hi been on this site for a` few years and need help or some opinions. i have a 94 hd classic with hd hack, i need to put another rear tire on bike as im only getting about 4500 to5000 miles a tire so hear is my question, i remenber reading or hearing old timers useing a front tire and runing it backwards for the rear, does this seem to make sense. i have been riding about 50 years and this was hard to belive, so can anbody help. thanks.
Hello Glen,
tires have an internal cloth layer structure and a thread pattern orientated for their use...front tire has to break and as in a tractor tire push out the mud when breaking so the tractor arrow has to show on the ground contact face forward to push the mud to the sides.
Now the back tire, it has to give traction for acceleration and the tractor tire may not clog up with mud but has to push out the mud to the sides when pulling the throttle. Therefore the tractor arrow has to point backward on its ground contact face.
Have a look at modern enduros with arrow style tires (example Heidenau) Front wheel in one direction back wheel into the other in that manner that the mud never clogs up the tire arrow but will get pushed out . The internal layer structure is designed accordingly for to support the forces.
So when you pretend to use a front tire of a big bike as back tire of a smaller bike like I did on my Jawa rig sometimes then a front tire on the back has to show the arrow other way round. On symmetrical tires like street thread that direction is not as critical for the thread but for the internal layer structure. I recall older tires that used to have 2 different directional marks (Metzler rain tires in 80tees) saying front / back orientation.
I hope this does explain what you asked for.
Sven
I know of just the opposite being done -- using a rear tire on the front and running counter rotation to get a flatter profile for better steering. A front tire on the rear is not going to improve your tire wear. It will probably actually decrease, rear tires generally have a deeper tread groove and the more rounded profile of a front on rear is also going to decrease your traction. I can only imagine you are doing this because fronts of same size are cheaper than rears but I don't see any advantage in doing this. I'd recheck my alignment lean-out, toe-in and tilt, generally extreme tire wear is a result of misalignment.
glen - 7/16/2015 11:36 AM
{SNIP}i remenber reading or hearing old timers useing a front tire and runing it backwards for the rear, does this seem to make sense. {SNIP}.
Nope, it makes no sense at all. If you want better tire wear on the rear go to a car tire. If your rim won't take a car tire [if for instance it's a 15" rim] go to one of the guys who makes conversion wheels. You'll get better traction and about four times the wear out of a cheaper tire. Yes, the conversion wheels are pricey but it does eventually pay off. That pay off is a long way out but in the meantime you'll be happier with your rig... priceless!
glen - 7/16/2015 10:36 AM
i remenber reading or hearing old timers useing a front tire and runing it backwards for the rear, does this seem to make sense..
Rear tire in backwards or correct direction used for front wheel to prolong life of front tire.
thanks a lot maybe that is why the old guys now don't talk about this anymore thans glen
