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E-Bike Tire Pressure Calculator

A commuter e-bike on 700 × 45 tires with a 180-lb rider — 240 lb with the bike — starts at about 30 psi front and 50.5 psi rear on smooth pavement with inner tubes, because the rear wheel carries about two-thirds of the weight. Four-inch fat tires on pavement run 20–30 psi (Aventon, Rad Power Bikes). Enter your own weights and tires below; every step of the arithmetic is shown.

No sign-up · works on your phoneUpdated 14 sources

Your bike

Sets a starting bike weight, tire width and weight split. Change any of them below.
lbDressed, with a backpack if you wear one.
lbFrom the spec sheet, battery on.
lbRack, panniers, child seat.
lbBasket or front rack.
mmThe first number of the ETRTO size, e.g. 45-622 → 45.
Unit
Tires
Rims
Hookless rims say TSS or “hookless” on the rim sticker. Most e-bikes are hooked.
psiPrinted on the tire, e.g. “30–55 psi” → 30.
psiNever exceed it — or the rim's maximum.
Where you ride
Fine-tune the weight split
%Upright bikes carry about a third on the front; drop-bar bikes about 40%. Most accurate: one wheel on a bathroom scale, the other on a block the same height.

Your pressures

Front

30psi

2.07 bar

Rear

50.5psi

3.48 bar

Held at 30 psi — enter your sidewall minimum

Berto measured tires 20–37 mm wide, and at this width his formula gives less than 30 psi — below the minimum printed on the e-bike tires checked (Schwalbe Super Moto and Super Moto-X: 30 psi; Rad's 27.5 × 2.0: 35 psi). Your tire's own printed minimum replaces this default.
How this was calculated
System weight180 rider + 60 bike240.0 lb
Front load35% × 240.084.0 lb
Rear load65% × 240.0156.0 lb
Front base219.78 × 84.0 ÷ 45.0^1.71327.2 psi
Rear base219.78 × 156.0 ÷ 45.0^1.71350.5 psi
LimitFront raised to 30 psi, the default floor for e-bike tires on pavementapplied
Resultrounded to 0.5 psi30 / 50.5 psi

The base line is a fit to Frank Berto’s tire-drop measurements: the pressure that lets a tire compress about 15% of its width under its load. Rounded to the nearest half psi. Pressure rises about 2.5 psi for every 10 °C (18 °F) warmer, so set it at the temperature you’ll ride in.

Front share of rider + bike
35%
Tubeless
—
Sidewall min / max
— / —
1 bar
14.5038 psi

A starting point, not a rule: try it, then adjust in 2–3 psi steps for feel. Never go above the sidewall or rim maximum or below the sidewall minimum.

Worked example

210-lb rider, 60-lb e-bike, 700 × 45 tubeless on hookless rims, rough pavement

  1. Split the weight. Rider plus bike is 270 lb. An upright bike carries about 35% on the front, so the front wheel carries 94.5 lb and the rear 175.5 lb.
  2. Base pressure for a 15% tire drop: 219.78 × load ÷ width1.713 gives 30.6 psi front and 56.8 psi rear.
  3. Setup: tubeless (× 0.95) and rough pavement (× 0.87) multiply to × 0.827, giving 25.3 and 46.9 psi.
  4. Limits: the front is below 30 psi, the lowest minimum printed on the e-bike tires checked, so it’s held at 30. The rear is above what ISO 5775 allows for a 45 mm tire on a hookless rim (43.5 psi), so it’s capped there.
  5. Result: 30 psi front, 43.5 psi rear.

On hooked rims with inner tubes on smooth pavement, the same rider and bike would start at 30.5 front and 57 psi rear — which is why the rim type and surface questions are there.

Reference

Tire pressure charts for e-bikes, fat tires and scooters

Starting points from the same model the calculator uses: upright e-bike, 35% of the weight on the front, inner tubes, hooked rims, smooth pavement. Weight is rider plus bike. Your sidewall’s printed range always wins.

Commuter e-bike tires (front / rear psi)

E-bike tire pressure by total weight and tire width, front and rear psi
Rider + bike700 × 38 (38 mm)700 × 45 (45 mm)27.5 × 2.0 (50 mm)27.5 × 2.2 (56 mm)27.5 × 2.4 (62 mm)
200 lb30.5 / 5630 / 4230 / 3530 / 3030 / 30
240 lb36.5 / 67.530 / 50.530 / 4230 / 34.530 / 30
280 lb42.5 / 78.531.5 / 5930 / 4930 / 40.530 / 34
320 lb48.5 / 9036 / 67.530.5 / 5630 / 46.530 / 39

Values of 30 psi are the calculator’s default floor for e-bike tires 38 mm and wider on pavement; Berto’s formula goes lower at these widths, below what e-bike tires are rated for.

