TIL about pinch flat thresholds on road tires

I've been building up wheels for about 2 years now, and I just learned something that blew my mind. I was reading a pressure calculator on Silca's site, and it said that running below 80 psi on a 25c tire actually increases your pinch flat risk way more than going over the recommended max. For context, I usually ran around 75 psi because I thought lower was always better for grip. Now I'm second-guessing my whole setup for my daily commuter in Portland. Has anyone else run into this with narrower tires?

2 comments

2 Comments

mileslane13h ago

80psi in my 25c tires stopped my Portland pinch flats cold.

jenny_lane1211h ago

Oh man, same thing happened to me! I used to run my old 25c tires at like 72-73 psi on my commuter through some rough pavement in Portland, and I was getting pinch flats like every other week. Then I bumped it up to about 82 psi after reading that same Silca calculator stuff, and it was night and day. I haven't had a single pinch flat since, even on those awful railroad tracks near the Hawthorne bridge. My grip honestly didn't really change either, which surprised me. It feels a little more firm but not harsh at all.