Do you deflate your tires after riding?

[Spinner]

I've been deflating my tires after rides, except when touring, for over thirty years. This habit started when I began riding with a friend who rode tubulars, even though I ride clinchers.

So, what are your thoughts? Good idea or just a funky habit?

Cheers.

[AngryScientist]

never even considered it, no.

what is your reasoning behind doing so?

[Spinner]

never even considered it, no.

what is your reasoning behind doing so?

I do it because my friend did it and at the time he knew far more about biking than me.

[AngryScientist]

interesting.

to the contrary, i think it would do more harm than good to deflate tires after every ride. for clinchers, you'll need to seat and unseat the bead every time, for tubulars, i would think you would want the tire pressure to keep a near constant pressure on the glue job. also, if you leave the bike sit on the deflated tires, the weight of the bike is creasing the rubber. none of those are too consequential, but all point toward it being better to leave the tires inflated as far as i can see.

i'll also say that i am not a stickler for tire pressure for the road. i'll inflate my tires to the high side and continue riding the bike for days until the pinch test tells me they are too soft. probably go from 90ish pounds in a 25c tire down to the 60's.

[Spinner]

interesting.

to the contrary, i think it would do more harm than good to deflate tires after every ride. for clinchers, you'll need to seat and unseat the bead every time,

I don't totally deflate, probably go down to +/- 40 psi.

[thwart]

Run latex tubes. They'll do it for you.

Save you some trouble.

;)

[ultraman6970]

I do like this, tubulars and clinchers. Old habit I got from old racers when I was 12 y/o... tubulars tend to last longer and they tend to expand less. When I Started riding here in the states I started doing it with clinchers aswell. Noticed they lasted longer. Debatable tho.

I don't totally deflate, probably go down to +/- 40 psi.

[ergott]

Run latex tubes. They'll do it for you.

Save you some trouble.

;)
Yup

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[bigbill]

Flats around here are caused by little pieces of wire from shredded (blown) steel belted tires. They'll give you an overnight flat at first and then a quick one if the tube gets torn. I want to know if I have a problem when I walk out to my bike, not after I inflate a tire. I am lazy about inflating my tires, I lose about 5# a day, I check them with a pump after 2-3 rides. I give them a squeeze test before every ride.

[Cat3roadracer]

If they will be in a hot car after the ride, yes. Hung up in a cool basement, no.

[dustyrider]

I do it because my friend did it and at the time he knew far more about biking than me.

Have you ever consider that your friend's knowledge, at that time, may not have been universal? Personally, if everyone is shouting left, I always look right because I want to know why they're shouting. Maybe the danger lies to the left...
Most times, I stay my own course. What makes sense to me rarely has to make sense to others for me to be satisfied. Keep up the delusion or find a new one; it is all the same!

[witcombusa]

Never

They loose around 5psi a day on their own, which is why inflating to desired pressure before each ride IS important.

[saab2000]

I don't but I knew a few folks who used to do this when tubular tires were more prevalent. The good ones are cotton and the best are silk and one guy I knew was religious about this because he said the tension on the casing and the rubber made them wear out faster.

This is probably true but as everyone mentioned, they lose pressure on their own. The ones with good casing have latex tubes and need to be inflated every day anyway.

I never would consider deflating the tires in regular usage and I use high level tubulars all the time. No issues.

[Mikej]

No, but I do lower my seat post.

[Dave B]

I have never heard of this, fascinating.

I would imagine we all have our little strange rituals before or after a ride. Am I not correct that in decades ago there were more oils in tires that needed to be aged or soften things up and now it is said brand's super secret proprietary formula created by Belgian monks, the scientist behind coke"s secret formula, and the Swiss miss lady that makes tires so lovely.

[bikinchris]

If you are running cottonor silk casing tubulars? Go ahead and pressure down after the ride. Clinchers? Don't waste your time. Especially nylon clinchers.
I have worn out dozens of clincher tires to the point that they were running on casings with no rubber left.

[11.4]

Tubulars can stand some pressure reduction after a ride. Here are a few reasons: First, the base tape is glued both to the casing and to the rim bed. Since those are rarely perfectly matched, high pressures cause the base tape to want to creep slightly and eventually separate at the edges. Second, the hand-glued treads on high-end hand-made tubulars tend to want to slip as well. If you've had problems with treads separating, lower the pressure between rides.

In the older days, cotton sidewalls were uncoated and would stretch, especially if they had gotten wet. Silk tubulars were even worse -- the fabric stretched quite a bit and would lose tensile strength after a few rain exposures. They would unpredictably blow, sometimes quite violently. These tubulars were pumped up higher than they are today, so the issue is partially mitigated today, but it's still around.

