Nitrogen in tires?

[FLTRI]

How bout this:
Put 40psi in your tires. Ride bike for 20-25 miles, preferably through twisties, then pull over & check tire pressures.
Replace the air with Nitrogen, reride the same 20-25 miles then recheck the pressure. If the pressure increase difference is more than  2 lbs then you may get a tiny bit of benefit from using nitrogen just because pressure build-up difference is less.
Bob
PS - IME, you need at least 20 miles to uniformly heat the tire and air inside, not just the tread.

[harleywood]

Good Stuff! Seriously, though, I'm told the Motor Company has evaluated nitrogen usage and found no discernible gain. The primary advantage is N2 is dry-no moisture. It's the moisture that is responsible for the pressure changes and corrosive effects. Me? I'm lazy and don't like crawling on the floor or pulling a bag off to check my tires so I installed a tire pressure monitoring system on my bike. With the press of a button, I know what my tire pressures are at any time. I also put a sensor in my air suspension line and monitor that as well.   

[FLTRI]

Good Stuff! Seriously, though, I'm told the Motor Company has evaluated nitrogen usage and found no discernible gain. The primary advantage is N2 is dry-no moisture. It's the moisture that is responsible for the pressure changes and corrosive effects. Me? I'm lazy and don't like crawling on the floor or pulling a bag off to check my tires so I installed a tire pressure monitoring system on my bike. With the press of a button, I know what my tire pressures are at any time. I also put a sensor in my air suspension line and monitor that as well. 

One comment...Brilliant!! 
Too many bikes out there without any attention paid to suspension pressure.

[Tsani]

How bout this:
Put 40psi in your tires. Ride bike for 20-25 miles, preferably through twisties, then pull over & check tire pressures.
Replace the air with Nitrogen, reride the same 20-25 miles then recheck the pressure. If the pressure increase difference is more than  2 lbs then you may get a tiny bit of benefit from using nitrogen just because pressure build-up difference is less.
Bob
PS - IME, you need at least 20 miles to uniformly heat the tire and air inside, not just the tread.

This leads to very good point btw. Fill your tires to the correct pressure and heat em up. Check the pressures again. If more than 10% over then you need a bit more pressure in your tires or so I have been told. Which is why it is called cold tire pressure. It will increase as tire warms up from ambient.  As for the nitrogen, I wouldn't waste my time and money. I haven't seen  much, if any water in my tires when changing them. Most places have a water seperator on their compressor setups nowadays, incuding me. Check your tires loaded up the way you intend to ride.

[War Horse]

HEY  suspension pressure and nitrogen ! .....    well..... how bout helium in there too ?   

[FLTRI]

HEY  suspension pressure and nitrogen ! .....    well..... how bout helium in there too ?   

Nitrogen in the shocks will provide better pressure variance control due to VERY small air reservoirs in the shocks as compared to tires.
Smaller the reservoir the more effect temperature change will have...caused by ambient as well as internal friction.
Bob

[Quad D]

I like nitrogen, it is a fact that it doesn't expand and contract like air.....

Nitrogen is air...  And the free atmospheric mix is chock full, about 78%, of it.

So are you saying they are freely interchangeable and I could breathe straight nitrogen.....somehow I don't think that would work, we are not talking about a mix here.  I was just chasing the point of it not being purely snake oil and that I was certain people do in fact run it as I have run it. 

A few pounds of difference causes a difference in handling from what I have experienced on my bikes.  Then again I haven't ever had very big tires on any of my bikes so maybe that plays a part in it too. 

[FLTRI]

So are you saying they are freely interchangeable and I could breathe straight nitrogen.....somehow I don't think that would work, we are not talking about a mix here.  I was just chasing the point of it not being purely snake oil and that I was certain people do in fact run it as I have run it. 

Mix? Sure as there is no practical way for owners to remove the air to replace with nitrogen. High dollar race teams have developed sophisticated vacuum equipment/methods over the years to extract air and replace all the air with nitrogen in one operation.
Not snake oil at all. Snake oil doesn't work. Nitrogen does work...just not enough to notice or pay for...as applied to street riding.

A few pounds of difference causes a difference in handling from what I have experienced on my bikes.  Then again I haven't ever had very big tires on any of my bikes so maybe that plays a part in it too.

I did 3 back-to-back comparisons on my 03RG 117" a couple summers ago in the sierras over 3 days (~80-85deg) on same road conditions. I admit I ride fairly hard, especially in the corners. Anyone who has ridden with me either ended up being a forever partner OR they will NEVER ride with me again.

Tires cold (40) to about 1/2 hr on the twisties and got 4 lbs buildup (44) which is normal. I could not feel a difference. That said after lowering pressures to 30lbs there was a noticeable mid-corner/throttle on wallowing in twisty handling.
Pressure buildup was 18 lbs! after the same time and conditions and the bike felt better.

JME,
Bob

[JCZ]

My first experience with nitrogen in the tires came from a shop that offered it for free with a new set of tires.  Since that's what I was there for.....thought I'd give it a try.  Didn't like it or found it to be a problem, could always just deflate and reinflate with air.

Wore out two back tires and now a front tire and have never lost more than a lb. total of pressure.  Didn't matter if it was 28F or 112F out.  Truth be known.....it can sure add to laziness.  I never checked my pressure at all on the last back tire and quit checking the front one when I put the second back tire on.

I saw a dealership that was offering it for free if you bought your tires there.  Another that charged $3.50 a tire and another that was charging a whopping $7.00 a tire.  They have a printed out process.....deflate the tire, inflate with nitrogen, deflate a second time and again fill with nitrogen.  How many of them actually do it that way?   Couldn't say.

