I'm in, say, Death Valley, and don't want to futz around with pumping tires up and down all the time while doing 50-50 pavement and gravel/sand/dirt work, I'll run the OEM pressures or somewhere near (it depends on the tire and how it responds to those pressures). Or sometimes lower. For example, Conti TKC-80's have very stiff sidewalls. I have no problem at all running them 20PSI front, 25PSI rear on pavement and gravel, as long as my on-pavement speeds don't exceed 60mph. They don't feel as planted on pavement as with higher pressure, and don't feel as stable in gravel as with lower pressure, but it's a reasonable compromise. In other words, tires *AIN'T* tires. They're all different, and you'll need to experiment to find the best pressures for a given tire under a given set of conditions. Tires have different block sizes, sidewall stiffness and height, etc. that affect how they handle a given pressure, and unless you intend on sticking with the OEM tires for all your life you'll need to experiment to see what pressures on a TKC-80 give you the same qualities as the OEM tires at the owner's manual pressures. And the OEM pressures are a *minimum* pressure to begin with, intended to insure that the tire doesn't overheat on pavement, not a maximum pressure -- you'll need to experiment to see how high you can go without affecting handling on the fronts (backs are always fine at the max).

> > Race mechanics also say that you should see a ten percent increase

from cold PSI to warm. That's nice. If I ever own a race bike, I'll pay attention to that .

> As for tire wear, proper inflation is the way to get the most miles.

As mentioned before, too much psi will overheat and accellerate wear, Err, no. Heat is produced by tire flex. High PSI reduces tire flex, and thus heat. I have verified this experimentally on everything from a 1983 Chevy Chevette to five different types of tires installed on a KLR-650. My rear tire gets really hot at lower pressures, and if I pump it to the max on the sidewall, merely gets warm. By and large, rear tires on the KLR at high speeds on pavement prefer to be pumped up to the max on the sidewall. That's because the geometry of the KLR tends to put most weight on the rear tire. The front tire doesn't have heat problems regardless of what pressure you run on it, so you have to look at wear patterns and handling there. Most "blocky" tires will scallop on pavement at low pressures because the blocks will flex when you brake. Higher pressures will reduce that scalloping. But too high of pressure will make the handling unstable and impair traction because it'll no longer flex enough to conform to the road (not a problem with the rears, you always have enough weight back there to make it work even pumped to the max). So it's rarely advisable to pump the front up to the max, you need to play around to find what works best. The biggest problem with higher pressure, in other words, is problems with handling, not with tire life (though if you've reduced the contact patch to the point where it affects handling this is unlikely to help tire life!). Too much pressure in the front can make handling unstable, too little can make it squishy and difficult to lean into turns. And BTW it varies with loads, so don't assume that the correct pressure for you riding alone is the same as the correct pressure when you have the KLR loaded like a mule!

> Impropper inflation effects both traction and thus handling as well

as braking.

> You can also contact the tire manufacturer directly for more info.

Contact Conti for info on the TKC-80, they'll ask you "What model BMW are you riding?" They wouldn't know a KLR-650 from a Huasang scooter. They design their tires to be BMW-specific, the fact that they work great on KLR's (having good traction on pavement both wet and dry, being reasonable off pavement) is just gravy as far as they're concerned, it's not as if they sell lots of these tires to KLRistas after all -- most KLRistas are too cheap to buy tires that cost $250 per set. Given this reality, might as well ask the Pope for proper tire pressures for Contis on KLR's. He knows as much about it. *OR*, you could ask people who've actually ridden Contis on KLR's. Hmm, hard choice, huh? _E

[Jacobus De Bruyn]

So..you re saying, I might get seafoam eventually?Jacostarica. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[Jacobus De Bruyn]

Usually I kick the tire to see how it s doing. When I inflate it, I measure the pressure, by hand. I use a small mountainbike handpump, no prob. Jacostarica. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