As for clinchers or open tubulars, I wouldn't see any reason to lower pressure. Current generations of high-end carbon clinchers are pretty stable; early ones would flare a bit with high tire pressure and the strain could cause premature failure, but that's largely been eradicated.

[djg21]

I've been deflating my tires after rides, except when touring, for over thirty years. This habit started when I began riding with a friend who rode tubulars, even though I ride clinchers.

So, what are your thoughts? Good idea or just a funky habit?

Cheers.

Only if my bike is going into a car in the summer, to avoid the tubes from blowing when the tires become overheated.

[Louis]

No, never. (I ride clinchers.)

[regularguy412]

I don't totally deflate, probably go down to +/- 40 psi.

^^ this for me

I never used to when I was running solely AL clinchers. However now that I have carbon clinchers, I always deflate. Through the week, my bike and wheels stay in the trunk of my car and I think the heating of the air in a tire under a summer sun (to maybe a higher value than wanted) would not be good for a carbon brake track/rim sidewall.

Mike in AR:beer:

[carpediemracing]

Tubulars can stand some pressure reduction after a ride. Here are a few reasons: First, the base tape is glued both to the casing and to the rim bed. Since those are rarely perfectly matched, high pressures cause the base tape to want to creep slightly and eventually separate at the edges. Second, the hand-glued treads on high-end hand-made tubulars tend to want to slip as well. If you've had problems with treads separating, lower the pressure between rides.

In the older days, cotton sidewalls were uncoated and would stretch, especially if they had gotten wet. Silk tubulars were even worse -- the fabric stretched quite a bit and would lose tensile strength after a few rain exposures. They would unpredictably blow, sometimes quite violently. These tubulars were pumped up higher than they are today, so the issue is partially mitigated today, but it's still around.

As for clinchers or open tubulars, I wouldn't see any reason to lower pressure. Current generations of high-end carbon clinchers are pretty stable; early ones would flare a bit with high tire pressure and the strain could cause premature failure, but that's largely been eradicated.

+1

Came here to say this. In the old days, when clinchers were horrible tires (I remember USCF officials checking tires at the start of a race and rolling CLINCHERS off of wheels easier than tubulars... "Sorry, you can't race those tires"), everyone used tubulars.

There were basically three levels of tubulars.

Cheap whatever.

Cheap racing cottons.

Somewhat less expensive racing cottons.

Really expensive racing silks.

I can't speak for silks personally because I saved mine for so long that by the time I mounted it I didn't trust it anymore. It was probably 15 years.

Somewhat less expensive racing cottons were tires like Clement Criteriums or Vittoria CX/CG combos (CX front, CG with a rougher tread in the rear). Those typically came with latex tubes so they deflated fine on their own.

Because of me I often raced on cheap racing cottons. Vulcanized, sometimes with a puncture resistant belt. I liked the kevlar? belted Clement Futurox; the mesh belted Wolbers flatted themselves as the mesh disintegrated. I actually still have a new Futurox, it's got to be going on 30 years old now. These tires were usually butyl tubed tires and, from what I can remember, they didn't seem to be affected by leaving them inflated.

I know this because the cheapest tires would stretch hilarious amounts if you didn't deflate them after each ride. They might start out a 25mm tire but if you left them inflated they stretched pretty quickly. I remember one of my teammates showing me his el cheapo training tire. It had expanded until it was literally about 1 mm from touching the bottom of his fork crown. I'm guessing the tire was probably a 35mm tire at that point. It was virtually impossible to get the wheel out without deflating the tire first. These things flatted pretty easily also so to have a tire stretch that much in such a short time is pretty remarkable. They were tires that were usually $8-9 each, in an era when a Criterium on sale was $25 and $35 if not. I don't remember a model or even a manufacturer. I imagine everyone made such tires.

So, yes, deflating tires was a thing, but from what I observed, it was mainly for the cheapest training tires. The functional reason was that if you didn't deflate the tires they'd get so big they'd eventually hit something on your bike - the fork crown, the brake bridge, or the chainstays.

[Joxster]

I would let the tyres down on my track wheels, but mostly due to traveling to and from races. Never bothered with my training bike, the team mechanics let the tyres down after races so they could check tyres and pick out flints etc etc.

[Clancy]

I do it because my friend did it and at the time he knew far more about biking than me.

I cannot possibly fathom a better reason to do something

[Spinner]

I cannot possibly fathom a better reason to do something

The year was 1979, and my friend was the only person that I knew that rode a custom frame, with Campy and tubulars. He also had Italian leather cycling shoes with wooden soles and wore beautiful wool kits.

And to top it off, this fellow could drop anyone that we came into contact with.

