As you get more serious about performing well on your bike, tire pressure becomes increasingly vital. Whether you are trying to max out traction because everything is shiny and green, or you’re bashing through rock gardens and you want the highest pressure your body can take, the squeeze test just won’t cut it. Wider volume tires make pressure trickier as well; they feel awful when they are too hard but can wash in corners if you go too low. Inserts change this equation and I’ve been swapping tires and trying different inserts and combos so much in the last month that pumps and gauges have been working hard.

Over the winter my game has been all about traction, and I’ve been experimenting to see how low I can drop pressure without sacrificing handling precision, on many different rubber and insert combos. I’ve spent a lot of time in the teens, and going even 1 PSI too low can mess things up, so getting pressure dialled in has become mission critical, and this attention has helped my riding and my confidence.

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