Use this mountain bike tire pressure calculator with only one single variable: Rider weight (including gear and backpack).

This method gets pretty close to optimal values for you. Once I dialed in my pressures, my riding improved – even if it was just from very predictable handling every single ride.

(There are minimum and maximum values to ensure there is actually enough and not too much air in the tires.)

Rider weight is the single most important factor here to calculate a baseline value for front and rear tire pressures.

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How to use this calculator

This tire pressure calculator operates by the 80/20 rule and eliminates all input variables but one: the actual rider weight. This is also a fairly constant variable that doesn’t change day-to-day.

The calculator is designed to be easily accessible for any mountain biker. It’s optimized for mountain biking (Enduro & Trail) where uphill and downhill performance are important.

For purely Cross Country (where rolling resistance is key), E-MTBs (heavier bikes) or Downhill MTB (where stability is key), you may go up 2-5 PSI from the results above.

In any case, don’t expect THE one and only true perfect number to appear out of a calculator. There are so many other variables that are very individual and even vary even with the same rider on the same day.

So I’m not even going to pretend there’s one perfect pressure for every situation. Rather calculate a reasonable baseline pressure.

Why front and rear tire PSI are different

The front and rear tires have different jobs to do, which are even more of a balancing act on a mountain bike.

The front is used for cornering and braking so it needs to be stable but also conform to the ground for grip on uneven surfaces.

Most of the body weight is over the rear tire, which has to translate the pedaling power to the ground. Rolling resistance and acceleration are primary concerns.

As you can see, it’s always a balancing act between grip and rolling speed. More is not necessarily better like on a road bike, which has to roll fast but not grip through tight corners.

Low pressures have their downsides too as they’re the reason for pinch flats, bottoming out, burping a tire or having sluggish handling.

For me personally, at 75kg I settled on 23psi front and 27psi rear for Enduro using tubeless tires and 24psi front and 29psi rear on the Downhill bike with tubes and DH casings. I like to keep those constant even when conditions change for an extremely reliable feel.

1 or 2 PSI off is instantly noticeable (sluggish and slow or harsh and skaty).

How to test different pressures

Disclaimer: There is no single perfect pressure for every situation.

Finding your optimum is a constant process and a calculator will never be able to give you a definitive result, but a pretty good starting point.

Rider weight as an input variable delivers a good estimate. And it’s relatively constant over time, which helps in finding baseline pressures you can use 90% of the time and get accustomed to.

Extreme conditions like snow, deep mud and hard asphalt require adjustments.

There are many more variables and factors affecting tire pressures:

• Trail Surface and conditions (mud, gravel, hardpack, rocks, loam)
• Tubeless or tube (tubeless can go lower without a higher risk of punctures, but do you even want to?) I don’t see a reason to go with lower pressures because of greatly reduced rolling speed and increased output pedaling
• Tire width (i.e. tire volume)
• Rider weight (additional gear, accessories)
• Tire profile (tread pattern and grip)
• Tire sidewall & puncture protection (casing)
• Tire rubber compound
• Trail navigation (more uphill or downhill? some release air before a downhill)
• Speed and skill level (the faster you go, the harder you’ll hit stuff and the more pressure you’ll need to not break the rims or get punctures)
• Riding style (smooth operator or bulldog)
• Altitude and air density (obviously changing with climbs and descents …)

Some never change, some do from day to day, and some do while riding. It doesn’t make sense to chase any of them but rather I would argue us non-professionals should seek to maximize your own rider comfort and trust in your tires.

You do that by picking a baseline for a bike and go only slightly up or down from there.

To play around you can bookmark this calculator or the tire pressure chart I created here for quick reference.

Why it even matters

Can you guess what cornering harder, having more grip, trusting your tires, pedaling faster, minimizing vibrations, preventing flat tires and feeling reliably comfortable on your bike all have in common?

All of those can be improved with a free upgrade: knowing how much air is in your tires.

I found that if you always stick with the same pressures, the grip level and handling become very predictable, even in varying conditions.

Making you ride safer and faster at the same time.

High-volume tires VS low-volume tires

Let’s talk about high-volume tires versus low-volume tires and why is it they require completely different air pressures.

Similar to basketballs and handballs. A high volume wide tire (like plus size or fat bike tires) is a basketball and a low-volume tire ball is a handball.

High-volume Fat Bike tires work very differently and depend equally as much on the trail or road surface.

The calculator is not designed for huge fat bike tires or tiny road bike tires for that matter.