Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

I've often wondered to myself whether there is such a thing as putting a tyre on the wrong way round. Take the photo below from a fellow org'er...

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...a/P1070386.jpg

Now when I look at the front tyre, the cuts in the tread to me suggest that when the tyre moves forward in wet conditions, any surface water will be channeled towards the centre patch, which surely isn't going to help.

I'm probably getting the dynamics wrong or missing something but please don't ridicule, it's just always puzzled me. :confused:

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

Yes a tyre can be installed the wrong way round. There is an arrow on the tyre side wall indicating direction of rotation.

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

Most tyres have an arrow on them indicating the direction of travel so yes you can put them on the wrong way.I dont know what difference it makes in the real world though.

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

There will be no discernible difference when riding backwards.

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

The pr3 on that bike is the correct way around :)

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

My pilot powers have the same tread direction. It confused me too Stenno, such that I triple checked to make sure they were on correctly. With car tyres, the threads always channel the water to the outside, as we'd expect. My guess is with bike tyres, a much smaller area is in contact with the road, so only a small portion of the tread has effect. When you lean the bike over, only one set of grooves are in contact and the water will be channelled to the middle of the tyre, but that is the OUTSIDE of the turn, which is where you'd want it to be I suppose.

All speculation but makes sense when you think about it.

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

Yes, it happened to me. I only found out when Jambo noticed the arrow pointing the wrong way one night in Soho

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

Im sure I read somewhere,(diclaimer.I have no facts to hand) that conti road attacks were found to run better on the front ,when they were put on backwards to what was deseigned.The guy in the tyre shop told me that a larger arrow was simply put on the tyre to this effect.

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

Correct.

Re: Can you put a tyre on the wrong way round?
 

Cheers for all the comments!