Tire pressure goes down quickly

[Jox]

Hi All,

I have Bajaj XCD 125. My tires are front 2,75 x 17,41P back 3.00 x 17,50.
I loose pressure in the tires in 5 hours is 4 points less, from 26 psi to 22psi.

What is the reason, my bike si new.

I am in Mexico now and the streets are full of holes and bumps.
Almost always we are 2 on the bike.

I would like to put stronger tires, what would that be....

thanx a lot
Jox

[mscuddy]

Squirt some fix-a-flat goop in it, and you tire problems will be over.

The miserable Chinese wheels leak through pourous castings (I take it you are running an alloy wheel without spokes, and a tubeless tire, right?)

[Easy Rider 2]

Originally Posted by mscuddy

Squirt some fix-a-flat goop in it, and you tire problems will be over.

Yikes !!! Only as a last resort, maybe.

First, after a ride with 2 up, the pressure might go up by about 4 pounds......and that would be normal. After it sits and cools off, the pressure would go back down. Always check the pressure under the same conditons. The recommended pressures are when the tires are cold, as in after not being ridden for several hours AND not sitting out in the direct sunlight. First thing in the morning is a good time.

26 lbs cold sounds low to me......for that size tire and 2-up. With the roads you describe, you might be better off running whatever is says on the sidewall as MAX. inflation pressure; probably 30 PSI or more.

[The_AirHawk]

As cuddy said - it's likely the cheap, porous castings. Remove wheel assembly, dismount tire, paint inside of rim with a couple of coats of spraypaint. Remount tire.....

[Jox]

Thanx for all the information. Just the general questions:

1.- If the road is full of bumps and holes, does this mean the pressure goes down!
2. - The quality of tire is one concern, but should I have double purpose tires, or that doesnt matter?

[Morbo the Destroyer]

Originally Posted by Jox

Thanx for all the information. Just the general questions:

1.- If the road is full of bumps and holes, does this mean the pressure goes down!
2. - The quality of tire is one concern, but should I have double purpose tires, or that doesnt matter?

You can lower the pressure of the tires to make the bumps and holes less jarring, but it's dangerous to run too low a pressure on a motorcycle. When you go into turns you need sidewall stiffness, which will be missing with low pressure.

As for the tire type, if you're riding a mix of pavement, rough roads, and off-pavement, there's a lot of great tires. Pirelli Scorpions, Bridgestone TrailWings, there's many to choose from. It sounds to me like that the type of tire you need.

[Easy Rider 2]

Originally Posted by Morbo the Destroyer

You can lower the pressure of the tires to make the bumps and holes less jarring,

BAD move. Lower pressure make it more likely that bad roads will damage the tire or rim. Pressure should be increased to help prevent damage.......but never more than the sidewall recommendation.

Bumps, even a lot of them, do not normally cause the tire to loose air.

[TatorMan43]

first thing I'd do is mix some dish detergent (Dawn) with some water inflate tire to max psi and soak down the entire wheel and tire and let set, look for the bubbles or in extremely slow leak it will just foam up after setting a while 30min to 1 hour. then you'll know were and what is leaking.

[stukat7]

Your wheel could be distorted, i.e. bent from going down to many potholes?

[Morbo the Destroyer]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider 2

BAD move. Lower pressure make it more likely that bad roads will damage the tire or rim. Pressure should be increased to help prevent damage.......but never more than the sidewall recommendation.

Bumps, even a lot of them, do not normally cause the tire to loose air.

"...but it's dangerous to run too low a pressure on a motorcycle."

If you read the entire sentence you'll see it was a warning, not a recommendation.