[mjustice5898]

Just checked the pressure on my tires after 300 miles of riding and the rear was down to 20#. The last time I inflated, I put 30# in the rear, so I am wondering if this amount of loss seems reasonable? I inflated to 36# which is the 2-up specification since I am a big girl. Put the bike on the center stand and rotated the rear tire to inspect it but did not see any tears/rips, embedded objects or other damage, so I plan to keep a close eye on it to see if there is a pattern. Just wondering if this is anything of concern at this point. TIA!

 

[Duster]

Check the valve-core in the valve stem....
bubbles will indicate a slow leak.

 

[mjustice5898]

Thanks man, I will check it asap!

 

[29534]

I recently had a little wire in mine that caused a slow leak. I could not see the little wire so I turned the tire slowly as I sprayed it with window cleaner. When I saw little bitty bubbles, I found the little bitty wire. It was leaking down every few days.

 

[mjustice5898]

I just did the soapy water at the valve stem with no bubbles. Is it okay to spray window cleaner on the tire? I was afraid that would make the tire slick. I will try spraying the entire tire tomorrow. Hopefully we will have some sun to help me see better in the garage - it was raining big time this evening so visibility was not optimal.

 

[velobuff]

I would think that more weight (you said it, I didn't) would cause more air to escape than normal.. So the question is what is the expected air loss for true 2- up riding and is your air loss equivalent/acceptable?

 

[alloo]

I put 42 in the rear and 32 in the front. All Burgmans

 

[mikeyMarine]

one of the battery powered compressors available with a bottle of slime stored under the seat might give you a backup until your next tire change

 

[mjustice5898]

Mikey, good thought for peace of mind. I have one of the 12v DC compressors, so will start storing it onboard. When I had my 05 400, I bought one of those slime compressor kits - need to see if it made the move last summer or ended up being sold in the yard sale.

Alloo, does 42 in the rear allow enough room for expansion when the tire heats up? I thought I read someplace on the forum that a max of 36 should be used in the rear regardless of riding solo or 2-up. I put 30 in the front last night even though the underseat sticker and manual lists a lower max pressure. I might bump it up to 32 and see what impact it has on handling. Most of reading indicates it is worse to have underinflated tires than overinflated ones, but do want to make sure not to compromise grip.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[Daboo]

Personally, and this is probably like oil topics, I'd stick with Suzuki's recommendations. If you weigh enough to be hitting the weight for riding two-up, then put the rear up to 36 psi. Otherwise, run it at the solo rider recommendation, or slightly more.

I'd really think about putting my front tire up to the rear tire PSI before doing it. Three reasons come to mind.

1. As you increase PSI, you decrease the amount of surface the tire contacts the road with. Less tread contact=less traction.
2. The tires are part of your suspension. If you make them rock hard by over-inflating them, you'll probably get a few more miles out of them, but you also run the risk of bending the rim if you hit a deep pot hole. In the meantime, your comfort is worth something.
3. I've read somewhere that with less PSI (and softer tire), when the tire encounters a metal object on the road, the tire tread will give more around it and not be as likely to get punctured.

I've been running my Metzeler tires at 26 psi front and 30 psi rear for the last 5-6000 miles and they don't seem to be wearing any more than when I set the rear at 40 psi. The 400 doesn't get ridden as much any more, but it also isn't leaking any air pressure over weeks or months.

If the PSI is going down, there's a leak somewhere. It could also be on the tire bead. You might get a soap solution and put it on the tire bead area to see what shows there too. We still have bottles of the bubble stuff from when my girls were little and I just use it.

Slime or Ride-On will work if the puncture area is small and in the center of the tire in the main tread area, but if the leak is in the bead area, nothing will work but unmounting the tire and cleaning up the rim...or watching your tire pressure more often than normal.

Chris

 

[mjustice5898]

Still no luck locating a slow leak. I think I am going to go with 30 front and 36 in the rear to see if traction seems good. Of course, plan to check at least weekly to see if the level drops more than 1 psi. If a leak exists and persists, off to the shop to have it checked out.

 

[bigfoot]

Every 10 degree change in temperature will result in 1 pound of tire pressure, loss or gain.

