Darksider in Pasadena,TX

[lw]

Goodbye Elite 3, hello Continental Vanco 8.

Was already dark when I picked Lucille up at the shop that mounted her new rubber, and traffic was a bit heavier than I wanted to mess with tonight, so I rode home instead of doing any significant test riding. Started at 40 lbs in it. We'll see how that works out for the initial breakin.

Brad, Bud, how many miles do y'all recommend before starting to work the pressure down slowly?

[cactusjack]

LW, welcome to the club!

[bigdave]

Welcome to the darkside

[blowndodge]

Larry, I varied mine from 20 to 50 for about 1000 miles. Now I'm at 26lbs. I can run that low because the tire is an 8ply truck tire.

We need pics LW !!!!!

[lw]

Originally Posted by Blowndodge "Darksider"

. We need pics LW !!!!!

Will do my best to post pics en la manana. Was too dark tonight when I got her home. But in the meantime, look at your tire pic in your footer, Lucille has the same tire.

[Cajunrider]

Larry, I don't have the same tire but I only ran 40 psig for about 150 miles before I started decreasing the pressure 2# at a time. By the time I had 500 or 600 miles on the tire I was down to 34#. I'm now running with 29 and haven't dropped any lower yet. Welcome to the DS. You won't regret crossing over.

[dkdixie]

Welcome to the Darkside!
I stayed at too high air pressure for too long and my Dunlop SP5000 car tire is wearing in the center big time.
Like Cajun, settled on 29lbs but too late to save the tire.
Still will get more miles out of it than two m/c tires.
Probably not as much a problem with your truck tire.

[pablo]

I started at 26 psi and tried different pressures from 24 to 35. Now I'm back to 26-27 psi. I didn't do any initial break in pressure. My tire has over 15,000 miles and is wearing more in the center even with this low pressure.

[billz410]

I also have the Continental Vanco, and like BD and Pablo, I run it at 26 psi and call it good.

[bokobob]

what is the rationale for starting off 40+ or so and gradually decreasing?
Thanks,

[VulcanE]

Welcome to the "DarkSide". I have the TripleTred by Goodyear, and my final pressure ended up being between 26-28 psi cold. It performs best when heated up (after riding a while) to 32 psi hot, so my cold psi will vary depending on whatever the ambient temp is for that time of the year.

[Jared]

Welcome to the DARKSIDE!

[trip]

"L u k e...Search your feelings Luke...I'm your Father. Come with me Luke and we will rule the universe... L u k e".

[Top Cat]

Originally Posted by bokobob

what is the rationale for starting off 40+ or so and gradually decreasing?
Thanks,

I was wondering this also.
Does each different brand car tire have different handling characteristics or does each Nomad have different handling characteristics when running a car tire?
It seems most of you guys run between 24 and 28 psi so why start higher ?

[Cajunrider]

TC, Everything I researched before mounting the CT stated that the tire be "broken in" starting in the 40 psig range and then slowly bringing the pressure down after 1,000 miles or so. I didn't follow those directions due to many saying that they were prematurely wearing the center of the tire running the pressure too high for too long. I didn't run over 38# for more than 150 miles. I guess it may depend on what type of tire you are running and what the load range is. The truck tires have much stiffer sidewalls than the car tires. I don't know how the break in procedure applys to the Vanco tires. I do know that dropping the pressure quicker than others did had no negative effects on how my bike handled. If my tire wears out before my Nomad ;), I will break in the replacement the same way I broke this one in.