Published ranges for wide tires

Maker-published pressure ranges for fat, plus, gravel and e-MTB tires
TireWhereRangePublished by
Fat, 3.8–4.8 inPavement20–30 psiAventon; Rad Power Bikes (20 × 4)
Fat, 3.8–4.8 inOff-road trails12–20 psiAventon
Fat, 3.8–4.8 inSand or snow5–10 psiAventon
Plus, 2.8–3.3 inPavement20–30 psiRad Power Bikes (20 × 3.3)
Plus, 2.8–3.0 inOff-road15–20 psiMaxxis
E-MTB, 2.3–2.5 inOff-road25–35 psiMaxxis
E-MTB, 2.6 inOff-road18–25 psiMaxxis
Gravel, 38–50 mmGravel25–45 psiMaxxis

Rad also lists 35–65 psi for the RadWagon 4’s 22 × 3.3 tires and 20 psi front and rear for the RadRover’s 26 × 4 — the same width can carry very different ratings, so read your sidewall.

Electric scooters

Electric scooter tire pressure by model, from the makers
ScooterTirePressureSource
Segway-Ninebot MAX G30P10 in, 60/70-6.5, tubeless32–37 (both tires equal) psiSegway G30P user manual
Xiaomi Mi 1S / Lite / Pro 28.5 in, inner tube45–50 psiXiaomi support FAQ KA-07509
Xiaomi Mi 38.5 in50 psiXiaomi support FAQ KA-12939
Xiaomi 4 Lite (2nd Gen)—45–50 psiXiaomi support FAQ KA-235515
Xiaomi 4 Pro Plus—40–50 psiXiaomi support FAQ KA-101594

Maximum pressure on hookless rims

ISO 5775-1:2023 Table 3, maximum pressure for tires on straight-side (hookless) rims
Tire widthMax (kPa)Max (psi)
18–24 mm55079.8
25–29 mm50072.5
30–34 mm45065.3
35–39 mm40058.0
40–44 mm35050.8
45–54 mm30043.5
55–64 mm25036.3
65–74 mm20029.0
75–84 mm15021.8

The rim itself is capped at 5 bar (72.5 psi). ISO has no row above 84 mm — follow the rim maker.

How to use it

In 5 steps

  1. 1Pick the kind of bike. It fills in a typical bike weight, tire width and weight split.
  2. 2Enter your weight and your bike's real weight from its spec sheet (battery on), plus anything you carry.
  3. 3Read the tire width off the sidewall — the first number of the ETRTO size (45-622 → 45 mm) or the second number of the inch size (27.5 × 2.4 → 2.4 in).
  4. 4Choose tubes or tubeless, hooked or hookless rims, and where you ride. Add the sidewall's printed minimum and maximum if it has them.
  5. 5Pump to the result with a gauge, ride it, and adjust in 2–3 psi steps for feel. Check weekly — tires lose pressure on their own.

Why e-bikes need their own numbers

Most pressure advice was worked out for 20-lb road bikes. An e-bike with its rider typically weighs 200 to 300 lb, and on an upright bike roughly two-thirds of that sits on the rear wheel — Bicycle Quarterly measured 35/65 on a city bike. So the rear needs a lot more air than the front, and both need more than the same tire on a light bike.

The calculator starts from Frank Berto’s measurements: the pressure at which a tire compresses about 15% of its width under load, which he found balanced comfort, grip and rolling resistance. The fitted formula reproduces all 11 of his published data points within 5%. Berto measured tires 20 to 37 mm wide and said his rule doesn’t hold for mountain-bike tires, so for wider tires the calculator holds the answer inside the ranges tire and e-bike makers publish — and for commuter tires on pavement it won’t go below 30 psi unless you enter a lower sidewall minimum.

Sources genuinely disagree on some of this. Tubeless: Schwalbe says only “slightly lower”, SRAM’s calculator runs about 2–9% lower, and Silca makes no change; this tool uses 5%. Front versus rear: per-wheel load says the front can be much softer, while Jan Heine argues for matching the front to the rear because hard braking shifts weight forward — there’s a switch for that. Where the calculator makes a choice, it says so in the arithmetic.

Low pressure also costs range: a soft tire on a heavy bike is one of the cheapest things to rule out before blaming the battery.