"Goodyear experts explain that air pressure in a tire typically goes down 1-2 pounds for every 10 degrees of temperature change."
http://www.goodyear.com/cfmx/web/corporate/media/news/story.cfm?a_id=371

Check your tire pressure in the morning before temperatures rise. (air and pavement)

 

[taly]

Ride-on TPMS

Because checking pressure is a bit of an effort, I do it only weekly and sometimes skip a week.

But pressure loss can happen overnight, so I ordered a set of these. They should arrive 7/16; I'll report back.

http://www.ride-on.com/smartcap

 

[mjustice5898]

I will anxiously await your review of that TPMS. It certainly sounds impressive!

 

[MacDoc]

42 seems very high for the rear as it really heats up compared to the front ( I have real time read out of pressure and temp ) and that will go over 50 psi when heated up by slab riding.
That's too skittish in my books tho the mileage is great.

I've settled on 40 rear and 38 front and so far the Pilot rear/Bridgestone front seem to hold the air better than the Metzlers did.
When heated it goes to 46 and 42 which is a decent blend of mileage and grip.

I'm finding the OEM front very different than the Metz so being tentative until I get used to it.

 

[mikeyMarine]

ok here's a walmart solution to your leak mystery, go to your grocery store, buy an aluminum foil turkey roasting pan, a deep one, put the burgy on the center stand , stuff the pan under the rear tire and bend the bent part back up again, now fill it with water , have someone hold your burgie down and check the tire for bubbles , rotate tire, repeat, not having a bike now I am not sure if the pans are deep enough , I measured yesterday and am almost positive but you know guys and measuring, we sometimes think things are a little bigger than they are , that's why we put so much food on our plates

 

[mjustice5898]

Well guys, I think we have moved beyond a "slow leak" to a serious problem. I inflated the rear tire to 36 psi yesterday evening. When I checked it this morning around 10 before going out for a ride, it was down to 25.5 psi. I topped it off (back to 36) and decided to take a short ride. Hil rode her Yamaha 950 with me just to make certain I was not stuck alone on the side of the road. I also had my slime 12v inflater in the trunk just in case. We did a fairly big circle around the surrounding area totaling 50 miles in just over an hour. While I had the bike up to 70 indicated, she never felt unstable. Of course, we were mostly on a 4 lane divided highway with few serious curves, although I did lean her over pretty good on a couple of big curves. It was also fairly optimum riding conditions - dry, nice roads and a warm, sunny day. Probably would have been a different outcome in different conditions but then I also would not have ridden as hard or perhaps at all given the tire issue.

Anyway, after we got home, I knew better than to check the pressure with the tires warm - did not want to get a false high reading. I let the bike cool for around 4 hours while I did some chores and ran some errands in the cage. Went out of check a few minutes ago. I knew I was in trouble when I attached the chuck to the valve stem and heard no hissing sound of air escaping. :angry7: Before connecting the chuck, I turned on my new inflater with a digital readout and set it for 36 psi. Once I started it, the tire initially registered 0 and then slowly climbed as the inflater hummed along. Since I have not been able to locate a puncture or other source of air loss, it seems like something more than a slow leak is happening. Not sure if I need a new tire, there is an issue with the bead or perhaps something with the valve. I guess I am going to wave the white flag, cry uncle, and take it to the local shop to have it checked out. Wondering if I should order a new replacement someplace online like Motorcycle Superstore to avoid longer down time if the shop does not have the right tire in stock? That might be premature since I am not sure yet that a replacement is needed. Needless to say, I am seriously pi$$ed. After all the rain we had for 3 weeks, the sun has finally started shining again just in time for me to need work on the bike.

 

[Duster]

Do a little soapy-water test....soapy-water in the valve stem,
to see it the valve core is leaking....
soapy water around the rim, to check the seal of the bead...
then some soapy water running down the tread of the tire face...
watch for bubbles.

 

[mjustice5898]

Nothing seems to "bubble" per se. The soapy water solution is foamy (I only had liquid soap to use), but nothing occurs that looks like bubble being blown outward from the tire. Of course, since it has no air in it at all right now, there would be no air to seep out. I will refill the tire this evening and try the bubble test again. Even if I find the leak, if it is at the bead, I will have to take the shop repair it anyway. If the valve stem is the problem, would I be able to replace that with the tire on the bike? I do not have a good area for pulling the tire off at home, so this might be a shop issue too. They are closed Sundays and Mondays, so I will give them a call in the morning to describe the issue and see what they suggest.

 

[mikeyMarine]

only the valve core