Whenever you are riding your dirt bike you need to keep and maintain the correct tire pressure to increase the chances of overall tire life.
Just because during riding your dirt bike you are feeling ‘’ it’s doing fine ‘’ does not mean it has perfect tire pressure. A correct tire dirt bike pressure will provide you with the optimum level of performance. When it comes to dirt bike tire pressure a 12 psi is a useful standard.
Please scroll below to know further about these special bikes’ tire pressure and other crucial factors regarding the topic.
Recommended Dirt Bike Tire Pressure for Bikers
Most of the dirt bike tires are tailored in a way so that you can ride them with 11-13 psi. This is okay if you are going to ride your bike off-road. A little change in the tire pressure will make a huge difference in your handling of the bike. Think of 12 psi as the sweet for such situations.
But, as a dirt bike rider, you need to know all the different scenarios and what’s the tire pressure for each of them. Below I’m going to explain just that. Keep reading…
Dirt Bike Tire Pressure for Hard Pack
Hardpack and flat-track riders can keep pressure on the front tire up to 13-14 psi. But if you are going for a flat track and in addition to that the temperature level is high then the tire pressure will increase.
Sand and Soft Terrain Tire Pressure for Dirt Bike
If you plan to ride on soft and sandy terrain then you can keep your dirt bike’s rear tire to 11-12 psi and front tire to 11 psi.
Required Tire Pressure for Trails
Though this one might make you a bit confused but let me clear it to you. Before riding on any trail you need to consider two things and these are the season and the majority portion of the terrain type.
Mostly a 12 psi is a good recommendation for such a case. Hopefully, you will be able to ride and control your dirt bike quite comfortably.
Optimum Settings for Trial Bikes
You can shift the pressure of trial tires from 5-6 psi. But please keep in mind that these versions of tires are mainly tailored and made for off-road purposes. This is why you can continue with such low-level tire pressure.
You have to fit trial tires perfectly. To make it most effective you should fit the trial tire into tubeless trial supporting rims.
And unfortunately, if you start your day without the proper wheel and tire setup then expect to have a bad day.
Tire Pressure for Slower and Faster Riding
Tires that come with heavy-duty inner tubes can run with a low level of psi. It’s best if you are looking for an excellent grip. In this case, you must keep your speed on the low side.
It’s not recommended to ride your dirt bike too fast on heavy tubes which have a pressure level range between 8-10 psi.
A high level of pressure like 15psi or 16 psi is best for the enduro.
You should only use 16+ psi for tires that were made for on-road riding. A low psi will give you a hard time in this type of tire.
How to determine pressure for Dirt Bike Tires?
In the following part, I will discuss how you can find out the pressure level by monitoring the tire just by observation and utilizing your riding sense.
By riding
During your ride, you can determine if the pressure is too low. Some indications are there to find it out. Let me give you one example.
During biking time if you feel that your bike is not giving you enough support during cornering and at the moderate speed you feel a little wobble that means the tire pressure is really low.
On the opposite side, you may see a loss of traction on any soft or loose terrain where the tires will spin more than the normal level means the tire pressure level is very high.
Rim Clean
A properly inflated tire would have a shiny ring around the edge of the rim. Basically where the tire meets the shiny aluminum rim. It’s called rim clean.
If you can’t see the shiny area that means the pressure is higher than the correct pressure. Also, a shiny area of more than 4mm means the pressure is way too low.
In short, if the rim clean is too big then increase the tire pressure and if it’s small then decrease the pressure.
Temperature and Tire Pressure
One of the important factors you should not ignore is the level of pressure of the tire when you are riding your dirt bike.
Usually, on an average temperature day, you might not notice any significant change. But when the temperature goes high it will make a difference in the tire pressure.
Different factors like deformation of the casing, flexing of the sidewall, and spinning of wheels are also responsible for the increase of tire heat. In most cases, the front tire does not heat up like the rear one because the rear tire has more friction.
A high level of pressure increase can occur during the motocross racing track. It can go up to 5-6 pounds in the rear tire 3-4 pounds.
Thus it is best to start the racing with a low-pressure level of 10-11 psi so that on the last lap tire pressure will reach around 14 psi which is the correct pressure.
When and with what to check tire pressure?
As a rider, it should become your first habit to inspect and check your dirt bike tire pressure frequently. Anytime you are going out just check the tire pressure level before kickstart.
If you feel like wasting time during hangout then check the tire pressure when you are warming up your motorbike.
By checking it actually, you can figure out whether both the rear and front tire have the recommended terrain suitable pressure.
Please keep a strong note and that is you must buy a high-quality digital tire pressure gauge.
Don’t even dare to buy the cheap one or you will be riding with the wrong psi level on your tire which will cost you much later.
Balancing the front and rear tyre pressure
In a motocross race, the temperature of the rear tire will go high because of the extreme level of traction. Which will ultimately increase the tire pressure on the rear tire.
For that, some riders try to keep a lower level of psi on the rear tire than the front tire. You can follow that too.
