Part of a series I'm calling Tires 101 with lots of great info to consider when looking for new tires.
When it comes to the pavement; more pressure is better.
Right?
Nope. And for several reasons. First, a higher pressure tire is harder to control, is actually a little slower, and rides less comfortably, meaning your feel worse and weaker at the end of a ride. Second, its not as safe. I'll touch on each of these respectively.
Mountain bikers and the cyclo-cross world figured this out a long time ago. Why is it that the road world has taken so long to grasp this concept? Well, I would bet that consumer demand plays a part in this. Somewhere along the line we got it in our heads that more tire pressure capacity makes a better, faster tire and so the tire manufacturers keep pushing the envelope.
So, why is this wrong? Like I said, the off-roaders figured this out early.
