Ready to ride, errr, wait...

[snowhownd]

Drop rims and new tires off at lunchtime to get mounted, all excited to ride tonight.  Pick them up after work, in a hurry to get home and get em back on the bike.  Get home, get changed into work clothes, carry the toolbox outside, drop the tailgate thinking, "hope the tires are good to go," better check the pressure... uhhh, whats wrong with this picture!?!?



*^@$#@*%^(*@^%)@#*%@$@$(%&$*%(#$&@#

[SVS]

DOH!!!

[Roadstergal]

Just ride backwards.

I remember that Tirerack did a comparison of car tires mounted in the "right" direction vs. the "wrong."  Pretty much no difference, even in the rain.  I know track people who mount car tires backwards to get more life out of them.

[snowhownd]

Just ride backwards.

I remember that Tirerack did a comparison of car tires mounted in the "right" direction vs. the "wrong."  Pretty much no difference, even in the rain.  I know track people who mount car tires backwards to get more life out of them.

I thought of doing that, but I could just see that going bad... Progressive to me: "Sorry Sir, we're not gonna pay for the repairs on the $50,000 SUV that you damaged in your accident, you're front tire is on backwards!" or having to deal with people snickering and pointing at my front tire cause its backwards.     I'll just take it back tommorrow and make the guy who did it feel like an idiot.  I got the back tire back on and the chain all set.  Its supposed to rain the next few days anyways.  :x
I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard that on some directional tires the belts are designed only to go one way, so if you ran them the wrong way it could be unsafe... but I really don't remember the source of that, it could have been Joe Smoe that thinks he knows everything there is to know about his cool riced out Civic.  Even if it is true I'm guessing this $75 Avon tire doesn't have that kind of technology.  I bet Tireracks test is probably a little more reliable - being how they actually know something about tires (unlike me!   ).

[SVS]

Just ride backwards.

I remember that Tirerack did a comparison of car tires mounted in the "right" direction vs. the "wrong."  Pretty much no difference, even in the rain.  I know track people who mount car tires backwards to get more life out of them.

I thought of doing that, but I could just see that going bad... Progressive to me: "Sorry Sir, we're not gonna pay for the repairs on the $50,000 SUV that you damaged in your accident, you're front tire is on backwards!" or having to deal with people snickering and pointing at my front tire cause its backwards.     I'll just take it back tommorrow and make the guy who did it feel like an idiot.  I got the back tire back on and the chain all set.  Its supposed to rain the next few days anyways.  :x
I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard that on some directional tires the belts are designed only to go one way, so if you ran them the wrong way it could be unsafe... but I really don't remember the source of that, it could have been Joe Smoe that thinks he knows everything there is to know about his cool riced out Civic.  Even if it is true I'm guessing this $75 Avon tire doesn't have that kind of technology.  I bet Tireracks test is probably a little more reliable - being how they actually know something about tires (unlike me!   ).

MC tires are designed so the front wheel makes a clear path through water for the rear tire - mounting it backwards would do the direct opposite, accumulating water in the path of the rear  

The shop should reverse and rebalance it for free, after all they screwed up...

[Roadstergal]

MC tires are designed so the front wheel makes a clear path through water for the rear tire - mounting it backwards would do the direct opposite, accumulating water in the path of the rear  

That was the justification for directional car tires, too.  But:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/hydroplaning.jsp

The shop should reverse and rebalance it for free, after all they screwed up...

Oh, agreed.

[RVertigo]

HA HA HA...  DINGLE!

Make sure you tell him that he was ridiculed on the Internet...  And make him buy you a coffee 'cause you couldn't ride yesterday.

[Soaring]

just changed the my tires today at chapparal. my old tires were both installed the wrong way, when I got my new tires on, the rear one was fine but the front one was the wrong way again. Thanks to this thread I was watching out for this kind of stuff and noticed it right there (o/w would have to make another long ride to chapparal). The guy's explanation was that while they can figure out the rear bike, because they see the sprocket, the front wheel they install just the way it came in. I thought that the brakes are always on the right side and asked him whether a brake disk can be an indicator, but he told me that actually most bikes have brakes on the left.

Anyway don't know if that is the truth or a bunch of crap, but that's the explanation I got, so it looks like every time you let somebody change the tires you got to check whether they were installed in the right direction not assume it'll be done the right way

[Badger]

The guy's explanation was that while they can figure out the rear bike, because they see the sprocket, the front wheel they install just the way it came in.

Sounds like it's a good idea (for future reference) to stick some masking tape on the rim with "Direction of motion -->" written on it.

[Jasco]

I never looked on my GS, but my TL rim has a direction arrow showing rotation.  Suprised all rims don't have one.