this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
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Motorcycles
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Yeah what he said. Your bike tires should hold pressure over a season. I have to add air to my motorcycle tires maybe twice a year.
That being said, I wouldn't count on the gauge on a shitty compressor to be accurate. Get yourself an accurate tire pressure gauge and check it over a couple days without riding it in between to make sure it's really losing pressure sitting still. If it is, fill it up and take it back to the dealership and tell them to fuckin' fix it! And don't let them 'fix' it by putting slimy sealant in your tires. That shit is a mess to clean up when you do a tire change, and it's just a band aid. You want to know if they sold you a bike with defective rims or tires, basically.
Nothing to add, but I feel like this comment (especially the last line) is important enough to second.
I generally have to add air when the weather changes but that's it. Winters are mild enough here that I can ride unless it's storming.
To be honest, I have used 3 different tire gauges throughout the time as well so that very well could be it. One for a car air compressor, one for a portable compressor, and the cheapest possible manual pencil gauge I could find.
Iβm going to order a proper digital one.
Get your proper digital one and use it exclusively. Consumer tire gauges are basically never calibrated consistently, especially mechanical ones, and you'll drive yourself nuts getting all different readings from different gauges, none of them agreeing with each other even though they're all measuring the same thing. Down that road lies madness.
The pencil gauges in particular are uniquely terrible, and are tantamount to random number generators. Find all of yours and throw them away.
As others have said, your tires should not be losing air that fast. You probably have something wrong with one or both of your valve stems, or the beat seat if your tires are tubless. I dutifully check my tire pressure before, er, well... most rides, like the MSF manual told me all those years ago. Many rides. Okay, certainly before some rides, occasionally.
I have seven (7) bikes in my stable right now. (They're the ones in the header image in this very community.) I have to add air to the tires in each of them once, maybe twice per season at the outside. If you're having to do it every day, something is wrong.
Yeah you got that right - the whole driving oneself nuts with consumer tire gauges. For all I know my tires could be totally fine and Iβm just consistently not using the same gauge twice π€ͺ I only realized after a comment here and then watching a Project Farm video where he tested like 10 different gauges and a whole bunch of them were wildly off (by more than 5psi).
My gauge arrives in a couple days so we shall see. Thanks for the advice!
Edit: ya this was it. Iβm dumb and my tires are good.
that doesnt compute at all. every motor vehicle ive ever dealt with needed air weekly.
i don't think its safe to ride motorcycles with deflated tires like this. please keep your tires calibrated to the correct pressure.
Having to put air in your tires weekly is not normal. Something is wrong with your tires or rims.
Like I said, I put air in my tires a couple times a year (on two bikes), always air up at end of winter and usually sometime in the fall for a top up of a couple PSI, but I check the pressure monthly (except during winter) and they are fine.
wait what? we surely must be talking about different things?
pedal bikes are a different beast ime, but motorcycles? i don't think i have ever seen a tire that can hold manufacturer specified pressure for half a year in my entire life, on any car or motorcycle ive ever interacted with, on all the wheels.
the owners manual on mine recommends filling them up weekly, and surely it will be down by 5ish psi in that time if i use it daily.
You're not wrong, but its one thing to top of pressure to spec weekly and losing it. Also important to note that temperature is important when thinking about small variances in measurement.
So while you should check your tires often you also don't really have to fill them often either. A change of 5psi could be an mix of guague error and temperature. Unless your steering feels wonky you really aren't that low.
Tho its still a good habit to top off anyway.
@umbrella @CarbonatedPastaSauce hmm, the whole summer I ride my bike to work. 400 to 500 km per week. I never have to inflate my tires for the season, unless something is wrong with them and need to be fixed.
you can in fact ride a pedal bike for a season without inflating tires. they will be at a lower pressure and offer more resistance though.
however, motorcycles will be unsafe if you ride it for that long without topping it up.