Perfect Bicycle Wheel Part 3: The Tire Pressure

Cycling Wheel Setup Part 3: The Tire Pressure

Getting the perfect tire pressure is, arguably, the cheapest way to improve the ride of a bicycle. It is, unfortunately, also the trickiest one to get right. Depending on who you ask, the answer can be conflicting. Ask road bike comrades, and they’ll most likely tell you to pump the tire as hard as a rock; ask mountain bikers and they’ll tell you to put low pressure that you better ditch the inner tube and convert to tubeless. Even worse, they’ll tell you vastly different numbers, all without any solid argument and calculation to back it up. Is there a way to determine the optimum tire pressure without resorting to rumors and wild guesses?

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Perfect Bicycle Wheel Part 2: The Wheel Size

Cycling Wheel Setup Part 2: The Wheel Size

What size should my bicycle wheel be? If you’ve been following the trend in mountainbiking world, you would surely have heard the relentless, exhaustive mantra spelled by journos and brand spokepersons: “bigger is better”. They’re referring to 29 inches mountain bike tyres, which they claimed to be faster than smaller wheels. If it’s true that bigger is better, however, why don’t we all ride 36-inches monstrous wheels? And why don’t automobile and motorcycle industry adopt the same philosophy? They were quick to point out the strengths of bigger wheels… is there something they didn’t tell us?

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Perfect Bicycle Wheel Part 1: The Tyre Width

Cycling Wheel Setup Part 1: The Tyre Width

Back when I was a newbie and decided to upgrade my drivetrain, another customer in the bike garage laughed at me. Why blew away so much cash for the new shiny drivetrain while keeping the shabby stock tyres? Honestly, I had no clue. I thought that the derailleur would improve the quality of a bike. He told me then, empathetically, that tyres are a lot cheaper, and will improve the ride quality better. It took me months until I swapped to kevlar-beaded aftermarket XC tyres, and I realized, he was spot on.

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