[truck]

That would make you an idiot. I never checked my pressure at all on the last back tire and quit checking the front one when I put the second back tire on.

[Quad D]

I was fairly certain that MOST places that offer nitrogen also have a purging system....     Like I said I'm not selling the stuff just have had some good experiences myself and didn't think that nitrogen deserved all the bad wrap it seemed to be getting here.  Especially at a fairly cheap price.

I have noticed the difference in my tires being 2-3 lbs low, I slide a LOT easier on paint and road snakes, especially in a corner.  Every time I feel that, I check the pressure and low and behold it is about 3lbs maybe 4 low, maybe it's just me.

[Rags722]

I don't think nitrogen has gotten a bad rap here.  I think paying anything over a buck a tire has gotten a bad rap.  Truth is, I'll bet better than 90% of the members can't honestly tell by feel when a tire is down a pound or two. I'll bet an even higher percentage don't push the limits to where a tire pressuring up a pound or two will make any difference in how they ride ( myself included).  Aircraft has to be real cautious about moisture in tires or they could wind up with ice or balance problems.  Ever inflate one of those comfort pillows in a plane and notice when you hit crusing altitude it went from soft to hard as a rock?  Nitrogen makes sense for them to use.  Ditto on racers.  If you never or seldom check your car tire pressure, it may make sense to use nitrogen IF IT'S CHEAP enough.  For the average motorcycle, it just makes no sense unless it's free or so damned cheap it becomes a no brainer.  If you ride and don't check you air pressure on a regular basis, you are just taking your life in your hands..... using pump air or nitrogen.

[harleywood]

My source was an 'insider' with the MOCO, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the motor company in this matter...

[Tollbooth]

I'm getting Nitrogen Narcosis from all this Nitrogen saturation.!!

[FLTRI]

...I installed a tire pressure monitoring system on my bike. With the press of a button, I know what my tire pressures are at any time. I also put a sensor in my air suspension line and monitor that as well. 

Mind sharing your setup with us? Parts and pics would be great.
Bob

[War Horse]

...I installed a tire pressure monitoring system on my bike. With the press of a button, I know what my tire pressures are at any time. I also put a sensor in my air suspension line and monitor that as well. 

Mind sharing your setup with us? Parts and pics would be great.
Bob

Maybe something informative can come out of this thread....... dont get me wrong it's been fun so far , but. 

[mrmike]

  I'd like to see that set up as well.

I think we've run this subject about as far as it can go,lol.

Mike

[turboprop]

don't like crawling on the floor or pulling a bag off to check my tires so I installed a tire pressure monitoring system on my bike. With the press of a button, I know what my tire pressures are at any time. I also put a sensor in my air suspension line and monitor that as well.

Wow. Very cool. You should send a picture of that setup into The Horse, I bet those guys would really like to see it as well, probably even put it in the magazine.

[Dennis The Menace]

Two things:

1-Do not post copyrighted material here--link to it only

2-Stay on topic; go to Earls for wit, sarcasm and jokes....keep it relevant here

[glens]

Dennis, I first provided a link to a web page, then, within a "quote" block quoted the pertinent portion of that page.  Why is my post gone when I fully gave attribution and a way to read it in context?

And what about any images folks post when they didn't create the image but instead fetched it off the WWW somewhere?

[hd06myway]

There is a bried article on this in the latest HOG magazine.  Harley's comment on Nitro tires when asked was "no comment" according to the article.  They don't have enough data to say if they are worth it or not. 

[War Horse]

Found this , so far.....

http://www.doranmfg.com/motorcycle-tire-pressure-monitoring-systems.htm


And this;

http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Tire-Pressure-Monitoring-System/dp/B00589MQQY

[Dennis The Menace]

Dennis, I first provided a link to a web page, then, within a "quote" block quoted the pertinent portion of that page.  Why is my post gone when I fully gave attribution and a way to read it in context?

And what about any images folks post when they didn't create the image but instead fetched it off the WWW somewhere?

The link is sufficient.  Shouldnt cut and paste from any copyrighted material, and keeps HTT from getting into any fracus.  Also, its easy to google sentences to see if its already posted in the Net.  Images are much harder to determine if they are from a copyrighted site.  However, we have removed them where we can obviously see they came from a copyrighted source. 

Also, it should be noted that copyrights are different with photos and text, with respect to use and reuse by others.

[Coyote]

Dennis, I first provided a link to a web page, then, within a "quote" block quoted the pertinent portion of that page.  Why is my post gone when I fully gave attribution and a way to read it in context?

And what about any images folks post when they didn't create the image but instead fetched it off the WWW somewhere?

Images posted with IMG tags are not generally hosted on this site and are safe as they are being pulled from another site. We are not allowing cutting and pasting of text, even with attribution. Links are the way to go.   

[glens]

I respectfully disagree with you both about my post in question.  It most definitely would pass any "fair use" scrutiny.  I first provided the link by itself.  Then, because we all know that sometimes website layouts and structures change over time, I quoted, in a way which clearly indicated it was a quote, the small pertinent part of that page for non-profit, instructional posterity.

When images are enclosed in img tags, do you check the sites they're coming from for a deep-linking or other off-site linked-material usage policy?  It's quite common for sites to have such a policy.

It's a slippery slope that's going to have you going through and deleting a fair portion of your database if you want to be consistent and fair.  If it were me doing the police work, I believe I'd just opt for a "we're not responsible for any information posted by our users" stance.