?DUMB? Hawk Tire Pressures

[nij_tp]

HI so probably a really dumb question but my search power is weak.

So Hawk 99% road use running Shinko 705's what should the tire pressure(s) be? I got a (rear) flat the other day and didn't have the tools to remove the tire (there now in the post) so had a local power sport shop (they sell all sorts of enduro, Atv and in the winter snowmobiles) They put a new inner tube and rim tape in and set the pressure to 20 psi that seemed low to me, but what do I know Im a newbie.

So could someone confirm what the range ( I know there will be several answers) should be front and back for mostly road use. This is my first motor bike and i'm only used to my pedal bike and cars, trucks and RVs and never been that low :-) .

As always thanks in advance for any and all help.

[Deckard_Cain]

20psi seems VERY low.

Stock Hawk tires as OE set up is 32psi front, 40psi rear.

I would think that on a street tire, minimum PSI would be in the low 30s. Even my Ninja 250 runs 28psi front, 32psi rear.

What does your tube and tire say is max psi at max load? Does it specify a minimum inflation pressure?

[Megadan]

Rear tire pressure will depend some on weight, but for the road I run my Shinko 700's at 32 rear and 28 front. They are a more heavy duty tire though and have a max PSI rating of 33psi.

The 705 is a little lighter duty construction, and if you have the 120/80-17 and 90/90-21, both of those tires have a max rating of 41psi. When I ran the 705 on my last Hawk, I had the rear tire at 38psi and front and 32 for road riding and it worked well. You can always adjust from those numbers until you find a good balance of ride quality and performance.

[nij_tp]

Deckard and of course Dan ( how do you manage to do anything other than answer posts?). I thought it seemed low but I was confused. I will bump it up. I am running 4.10x18 on the back. Not sure what it says for max psi but I did notice it's good to 86mph :-) just need to find a really steep downhill on a windy day to test it out.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by nij_tp

Deckard and of course Dan ( how do you manage to do anything other than answer posts?).

I type fast and I know things.

[Baby Huey]

I know that this is an older post but has anyone else noticed that the Hawk is a bit harsh and squirrely on gravel with the stock air pressures?

[gwowzer]

My Brozz is like that. Air down and it goes away.

[Baby Huey]

I read that someone was riding a motocross course with a Hawk and he aired his tires at 26 PSI and it worked really well.

I also wonder if the Hawk's reputation of eating inner tubes comes from too much air pressure?

[gwowzer]

Haven't had any problems with the tubes yet on the Brozz... 3300 miles + on the stock ones... planning to change them with tires come winter.
IDK and other members know more than I do, but I'm assuming the reputation comes from inferior rim strips and tubes.
When I ride off road on the gravel roads and trails around here I deflate to 20 or even 18 psi, but dont goose the throttle too crazy to avoid tube slip.
Haven't had a failure yet but that doesn't mean I am doing it right.
If I can milk the stock Brozz tires and tubes until mid winter, I'm planning on taking them off.
The long term plan is off season install a known good rim tape, heavy duty tubes, and new tires. At that point I would feel pretty darn comfortable running 18-20 psi while being mindful to not bounce the tires off logs and rocks too hard. Too hard of a hit on something solid at low pressure and I could see the rims bending.

[OneLeggedRider]

Run 28 front and 32 rear. Without a bead lock you can't really go much lower on the rear.

[Jsalmi]

I changed tires on Lifan Xpect to 5.10-17 rear and 2.75-19 front. I run 18-22 rear and 22-25 in front. I'm 170 lbs and high pressures on the front makes it feel nervous on the front and rear tire I like to have contact patch on the ground so I drop the air sometimes even to 15 psi.

[Desuboi941]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

Run 28 front and 32 rear. Without a bead lock you can't really go much lower on the rear.

I still have the old tires on my Hawk, and I checked the tires and they were both under 10 psi. I was riding like this with no problems for maybe 2 months on and off with a passenger. Im now checking the tires pretty much daily. Been running 35 front 38 rear. Somehow I got lucky.

[Thumper]

Originally Posted by Baby Huey

I read that someone was riding a motocross course with a Hawk and he aired his tires at 26 PSI and it worked really well.

I also wonder if the Hawk's reputation of eating inner tubes comes from too much air pressure?

MXers run knobbies, and soft knobbies grab the dirt better, and they run rim locks to avoid slipping the tire and ripping apart the inner tube.

20psi is way too low for a dual sport tire, especially on pavement. Dual sport tires will slide around on loose materiel like gravel, and wash out easily. Reducing pressure can help (down to maybe 25psi), but if you do not have rim locks, running low pressure is a little risky. Not so much of a risk since we are talking 14hp! It is unlikely to be able to spin the rim and rip up the tube!

But a pinch flat is a possibility with such low pressure.

[Do©Hawk]

How do they feel? I have knobbies. They are stiff tires. Early on, I had a loose valve in the stem causing a slow leak in my front tire. It got down to about 6lbs before I noticed something felt a little squirrelly. I have since been feeling them out, and they feel good and right at 23 lbs +/-. I ride almost entirely on pavement and I'm a light guy at 150lbs. There are a lot of variables that are going to play into YOUR personal tire pressure preferences. I wish tires would list a minimum as well as maximum tire pressure. Something that would give you a range for safe operation , but room for variation.