Bandit Tire Pressure

Have decided to go with the BT21 tires. In days of old we would look for a 10% increase in base tire pressure to have best wear and handling.
Will this proceedure work with radial tires or has something new and exciting come along since the advent of radials.
I notice the Conti site has specific recommendations but Bridgestone is silent on the subject.
Thanks for the help
Smoky

Smoky14 said:

Have decided to go with the BT21 tires. In days of old we would look for a 10% increase in base tire pressure to have best wear and handling.
Will this proceedure work with radial tires or has something new and exciting come along since the advent of radials.
I notice the Conti site has specific recommendations but Bridgestone is silent on the subject.
Thanks for the help
Smoky

Click to expand...

I run the standard 36F/42R air pressure in my BT-021's and they wear very evening evenly and handle good for me at that pressure.

The correct tire pressure has a lot to do with how much you weigh and how much stuff your carrying like cargo and a passenger and the kind of ride quality your loooking for.

I should have mentioned it's a 2005 1200S which recommends 36/36 PSI.

I always run the recommended Suzuki tire pressure for the Bandit. However if recommended by the tire manufacturer to run a certain pressure in there tire. I will go with what the manufacturer recommends.

So I was at a Ducati truck demo day this morning (in the rain), then I see the suspension guy and ask him about psi in the Bandit. He said those are powerful "rear wheel steering" bikes, you need the additional air pressure in the back to keep the squat to a minimum, to keep the tire on the road, to allow it to steer with ease....

- but -

if you wanted, you could run 36 front and 36 rear..... He said something about that being an across the board standard. So I says, "If I wanna go canyon carving and want to run 36 up front and 38 in the rear, I'm cool?" Yeah, go ahead.... it'll do fine, anything between 36 & 42 in the rear is good for those "rear wheel steering bikes".....

O-Kaaaay......(?)

For me personally I use 36F and 40R. I am experimenting with 38R as well to see how I feel.

I am using the BT-021's front and rear

If I'm loading up the bike with a pillion and some stuff in the top box then the rear goes up to 42 as per the book

Having put my gauge on the tyres when they are warmed up (street riding, not track) I have seen the ~10% increase in pressure so I recon the 10% rule does work. I know it works on my 4WD (SUV)