Mounting Conti 2000's
 

Today while mounting new Conti 2000 tires, I noticed 2 arrows indicating the direction to mount the tires. What's weird is that the front tire is mounted in a different direction than the rear tire.(According to the arrows) The rear tire seems to be mounted so the tire rotates against the tread. Has anybody noticed this? This is the first time I've used these tires and have never encountered this situation with other tires.

yes Ive seen the arrows. I use Conti's allthe time on the touring rig and I like the ride and they seem to last a good many miles you are right the arrows go in two directions for frount and rear I mount them the way the arrow shows and havent had a problem i dont know the reason for the different directions other than maybe a traction thing but i am not an engineer :) :o

Your front is where most of your stopping power is, the rear is where you get your traction from - each action requires the tire to drive against the pavement in a different direction, hence the opposing tread direction.

If you check your car tires, you'll see the same thing. It's called directional tread. It is designed to rotate in one direction for optimum performance and tread life. I think it's overkill for a bike tire, but I do it anyway. I don't want to find out that huge chunks of tread will start flying off like an overheated retread tire if I get it wrong. :-)