This is one of the many reasons why I love Fuelly. I've noticed that my MPG has been steadily declining over the past few months from the mid to low 80s to the mid 70s, which of course has coincided with the weather getting colder.
I'm notoriously bad about checking my tire pressure but seeing this dip in my MPG finally motivated me to check my tires. Well I checked them this morning while they were cold and the front tire was at 20 PSI and the back was 19 PSI , so I pumped them up to around 30/31.
Over the past week I felt like my Buddy was a bit sluggish in getting up to speed but as soon as I took off after adjusting the tire pressure I immediately noticed that it had more "pop" to it. I'll be really interested to see my MPG for my next fuel up and hope this lesson inspires me to check my tire pressure more often
Yes, check your pressure. I've been bad at that too, haven't been riding the last few weeks and yesterday I was going to go out just for the heck of it, bundled up and went to the garage and there was my Buddy sitting on the side stand on the rear rim! Donno how long it was down, the sidewall looks cracked at the edge of the white wall where it meets the black!!
I tend to not check tire pressure as frequently as I should - especially riding year round with the significant temperature changes we see here on a daily basis. Knowing that, I made sure the Buddy tires were pumped up to the recommended 30psi front and back for the ride up to the shop in Philly for annual service.
When I checked, on a relatively chilly morning in my garage, they were both under at about 24psi. So with the trusty schwinn floor pump I filled them to 30 and rode the Bud to the shop. It was scheduled for work the next day and was stored indoors, semi heated part of the shop, for the night. When Dan put it up on the lift and did all of the routine checks he noticed both tires were overinflated to 37psi, so he relieved the pressure back to 30, actually needed to replace the rear .
Point being, temperature changes really do impact tire pressure - and this time of the year I/we need to be especially conscious of maintaining that pressure. Also pays to take a good look at the tread to make sure there still is some
I use a bicycle floor pump that has a pressure gauge built in. It lives next to where I park my scooter. I also picked up a tire pressure gauge at the auto shop that's about as long as a Bic lighter. That one stays in my jacket pocket as protection against my flighty memory.
Between the two, I manage to check pressure about once a week on average. The mini gauge has a magnet on the side of it...doubles as a screw retrieval for when I'm not holding my mouth just right.
, so I pumped them up to around 30/31.
