How to Get the Most Out of Your Tyres
By Tim Brennan
The most common repair job for a bycycle involves the wheels, tyres and innertubes. The most money spent on repair bills is for fixing punctures, cracked tyres, and buckled rims. However these problems can be avoided easily and with no cost.
You should keep your tyres pumped up to the pressure printed on the side of the tyre. It is normal for an inner tube to slowly let our out over many days, so keep them topped up every 2 weeks. This will not only make your pedal power go further, because there's less roll resistance, it will also prevent damage to your bike.
If you want to avoid the cracks that commonly appear on tyres then keeping them pumped up will make them last several times longer. A deflated tyre is repeatedly creased everytime the wheel goes round - eventually this will result in cracks. If you hit a pot hole in the road or the edge of the curb then a deflated tyre will not protect the rims. If you feel the wheel bottoming out when you hit a bump then you are damaging your rims every time this happens.
Getting the best tool for the job is definitly worth the money in this case. You should invest in a track pump (the hand pushed - sitting on the floor type) with a pressure guage. Hand pumps might be convenient to carry with you when you are cycling but they need A LOT more effort to inflate your tyres. You will be amazed how much easier and faster a track pump can inflate your tires.
If you want to be as precise as possible with your tyre pressures then go about 2 psi above the pressure you are aiming for. That way when you take the nozzle off the valve, the escaping air will bring it dead on target.
The valve should be at 90 degrees to the rim. This is important because if it is set at an angle then it can wear away and puncture the neck of the valve.
Although it might be tempting to use a car pump at your local garage, it can cause blow outs. So avoid this at all costs.
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