What is your Tire Pressure - Do you Waist Energy?

It's such a no-brainer we're actually a little embarrassed to mention it. But judging by the number of people we have checked at the PTT petrol-station on Rama 2 Road today, plus some stories we encountered on the street, it's worth repeating. Make sure you have the right tires on your motorcycle, and check if they are mounted correctly and that they're set to the right pressures! It couldn't be simpler, yet people screw it up all the time.

If your tires are under-inflated, then every time the wheel turns a larger-than-normal part of the tire is distorted into a flatter contact patch. Secondly, when ask a dealer to mount new tires on your bike double check to be sure the arrows on the sidewall are pointing toward the right direction. Your tires will wear much faster if mounted incorrectly.

Distorting extra rubber takes energy – energy from your motorcycle's engine – and converts into heat. Power that should be catapulting you out of a corner is actually being wasted heating up your tire. And heating it up at the wrong places...

Check your tire pressure before riding when they're still cold. Use the recommended pressures in the user manual, or on your tire manufacturer's website. If you're riding on track, you can run tires a little softer, but for the street you really don't want to run low pressures – trust me! Steering will feel sluggish and you'll be robbing your motorcycle of its full potential. Second, wasted energy means wasted fuel and fuel is not cheap now-a-day!