Crystal came in the other day with a flat rear tire. As she described the way the flat occurred it reminded me that I've wanted to pass on the most basic bit of preventative maintenance.
100 lbs of pressure, oh my god, the tires will blow!...
While this isn't exactly what Crystal said, I have heard others comment about high pressures in this way. Maintaining recommended air pressure is probably the most important bit of advice I can give. While low air pressure doesn't cause flats every time you hit a pot hole, it is one of the most common contributing factors. There is a misconception about high air pressure causing flats if you hit a pot hole. Tires are designed to put up with a tremondous amount of abuse. The abuse your tires have the most trouble with is when you happen to be running a tire at 55 lbs when it's recommended it be 100 lbs. You hit the pot hole and the tire flattens out against the rim pinching the tube in the process. What you end up having is two parallell cuts on each side of the tube. Crystal was lucky she didn't have any tire damage. The tube took the brunt of the hit. She's soon back on the road and I hope to convince her to look at a new pump and check her tire pressure each and every time she prepares to ride. With todays light weight tubes and the high pressures the wheels demand you need to check your pressure at least once a week. In just a few days the tire pressure will drop 20% of its pressure, then likely hold that amount for some time.
As far as comfort and air pressure...
You bet, your tush is going to love you for low pressure tires, however, your leg muscles are going to say that this is not too much fun pushing twice as hard on the peddles. What happens next is your brain intervenes and tells you pedaling is too much work and you hang the bike on a hook and it becomes what I commonly refer to as "Garage Ornaments". Running your tires at recommended pressure makes the ride so much more enjoyable. I did some sevice for a friend's kids a few years ago before I officially went into business as a repair shop. I spent more time taklking than tuning and basically just inflated the kids tires. As we continued talking the kids jumped on the bikes and began riding around. They then came back and told their mom what a good job I did fixing their bikes. It's nice being thought of as a service genius!
And that brings us to efficiency...
We've all seen people walking their bikes up hills. It's not something to be embarrassed about. In Europe, a good number of people still ride single and three speed bikes and walk up all the hills. They aren't out to prove anything. They're just trying to get from here to there. Whenever I pass a person walking up the hills I want to stop and throw an air gauge on the stem of their tires and see if my theory is correct. That theory says that about 1/2 of the casual riders are riding with air pressure at least 20 lbs less than recommended. So, my recommendation to everyone is to check their tire air pressure at least once a month on any tire wider than 32mm or 1.5". and before every ride for any road bike tire. And, if you think of it, relay this information to every casual cyclist you know. They will probably enjoy their rides more and be healthier.
