daddystheman

After flatting the other day, I removed the rear tire to fix the tube. As usual, I took the tire completely off the rim so I could easier inspect for the culprit that punctured my tube.

My tires (cheapo Michelin Dynamics) do not have a rotation direction indicator, so I usually don't pay much mind to which way they go back on. I'm kind of wondering, though, if there are any general thoughts on how the tire tread should be oriented to better shed water if the road is wet.

I've heard that road tires don't rely on tread/siping to shed water, but I have to believe that the tread does have some influence. Michelin does recommend a rotation direction for the MTB tires - basically the tread pattern forms a general arrow shape and it should point forward on the front and rearward on the rear. I've started to use that general idea for my road bike tires but I'm wondering if anyone has any other thoughts on the topic.

Thanks!

hyunelan2

Any tires I've ever used that were for certain rotation (which is all of 1 - Maxxis Detonator) had the roation direction indicated on the tire. If they don't say anything, I would guess they could be bi-directional?

AEO

road tyres are slicks, doesn't matter which way slicks go on. Ok, so some slicks have these "bumps" for rain and they form a chevron down the tyre, but still, not enough tread to influence which way they should go on.

The >>> tread pushes water/mud/snow out from under the tyre so the tyre can contact the hard stuff underneath it. When you put the chevron backwards "<<<<" it pushes water and mud underneath the tyres, they're only good in certain conditions. With road tyres/slicks the narrowness of the tyre acts like a wedge and pushes out water from underneath it. Biggest difference is the width and pressure of the tyre. Narrow tyres don't have a lot of frontal contact patch and are high pressure so the tyre keeps it's shape, wider tyres have a large contact area and lower pressures cause it to caveat and lose even more dispersing power.

Psimet2001 

No tread = bi-directional

Tread = see sidewall or use common sense to see how the tread will shed/push water. I set it so that the first area to contact is the senter section and as the tire rotates and the tread pushes it will push water away from the center.

Treads on road tires are often too shallow to do anything and are there for looks and to make people feel warm and fuzzy. in that instance put them any direction you want.

daddystheman

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I tend to overanlyze these kinds of things and I hate doing something without a reason. Yes, I'm an engineer by training! I think I'll go back to just sticking the tire on whichever direction it happens to be in when I pick it up.

Ok... 'nuf brain cells wasted on this one.

Psimet2001 

Unless it is a tire with a label on only one side. If it is then you should mount it so that the label is readable from the drive side of the bike.

Same goes for rims when building wheels, etc. If your front wheel has a decal that can only be read from one side then you have the wheel on "backwards". Flip the skewer and put it on the right direction.

LanceFanBoy

yeah my Conti's have arrows. I'm a bit OCD so even if tires don't have arrows I'll try and figure it out, then my brain gets crossed trying to figure out which way the rim will rotate so i can match the tire up! haha

carpediemracing 

Direction makes a huge difference on a mountain bike with aggressively treaded tires.

Makes virtually no difference on a road bike, not that I can tell anyway.

I'm with psimet2001 - mount it so the label is on the right.

Of course if my tire has a direction arrow on it, I mount it in that direction. If the label falls on the left side when I do that, I don't buy the tire again

cdr

DasProfezzional

+1 to carpediem.

Sheldon has a good article about road tires and the relative unimportance of tread. I always put mine with the chevrons pointing forward, but that's just for looks.

Brian Ratliff

If you care, then the cheverons should point toward the front of the bike looking from the top of the wheel.

You shouldn't care. On road tires, it makes no difference whatsoever.

Cross or mountainbike tires, it usually makes a difference. If it makes a difference, then there will usually be a direction arrow, so follow the directions. Otherwise, make the chevron pattern point toward the front looking from the top of the wheel.

xtabi

what is a tyre?

cccorlew

Also, when on the bike, the rotation should be thus:
The top of the front tire should be rotating away from you if you are seated on the bike. This motion indicates that you are moving in a forward direction, not going backwards. This can confuse beginning cyclists, sometimes causing them to attempt reverse motion while riding.

I hope this clears things up.

Psimet2001 

It's an British tire. It only works on the left side of the road as well. Consider yourself warned.

Reminds me....have any of you caught the "John Adams" series on HBO. Nice.

curiouskid55

When you are sitting on the bike the labels on the tires should be to the right. To do otherwise is a gross OCP violation.