With our 603 dunlops, you're supposed to keep them at 22 lbs of pressure which I have been doing. But I have heard of a bunch of guys going way lower with the pressure. If I am doing a ride, lets say 50% pavement, 50% dirt, then what would you guys recommend as good pressure to have in the tire. I usually like to keep it at 22 lbs because I don't want to have to deal with a flat in the Mountains while I have Pumas, Bears, Coyotes, and the like wandering about me getting curious in the dumb human cursing at the 2 wheeled beast.

 

I've been running 15psi front and rear and traction seems a lot better in sand and on loose gravel that I ride in a lot. At least the ride is a little smoother. I'm planning on hitting a state park with some serious trails this weekend. I might try 13psi when I hit the trails this weekend... any lower and I'm concerend about pinch flats. I also wouldn't ride sustained high speeds at anything under 15psi... at least until I hear otherwise. I'm still new to off road tires.

No flats yet, but I'm packing a repair kit with slime, patches, tire irons and CO2 kit everywhere I go just in case.

 

15, wow that sounds low to me, but I'm new to this too. Do you think that 15 would be fine going down the highway at 80 MPH, because this is what I do to get to my trails. Of course the 80 MPH only comes when going downhill lol.

 

When I was racing enduros, I would run 13-15 if it was real rocky, and 8-10 in the sand! Pinch flats in the sand in South Jersey are not a problem. However Our bikes do not come with rim locks. I don't think I would go below 15 with out them. I also would not ride highways with it that low. I would recomend buying a co2 inflation kit, run 22psi on the road, lower it when you get to the trails, and inflate again on the way home. It only takes a minute or two. You should get the rim locks however, because you will spin the tire on the rim if you don't and you run low pressure.

 

I'll just pack up my little mountain bike pump, its really tiny, pumps up a tire, and I won't have to worry about being stuck out there if something goes wrong with the CO2, with a flat that is. I had that happen with a mountain bike out in the middle of the trail, I somehow messed up with the CO2 cartridge, than bam, no air for the tire. The little pump will pump up the motorcycle tire, I have already done it lol.

 

I did quite a bit of riding at over 65mph at 15-17psi on the road. Maybe it's a ticking time bomb. Although the air temp was only in the 60's so the tire should have stayed fairly cool. I'm assuming that overheating is the major issue. Also keep in mid that as the temp comes up, the pressure will increase which will inturn reduce the tire flex. It will evenually hit a equalibrium that I'm sure is well under the maximum pressure. Besides, riding on a dirt road at 50-60mph is not much different than riding on a paved road at 65mph. The fricton on the pavement does NOT create the heat. That results in less than 10% of the heat generated. It almost all comes from the tire flexing. A dirt bike tire is larger diameter than a sportbike tire and hte biek weighs less so it will also flex less because the wheel RPM's are lower.

 

NO. 15 is for off-road only even then its a good idea to run a rim lock. I run 25 in the back on the road and 22 front. My tyres were 15 all round for a ride and as soon as I could I pumped the tyre up cause the handling was awful on the road

 

You really think so. I really couldn't tell much difference betwwne 15 and 22 going through high speed sweepers or regular 90 degree low speed turns. I mostly focused on how quck and light the steering is and how soft the suspension feels. You have to be much smoother cornering on this thing to get much out of it on the street. The smallest input from the bars or you body will change the line. I could take most any turn one handed on my sportbike, on the KLX, I'm a bit more cautious. I'ts more liek a bicycle than a motorcycle when it comes to street handling.

 

I have a tire question. How many miles has everyone gone before replacing the rear tire? I have about 550miles on mine and It looks like the tread is getting pretty low. When is a good time to change it and is there a indication when to do so?

 

550 miles and the tread is getting low, wow. I have 450 miles on mine and the tread on the rear is just fine. Hmm, maybe it will just take an extra 100 miles for my tread to get really low.