Wait: Leah weighs *less* than 170? Boy Steve, you blew that one. Back to tire pressure: I recall how as a boy I first saw "Inflate to 70 psi" on the side of my cheap 27 X 1.25" gumwalls, and after pumping them to more or less that (probably per gas station gauge), how fast the bike felt, and nope, it wasn't due to vibations, which has *never* been an indicator of speed for me; it's always been ease, or perceived ease of pedaling, along with a feeling of smoothness; ie bikes feel faster on smooth roads than bumpy ones, all else equal.
But the question of pressure relates to tire quality too. Cheap tires really do go, or at least feel, faster when hard -- try riding a $15 Walmart 2" knobby at 35 psi! Pump it to 50 and it's much better. OTOH, I've let really supple tires deflate potentially disastrous levels -- 30-something psi on a 28 mm Elk Pass (I do weigh 50 lb less than 220) -- and didn't notice that they were low until I started bouncing in the saddle. Once I got a rear puncture and didn't notice it until someone behind me noticed the flat profile and said, "Puncture!" She then asked, "Didn't you notice it?" -- very surprised that such sagging hadn't caused massive drag. But not, the Elk Pass feels normally fast even at pressures way below appropriate. With the Big Ones, just as supple, I've not noticed mid-teens in the back until sidewall flop in a corner almost causes me to wipe out. So there is a huge difference in the effect of air pressure on rolling resistance when comparing top quality and cheap quality tires. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgtXifcz8XkzUHny23dz-YSY2tiNLYeiK8CvUmtHhK84xQ%40mail.gmail.com.
