• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Anakee tire mount PSI

ind1mrg

New member
Just put a set on my 04 GSA. The sidewall says max psi 41 on ft and rear. I ride two up. Do you go by the book or the tire on air pressure setting.
 
I am sure there will be a million opinions, but the general consensus is what Owners manual recommends. What is mounted on the tire is MAX, recommended by the manufacturer of the tire.
 
The pressure embossed on the tire is the maximum safe cold pressure for the tire given its construction and load rating. It is a do not exceed rating for the tire irrespective of what particular model, size, weight, load, motorcycle it might be properly mounted on.

The pressure in the manual is a good starting point. Check the Michelin website or full-line catalog to see if they have a recommended pressure for that tire on your model bike.
 
Just put a set on my 04 GSA. The sidewall says max psi 41 on ft and rear. I ride two up. Do you go by the book or the tire on air pressure setting.

The book is a good source but given the fact tires are constructed differently and use a variety of different compounds depending on tire brand and tire model I would pay more attention to the tire. Tire pressure is not a cast in stone number so you need to look at your primary riding habits and season to taste. Different model street tires can and do have different recommended tire pressures. The vehicle manufacturer can not allow for all the variables involved so therefore they have a recommended pressure for the OEM tire primarily. You will probably not see large variances when comparing OEM to 3rd party tires.
 
The book is a good source but given the fact tires are constructed differently and use a variety of different compounds depending on tire brand and tire model I would pay more attention to the tire. Tire pressure is not a cast in stone number so you need to look at your primary riding habits and season to taste. Different model street tires can and do have different recommended tire pressures. The vehicle manufacturer can not allow for all the variables involved so therefore they have a recommended pressure for the OEM tire primarily. You will probably not see large variances when comparing OEM to 3rd party tires.



BMW often ships bikes with more than one model tire fitment. And, most of the major motorcycle tire makers (Metzeler, Michelin, Continental, Dunlop, Pirelli, etc) list which of their tires are recommended for which model bikes. The bigger problem is not differences between properly sized and recommended (by the tire makers) tires for a given bike. It is the fact that lots of 15 or 20 or 25 year old BMWs are running around and still have the "book" BMW provided when the bike was new. The differences in tire construction are huge over that 25 year span and as a generalization the book pressures recommended for Airheads and Classic K bikes are a little low.
 
Back
Top