Discovered my tire pressure from dealer was 10lbs low

[skiphunt]

Discovered the tire pressure from the dealer was down about 10lbs in each tire... which might have had something to do with my lousy mpg on the first couple of tanks. My worst was 49mpg on the trip back to Austin from Oklahoma. It's been creeping up now that it's getting broken in and has the right pressure in the tires.

Last week I got 57mpg and the tank I just filled up today got 62mpg. This is combined highway and city riding. I'm not riding conservatively either, but just normally like I would if I was traveling.

Not sure what to so about all the wind. Getting blown around quite a bit on the highway compared to the vstrom. Not bad, but I think the fatigue would get to me quickly when doing distance. I don't really want to put a big windshield on it, but from what I've read... that's pretty much all that works. Thinking about just getting a Laminar Lip for it because when I simply hold my hand up above the small OEM windscreen, it seems to make a significant difference. Just having trouble bringing myself to pay $100 for basically a piece of plastic and some 3M velco lock tab thingies. Seems waaaay over-priced to me, but I'm seeing an alternative just yet.

 

[Ramseysteve]

Mine was too, but not by 10lbs. When I got home from picking the bike up my gauge showed front was 32lbs, rear was 35lbs.

Charitably, the problem may lie in their gauge, not necessarily in their carelessness. I have two relatively cheap dial type gauges and a couple of those 'pencil' type pocket gauges in my garage, and now also two air compressor 'in-line' inflators with an integrated dial pressure gauge. The problem is they all disagree in their readings by up to 5lbs.

I recently inflated my car tires using the inflator/gauge that I currently trust (a Power Tank TIG-8200) and visited the large tire store that I frequent to see what their gauge read, in the belief that their gauge would be accurate. It was 4lbs different to mine, but when I asked about it, the tech said that they knew their gauge to be off by around that much.

The truth is, its hard to have faith in any tire gauge, and one probably should stick to the "10%" variance from cold to warm tires test to determine if the pressure is where it should be.

Can't comment on your fuel economy, but agree about eating blown about at highway speeds. Hopefully a bigger screen will help!

Steve.

 

[johnakay]

put some old air in ride much better than fresh .

 

[glenbo]

put some old air in ride much better than fresh .

But be sure to change it regularly.

 

[Hmcp88]

It's funny you mention that... We had a string of bikes leave out of here where the technicians had not been checking the pressures so we now have two events we add to every work order. One is tire pressures in and out and the other is tread depths. That way we can be sure the technicians are checking the pressures and also when the customer bitches because he only got 3000 miles on that last tire, we can show him he only had 20 pounds every time he comes in here (which is the norm for our customers)

 

[JDE]

Keep an eye on those pressures. I had a leak develope between the rim and the bead of the tire. Wasn't there for the first 4kmiles.

 

[Blackrider]

Between 57 and 62 is about what I am getting traveling mostly highway. Now if I keep the
gears low (don't over rev) I get a bit above that. But that is riding like really, really
conservative.

 

[Mike Cash]

It's funny you mention that... We had a string of bikes leave out of here where the technicians had not been checking the pressures so we now have two events we add to every work order. One is tire pressures in and out and the other is tread depths. That way we can be sure the technicians are checking the pressures and also when the customer bitches because he only got 3000 miles on that last tire, we can show him he only had 20 pounds every time he comes in here (which is the norm for our customers)

Today's vocabulary item: "gundecking".