Mountain Bike Tire Pressure Chart & Guide

The tire pressure of your mountain bike has an outsized influence on your ride, affecting how much grip and stability you feel on the trail. On a mountain bike, your ability to navigate slippery roots and steep berms without washing out may come down to how much air is in your tires. 

Luckily, dialing in your mountain bike's tire pressure just happens to be one of the cheapest and easiest ways to improve your bike's overall performance. 

There are a ton of factors that affect optimal tire pressure for your mountain bike, ranging from terrain, to the kind of tires you run, to your own personal riding preferences. Tubeless mountain bike tire pressure is slightly different from rider who are still running tubes, as well.

The truth is, there's no one size fits all answer, but the general rule of thumb is to go lower than the manufacturer's recommendation. You can test your pressure by looking at how much your mountain bike tire "wraps" around an obstacle - a curb is a good example. Your mountain bike tire pressure should be low enough that it slightly "wraps" around the obstacle, but not so much that you'll hit a rim on a big drop.

Most of your weight is held in the rear, so you'll also want to run slightly higher pressure in back. Increasing PSI by 2-3 in the rear tire is a good amount to start with.

Use the chart below as a jumping off point and adjust according to your own riding style.

Note: This chart has been created using Schwalbe's Pressure Prof, based on intermediate riders running 2.4–2.5” tires with a 30 mm internal rim.

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