FAQ

Tire pressure: questions

What tire pressure should a fat-tire e-bike run?

On pavement, 20–30 psi — that's Aventon's guidance for fat tires and Rad Power Bikes' spec for its 20 × 4 tires (the RadRover's manual says 20 psi front and rear). Off-road, Aventon suggests 12–20 psi, and 5–10 psi for sand or snow. Fat tires such as the Kenda Krusade and Surly Nate are rated to 30 psi at most, so never go above the number on the sidewall. For a 250-lb rider-and-bike on pavement the calculator gives 20 psi front and rear.

Should the front tire have less pressure than the rear?

By load, yes: an upright bike carries roughly a third of the weight on the front and two-thirds on the rear, so a per-wheel calculation gives the front noticeably less. Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly argues for running the front at the same pressure as the rear, because under hard braking the front carries several times its normal load. The calculator does per-wheel by default and has a switch to match them.

Do tubeless tires need lower pressure?

A little, but nobody agrees how much. Schwalbe says only "slightly lower" and gives no number; SRAM's calculator runs about 2% lower on hooked rims and 9% lower on hookless; Silca's makes no change. This calculator uses 5% lower. The real gain is that tubeless tires can't pinch-flat, so they tolerate the lower end of the range better.

What is the maximum pressure for a hookless rim?

The rim is capped at 5 bar (72.5 psi), and ISO 5775-1:2023 also caps the tire by width: 72.5 psi for 25–29 mm, 58 psi for 35–39 mm, 43.5 psi for 45–54 mm, 36.3 psi for 55–64 mm and 21.8 psi for 75–84 mm. Only tubeless-ready (TLR/TLE) tires are approved for hookless rims.

What tire pressure does a Segway Ninebot Max scooter need?

Segway's manual for the MAX G30P says 32–37 psi, with both tires inflated equally. Xiaomi's 8.5-inch scooters are different: 45–50 psi for the Mi 1S, Lite and Pro 2. Scooter tires are too small for the bicycle formula, so use the maker's number.

How much does temperature change tire pressure?

About 2.5 psi for every 10 °C (18 °F), according to Continental. A tire set to 40 psi in a cool garage reads higher after sitting in the sun, and lower on a cold morning — set it at the temperature you'll ride in.

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Sources

Where these numbers come from

  1. [1]Frank Berto, “All About Tire Inflation” (2006) (opens in a new tab)The 15% tire-drop measurements: 50 tires, 7 pressures, 8 loads.
  2. [2]Jan Heine, “Optimizing Your Tire Pressure for Your Weight”, Bicycle Quarterly (opens in a new tab)Berto's chart redrawn per wheel; measured weight splits (city bike 35/65).
  3. [3]Jan Heine, “Front and rear tires…” (2018) (opens in a new tab)Rear carries roughly twice the front; the case for matching front to rear.
  4. [4]ISO 5775-1:2023 (official preview) (opens in a new tab)Table 3: maximum pressure by tire width on straight-side (hookless) rims.
  5. [5]Schwalbe, tubeless road requirements (opens in a new tab)5 bar hookless rim cap; the same width table, citing ETRTO.
  6. [6]Maxxis, Bicycle Tire Technology 2022 (opens in a new tab)Pressure bands for gravel, MTB, plus, fat and e-MTB tires.
  7. [7]Aventon, “Ebike Tire Pressure Best Practices” (2025) (opens in a new tab)Fat tires: 20–30 psi pavement, 12–20 off-road, 5–10 sand and snow.
  8. [8]Rad Power Bikes EU technical specifications (opens in a new tab)20 × 4 and 20 × 3.3: 20–30 psi; 27.5 × 2.0 and 22 × 3.3: 35–65 psi.
  9. [9]Schwalbe Super Moto-X 62-584 (opens in a new tab)An e-bike tire rated 30–55 psi — the source of the 30 psi default floor.
  10. [10]SRAM AXS Tire Pressure Guide (opens in a new tab)Cross-check only: tubeless and wet-road multipliers in its calculator code.
  11. [11]Silca Pro Tire Pressure Calculator (opens in a new tab)Cross-check only: surface ratios (chipseal, gravel).
  12. [12]Segway-Ninebot MAX G30P user manual (opens in a new tab)32–37 psi, both tires equal.
  13. [13]Xiaomi support, scooter tire pressure (KA-07509) (opens in a new tab)8.5-inch tires: 45–50 psi.
  14. [14]Continental, tire/rim combinations (opens in a new tab)Pressure rises about 0.17 bar (2.5 psi) per 10 °C.

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