Having air pumps for dirt bike tires
Whenever you are going to buy an air pump for your dirt bike tyre you must take into consideration that it’s not like your car tyre.
If it’s required to fill your tire then first ensure that you have full control and understanding of the air filling session.
Compressed air and electric pumps are excellent for filling up large tires to 35-40 psi but can be overdone when you want to use them on the dirt bike tire.
However, you don’t need to spend a good amount of money on tire pumps. Because pumps like bicycle pumps will be okay for the job. You can also use hand pumps for this task.
How to Prevent Punctures on a Dirt Bike Tire
On a sunny day when you have made plans to go for a long dirt biking session to give yourself some extra breath and then you may have to stop your riding because of puncturing of your tire would you like it? I don’t think so.
As a rider more or less everyone faced this awkward and ridiculous situation. So to mitigate this puncturing issue you can take some preventive measures which will help you during your rugged ride.
So here I am going to talk about some of the methods you need to know if you want to reduce the puncture of your dirt bike tire. Let’s have a look.
Tire Pressure
Believe it or not, your dirt bike tires pressure has a full connection with the punctures that you get sometimes. Normally tires that are filled with high-level psi will help reduce the chances of flattening.
Because your tire will compress less and when it comes in contact or hits any sharp and hard objects then it will most likely bounce it off.
But let me remind you that maintaining a high level of pressure will have some problems which come as a package.
TUbliss Tire
TUbliss is a great alternative for the prevention of puncture of your dirt bike’s tire.
Basically, it’s a dual pressure chamber system that restores the standard tube with a high psi and rim-saving inner bladder which functions as a 360-degree rim lock.
In this system, you will have a small size insertable tube inside your rim. And you can fill it with a high level of pressure to prevent any unwanted damage to your rims and definitely locking the tire to the rim.
The outer size is usually large and as there is no tube on the outside part so very few chances for pinch flats. This specific area can be filled up with lower-level pressure which will ensure a better grip.
However, there is still the possibility of a punctured tire. But the way you can fix it is super easy and cool.
Mousse
It’s a solid foam that is inserted inside the tire. They fit really well with the tires and rims.
Mousse is used by those people who go for extreme level off-roading. They are cheap but have a very short lifetime of around 6 months. It does require maintenance.
Additional Read: Are Dirt Bike Tires Universal?
When should you change your tires?
It’s not a hard thing to detect. Rather it’s quite easy to know when you need to change the tires of your dirt bike.
Round knobs losing their sharp edge means it’s time to change the tire.
And this is going to happen due to the acceleration. And when the knobs on the tires become rounded it will decrease the overall grip of your dirt bike.
If you ride your dirt bike on a normal pitch road then your tire knob is going to wear out very fast. Because dirt bike tires are designed to ride on 90% dirt ground.
Also if you have a bad habit of leaving your bike out in the sun which means your tires are exposed to the heat. This too can be harmful to your tire.
A cracked and faded color tire is nothing but an end product of poor quality storage.
You can inspect the side knobs for any kind of cracking out there. After inspecting if you feel like that it’s time to change the tire then replace both of the tires even if one is good compared to the other one.
Effects of Incorrect Tire Pressure
It’s simply that your tire pressure would completely depend on your riding conditions. What kind of terrain you are going to ride, what kind of tire you have installed in your dirt bike will play a major role.
If you fail to keep the proper tire inflation then you would face any unwanted situation.
Over Inflation
It reduces the amount of total area of your tire that comes into contact with the ground or road. Also, it decreases the overall traction on that specific track.
Under Inflation
You need your tire to be properly beaded on the rim but in case of underinflation, the opposite will happen.
Moreover, it will also create a negative impact on your dirt bike’s tire contact area with the ground by forcing the tire to bend up in the middle.
Benefits of Changing The Tire Pressure
You might think a change of just 1 psi is not going to alter the performance? But in reality, it does; sometimes up to more than 15%.
Anyway, let me tell you the benefits of keeping a high pressure and low pressure in your dirt bike tire.
Benefits of Keeping High Pressure in Tire
- You will be able to increase your dirt bike’s speed
- Ensure your tire and rims safety by lessening any outer impact from sharps objects or solid objects like rocks, roots, etc.
- Adds quite well enough cushion for the bulky and bigger size heavyweight riders.
Benefits of Keeping Low Pressure in Tire
- Your tire will be able to provide you with better traction
- Excellent for riding on Motocross track as you know no sharp objects are there in those off-track roads
- The lightweight rider will find it easier to ride
- Help to perform and ride o soft terrains like soft clay or muddy road
Final words
Looking for the appropriate dirt bike tire pressure might be a painful process that includes trials and errors.
You can begin with 12 psi and scale it up or down according to the tips I have mentioned in the upper part. Don’t bring a big change all of a sudden rather change it slowly to make the precise decision.
I hope you will be able to find out the proper dirt bike tire pressure for your specific bike.
