Fewer punctures, more grip: How to find the perfect tyre pressure for your mountain bike

The tyres are your contact point with the trail and have a major influence on how your mountain bike or E-MTB rides. But it’s not only the choice of tyres that matters – tyre pressure is just as crucial. With it, you can precisely tune your bike to your riding style and even adapt it to specific trail conditions. That’s practically free tuning! Pros squeeze out valuable seconds this way, and fans of relaxed riding can maximise their fun off-road with the right tyre pressure. Whether downhill, enduro, trail, touring or XC: everyone benefits! We’ll give you practical tips on how to find the perfect tyre pressure for your MTB or E-MTB.

The Perfect MTB Tyre Pressure: 13 Key Factors

We would love to give you specific pressure values, but in reality there are so many interacting factors when it comes to the ideal tyre pressure on a mountain bike that they cannot be summarised in a simple table. There are online tools and apps that take many parameters into account and provide you with good starting values, such as the Schwalbe Pressure Guide or SRAM’s guide. From there, you can move on to fine-tuning using our tips. Divided into “hard” and “soft” factors, you will find guidance here on which aspects suggest increasing your tyre pressure and which allow for lower pressure — assuming all other factors remain the same. Don’t be put off by the length of the list! For many points, simply being aware of them is enough to develop a better feel for your optimal tyre pressure.

Soft factors partly depend on external circumstances and can change from one ride to the next.

• 9. System weight: Your weight plus your bike and any additional equipment: the higher it is, the more pressure you need. For example, if you’re carrying a lot of gear for a bikepacking trip, both on your bike and on your back, it may make sense to increase tyre pressure slightly. This is also why we recommend running slightly higher pressure on an E-MTB.
• 10. Terrain: The rougher and rockier the terrain, the more impact protection you need. In a region with lots of roots and rock gardens, for example, you should run slightly higher pressure than on smooth flow trails.
• 11. Riding style: Many aspects come together here, so just a few examples: If you ride the trail lightly and smoothly like a cat, you need less impact protection and can benefit from more grip with lower pressure. If you jump a lot, slightly higher pressure makes sense to provide a buffer for hard landings. Your cornering technique also influences how much grip you need on one side of the tyre (lower pressure) and how much support on the other (higher pressure).
• 12. Conditions: In wet or snowy conditions, you can gain a bit more grip and safety by letting out a little air.
• 13. Discipline: The more aggressive the riding, the higher the pressure should be to protect you from punctures. In the speed and intensity of an enduro race, the risk of hitting a rock badly in a rock garden is higher than during a relaxed trail ride. The challenge: higher pressure costs grip, which is equally important in racing. The higher your ambitions, the harder it becomes to find the golden middle ground.

Tyre Pressure Fine-Tuning in Practice

Once you understand the influencing factors described above and have your pump and pressure gauge ready, you can start fine-tuning. It’s advisable to begin with slightly higher pressure and gradually work your way down by releasing air in small increments. The closer you get to the limit, the smaller the adjustments should be. A difference of 0.1 bar can often already be noticeable. If you realise you’ve released too much air, you can simply add a little more.

After each adjustment, you should test again. Ideally, use a section of trail that you can repeat – with roots, rocks and corners where you can assess grip. You can also optimise tyre pressure gradually during a ride. While you won’t be riding exactly the same sections, you’ll often encounter similar terrain and gain a broader range of riding impressions overall. Additionally, you can perform a few static tests while standing still to get clues as to whether you have too much or too little pressure in your tyres.

It’s not necessary to measure after every minor adjustment. However, once you’ve found a pressure setting that works well for you, it’s worth recording the values. This way, you can reliably reproduce that great ride feel and tyre performance at any time.

When You Should Add a Bit More Air

If you have gradually reduced the pressure, the limit will make itself known through some clear warning signs. Increase the pressure slightly again if the following occurs:

• Bottom-outs: If you feel the rim when riding over sharp rocks or roots, or hear a distinct “clonk”, the tyre is bottoming out. Light bottom-outs that only happen occasionally can be acceptable with a tubeless setup. If this happens more frequently or more violently, you risk damaging the tyre and/or rim and should increase the pressure slightly. With an inner tube, even lighter impacts can cause punctures, which is why tubes generally require slightly higher pressure.
  Tip: To get an impression before heading onto the trail, you can push the bike with controlled pressure on the handlebar against a kerb or similar obstacle and observe and feel how much the tyre compresses. To test rear tyre pressure, place the rear wheel against an edge (root, etc.), hold the brake and carefully – then a bit more dynamically – sit down on the saddle.
• Mushy ride feel and sidewall collapse in corners: If you feel like your bike is “floating” beneath you, the pressure is probably too low. In corners, the sidewall can collapse and the entire tyre may roll sideways.
  Tip: At the front wheel, you can simulate lateral load while stationary by turning the handlebar about 90 degrees, pushing the bike forward with weight on the bars and checking whether the tyre folds. You can also ride a few dynamic turns in a controlled area (e.g. a car park) to quickly get an impression.
• Casing wrinkling: If your tyre visibly wrinkles at the bottom while simply rolling on smooth ground, you should increase the pressure slightly.
• Rolling resistance: While too much pressure slows you down due to insufficient damping (see rolling behaviour above), too little pressure can also waste energy through excessive tyre deformation. If, for example, a firm trail feels like riding across a wet meadow, the tyre is likely absorbing your power and it makes sense to increase the pressure again.

Minimum and Maximum

The manufacturer specifies the minimum and maximum tyre pressure on the sidewall of your tyres. For safety reasons, you should not go below or exceed these values. In the past, the minimum values often seemed quite high by today’s standards: since the introduction of tubeless systems, many mountain bikers prefer to run lower pressures. Fortunately, most manufacturers have responded and approved their current tyres for the pressures commonly used today.

FAQ: MTB Tyre Pressure

How many bar are 25 psi?
25 psi equals approximately 1.72 bar. If you want to convert it yourself: one bar equals 14.504 psi. However, since most pressure gauges display both units, this is rarely necessary.

Can I run lower pressure with a tubeless tyre?
Yes, since the risk of pinch flats is lower with a tubeless system, you can run slightly lower tyre pressure than with an inner tube.

What tyre pressure should I use in mud and wet conditions?
In mud, wet conditions and even snow, you can gain more grip and therefore more safety by slightly lowering the tyre pressure.

Should the front tyre have more or less pressure than the rear tyre?
On an MTB, it makes sense to run lower tyre pressure in the front tyre than in the rear tyre, as there is less weight on the front.

What tyre pressure is recommended for an e-MTB?
Since an e-mountain bike is heavier than a non-assisted MTB, you should run slightly higher tyre pressure to achieve the same level of pinch flat protection.

How often should I check the tyre pressure on my MTB?
We recommend checking your tyre pressure before every ride. Even if your tubeless tyre or inner tube usually holds pressure for several days, this way you’ll notice early on if something is wrong – for example a slow puncture. In general, a small amount of air always diffuses through the tube and tyre casing over time, which causes pressure to drop gradually.

Can I adjust tyre pressure during a ride?
Yes, you can adjust the tyre pressure at any time if you feel it is too high or too low. You’ll find our tips on this above.