Mr. Smith is a customer of mine who rides his entry level gravel bike several times a week when the weather is nice. When he brought his bike in for an annual tuneup, he told me that his hands had been hurting and going numb lately.
If this sounds like a familiar experience, you aren’t alone. Thankfully, there is a potential solution that is sometimes free.
Getting Your Pressure Right
Mr. Smith had been running 60 psi in his 700x42c tubeless tires. While this feels really fast and efficient – it isn’t. It causes unnecessary vibrations and a loss of traction. Mr. Smith weighs 190 lbs, let’s see what pressure he should be running.
The following chart is available at: https://enve.com/pages/tire-pressure
While this chart is made by ENVE Wheels, it can be used to get a starting pressure for any wheelset. It takes three variables.
3 Variables to Determine Starting Pressure
- Rim Width
- Tire Size
- Weight
Rim Width
This is the least important but will make a difference of a few psi. If you have an entry level bike, use the 21mm option. For mid-level aluminum rims use 23mm, and if you have carbon rims use 25mm. However it is worth checking on the rim to see if it is listed, or googling the rim’s model.
Tire Size
This one is easy. Simply select your tire size from the third row.
Weight
Now follow the chart down to your weight.
Doing this for Mr. Smith yields 34 psi! Almost half of what he had been running. Lowering his tire pressure will reduce vibrations and increase his traction, and is free.
From here feel free to go up and down. Experimenting is free too. You may also find you want to run more pressure in your back tire than in your front.
What if I have tubes in my tires?
If you have standard tubes in your tires, don’t fear, you can still lower your tire pressure with one small caveat. When you lower pressure in tubes, you increase the risk of the tube getting pinched against the rim if you were to hit a big bump. (This is called pinch flatting.) So I still recommend trying lower pressure, but maybe not quite so low as tubeless tires.
Why is lower pressure better?
One common misconception is that a harder tire is faster rolling. That actually isn’t true. A rock hard tire only feels fast because the rider is feeling every bump and vibration in the road. (On gravel, that is quite a lot of bumps!)
A softer tire soaks up bumps and vibrations by conforming to the ground and thus isolating the rider. So the rider doesn’t feel the bump, and is more comfortable.
But the rider is also faster! When a rider pedals, ideally all the energy goes toward propelling the bike forward. When the bicycle hits a bump with an extremely hard tire, the entire weight of the rider and the bike has to move up to get over the bump. So some of that forward energy is lost and is used to propel the rider up, instead of forward.
What will it cost to go tubeless?
Going tubeless costs approximately from $30-170. Many new bikes will come with rims that are compatible with tubeless systems. To know how much it will cost on your bike you can bring it to Prairie.Bike or text us at 316-262-1505. Here’s a small breakdown of the components of the cost.
- Valves $20
- Tape $6 (purchased from bulk shop supply)
- Sealant $10
- Tires $50-75/tire
- Labor $30/wheel.
You may already have some of these components.
Taking it to the next level
If you want to further optimize your tire pressure. Check out Silca’s tire pressure calculator. It is the only one that takes actual tire width, tire type, tube type, road type and other factors into account.
https://silca.cc/pages/pro-tire-pressure-calculator
I lowered my pressure, and my hands still go numb
If lowering your pressure doesn’t help, the first thing I would recommend is looking at how your bike fits you. If you have to reach too far to the handlebars then you will put too much weight on your hands. So at the very least you can try a short stem to put you in a more upright position.
Suspension stems such as the Redshift stem also work very well. But at $190, they are not my first recommendation.
Final Thoughts
Changing your air pressure is free, and can significantly improve your ride quality. As always Prairie.Bike is happy to help make your bike more comfortable and guide you through the complicated world of bicycle technology.
Feel free to give us a call anytime at 316-262-1505 or email ride@prairie.bike.
Keep Pedaling the Prairie!