Tire Pressure

[Kickstand_Down]

We put nitrogen in Aircraft (heavy commercial ACFT) tires for the simple reason it does not expand or contract with heat. i.e. increase or decrease pressure. I initially thought it was a bunch of "hooey" when they started putting it in auto tires, but I have to say the the tire pressure change I use to get when the weather turned colder / hotter has gone away! Pressure also seems to remain constant as well. I am contemplating doing my RV trailer tires and even my R18 TC. Just need to find a tire shop in my area that can do it. The other reason its in aircraft tires it is an inert gas. Not really applicable in this situation.

This, I haven't done nitrogen on a bike, but on passenger vehicles it makes variation from temperature almost non-existent. YMMV depending on where you live, but we can easily have 50F daily temp change from morning to afternoon in the fall here. Used to see roughly 20-30% pressure drop from summer highs (100-110F) to Fall weather. With nitrogen I see 1-2psi change basically year round.

Frankly, it seems like motorcycles might benefit more from nitrogen than 4 wheel vehicles since the air volume is much lower and tires mean so much more in terms of safety and handling. I keep my 18B pretty much at spec, and check it weekly/before a decent length ride. I've seen it drop 5-10psi day over day in terms of a warm afternoon vs cold following morning. I start to notice the rear feeling a bit squishy on the road in the 41psi range. Not even sure if motorcycle shops/dealers do nitrogen fills, as I've only seen it advertised by car dealers (and the only reason our two 4 wheel vehicles have it is because they came with it and it's free for life).

 

[Deleted member 1344]

I’ve noticed that tire pressure can increase 3 or 4 psi just from a highway ride.