Road bike tyre pressure guide
The right road bike tyre pressure trades off three things: rolling resistance, grip and comfort. Run too high and you bounce off the road and lose speed; too low and you risk pinch flats and sluggish handling. This guide explains how to find your number.
The four inputs that matter
- System weight — rider + bike + kit. Biggest single factor.
- Tyre width — measured on the rim, not the sidewall print.
- Casing & setup — tubeless, latex tube, or butyl tube.
- Surface — smooth tarmac, chip-seal, or broken back roads.
Starting-point pressures (tubeless, smooth tarmac)
| Rider weight | 25 mm | 28 mm | 30 mm | 32 mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 kg | 70 / 75 | 60 / 65 | 52 / 56 | 46 / 50 |
| 70 kg | 78 / 84 | 66 / 72 | 58 / 63 | 51 / 55 |
| 80 kg | 86 / 92 | 73 / 79 | 63 / 69 | 56 / 61 |
| 90 kg | 94 / 100 | 79 / 86 | 69 / 75 | 61 / 66 |
| 100 kg | 100+ / 100+ | 85 / 92 | 74 / 81 | 65 / 71 |
Values are front / rear PSI for tubeless on smooth tarmac. Drop ~5 psi for rough chip-seal; add ~8% for butyl-tubed setups.
Tubeless vs tubed
Tubeless tyres can safely run 8–15% lower pressure than the same tyre with a butyl tube because there is no tube to pinch-flat against the rim. Latex tubes sit between the two — supple, fast, but lose pressure overnight.
Hookless rim limits
Hookless and tubeless straight-side road rims are capped at 72.5 psi (5 bar) by ETRTO. If your weight and tyre width push the recommendation above that figure, fit a wider tyre — don't over-inflate.
Get your exact PSI
Plug in your weight, tyre width, casing and surface and the calculator returns interpolated front and rear pressures.
Open the bike tyre pressure calculator →