Tyre maximum weight - am I exceeding it?

c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

I knew my bike was a lardy thing but it weighed in at 260kg give or take at the last MOT and that was with about 1/3 tank of fuel and no rider or luggage. I was checking my tyre pressures the other week and noticed the front says a maximum load of 250kg, I'm unsure if this is a total bike weight or should be split between the front and rear?

Anyway the bike alone appears to be over the limit and that's with nothing on it, I weigh 100kg in my pants so must be pushing 125kg with all my gear on. Add the OH on the back and full luggage (happens maybe twice a year) and a rough add up puts it over half a ton! So now I'm either doubling the maximum load of the tyre or sitting on the limit, and that's just sitting still. What happens when I need to emergency stop from cough-mph fully loaded? Surely that puts most of the half ton through a single tyre?

Am I worrying about nothing or should I find some tyres more suited to the bike next time? There are BT023's suited to heavier bikes (BT023GT or something) maybe these would be better?
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Musketeer · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Jun 2011 Karma :

I imagine it's like with cars and tyre load is per tyre, not the weight of the whole vehicle.

EDIT: But thinking about it.. if you do a wheelie, then all is on your rear tyre Wink

P.addy · Red Rocket Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :

Wouldn't worry in all honesty.

MarkJ · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Karma :

I just found a link for cars that said the load rating is per tyre, but then I closed the tab and can't find it again Neutral

I imagine bike tyres will be the same, so 500kg for you? Maybe more if the rear tyre has a higher rating.

Ah, found the link: https://www.tesco-tyres.com/help/load-rating

Turkish · Crazy Courier Joined: 09 May 2012 Karma :

100% certain it's load per tyre. Same with car tyres.

The load rating is there for a number of reasons, including side wall rigidity and heat build up due to rolling resistance; you aren't that much over the limit for a single tyre so unless you are regularly spending minutes at a time on the back wheel you're OK.
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c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

So if I have the bike fully loaded and assume it is at 500kg should I be doing something with the tyre pressures to keep everything in check. Baring in mind when the bike is fully loaded up like this I am most likely doing big miles on motorways.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

mpf1959 · Nova Slayer Joined: 09 May 2013 Karma :

ive looked into this before being fairly ample meself, Laughing

and the best thing to do is find the gvwr of your bike, its usually in the tyres section of the owners handbook.

my gsx for example has a max load capacity of 210kg, thats for everything, you plus any passenger / luggage ect. im 130kg and the bride is 60kg, so thats a lot of weight.

most bikes seem to have a max load of around 190-200kg. even my anf125 has a capacity of 170kg.