The above satififies my reason for following his lead.

[jr59]

The year was 1979, and my friend was the only person that I knew that rode a custom frame, with Campy and tubulars. He also had Italian leather cycling shoes with wooden soles and wore beautiful wool kits.

And to top it off, this fellow could drop anyone that we came into contact with.

The above satififies my reason for following his lead.


As it should. There are a LOT of things I still do b/c that is the way I was taught!

[54ny77]

i try to deflate my gut after each ride, but can't find the valve.

[Ralph]

I think it's left over from times some thought tubulars expanded when left at full pressure. Don't know that they ever did though.

[ripvanrando]

Never

I go thru tires like Imelda Marcos with shoes

[ultraman6970]

I left a set of panaracer inflated like with 80 psi back in hmm 1982 maybe, for about 4 months. Suckers did not lose air, when to put them on at the start of the season and I swear to god, they expanded from 22 mm to easy like 32 mm... dad was not happy at all, those panaracers were expensive at least for us. Never bought that brand again and I learn my lesson pretty well and deflate the tubulars became an habit more than ever after that incident.

I had a set of alvarez (argentinian made) around 28 mm wide I used for training, last me for so long that had to retired them because were dried, not due to punctures. Sadly that factory closed, IMO they made way better quality tubulars than their european counterparts.

[alyosha_s]

lol seems like a good idea to me. I don't own tubulars but on clinchers there doesn't seem to be any justification for doing so.

[Cicli]

I dismantle my entire bike.
Including removing air from tires, spoke tension, loosen skewers and removing tension on the chain. I also unwrap the bar tape so it dosent stretch out while just sitting there.
Never had a problem.

[bikingshearer]

When I was running tubulars on a regular basis (meaning mid- to late-1970s) I was taught that one let the air out of them after each ride, but not completely unless one were hanging the bike up. If the bike was stored with weight on the tires, you retained just enough air to keep the round profile of the tire (no wrinkling of the sidewalls allowed). I recall being told something about this affecting tire longevity, but I can't remember the details.

As with others who have posted, I was a noob and the advice came from people who were far more experienced and knowledgeable than I. Since my bike hung upside down from hooks in my parents' garage, the air came out after each ride. Especially in those (very, very rare) instances when I was able to run Clement Criterium Setas. They were $40 to $45 per, c.1976 :eek:. I don't know what that translates to in 2016 dollars, but it's a lot. If someone with more experience than I was giving me tip to make that investment last longer, I was going to listen. But I also made sure to invest in a decent floor pump.

Now my bikes have clinchers and the are stored on the ground, wheels down, and I don't let air out after rides. I still make sure to have a decent floor pump, though.

[54ny77]

you don't just go and buy a new bike for each ride?

that's the proper thing to do. helps the economy too. win-win. :beer:

I dismantle my entire bike.
Including removing air from tires, spoke tension, loosen skewers and removing tension on the chain. I also unwrap the bar tape so it dosent stretch out while just sitting there.
Never had a problem.

[mg2ride]

I dismantle my entire bike.
Including removing air from tires, spoke tension, loosen skewers and removing tension on the chain. I also unwrap the bar tape so it dosent stretch out while just sitting there.
Never had a problem.

This seems every bit as reasonable as some of the other rituals mentioned in this thread.

The only strange one I Have (never admitted before now) is about once a week a ride my bike hard on the trainer for a minute or 2 after taking my cycling shorts off. I use the chamois cream to keep my Brooks water proofed.

[F150]

This seems every bit as reasonable as some of the other rituals mentioned in this thread.

The only strange one I Have (never admitted before now) is about once a week a ride my bike hard on the trainer for a minute or 2 after taking my cycling shorts off. I use the chamois cream to keep my Brooks water proofed.

That's it! Lock 'er down!

[FlashUNC]

This seems every bit as reasonable as some of the other rituals mentioned in this thread.

The only strange one I Have (never admitted before now) is about once a week a ride my bike hard on the trainer for a minute or 2 after taking my cycling shorts off. I use the chamois cream to keep my Brooks water proofed.

https://media.giphy.com/media/hkMXte9dBJFfO/giphy.gif

[11.4]

The only strange one I Have (never admitted before now) is about once a week a ride my bike hard on the trainer for a minute or 2 after taking my cycling shorts off. I use the chamois cream to keep my Brooks water proofed.

Once again you screw up. You're doing it completely wrong. It's Brooks Proofide on the saddle, ride as described, and then you don't need chamois cream any longer. If you're gonna keep screwing up like this, you're gonna need to do it with photos so we know you got it right.

[verbeke06]

I too have never heard of doing this! Latex tubulars deflate so fast anyways, so why bother..