Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Norton bulletin board Rear Wheel Tire Rotation Wrong

I went for a long ride with a friend on his Triumph this past Thursday. I was on my 1975 Norton 850 Commando Mk3. We were really having a good time riding through the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia on some fantastic roads for hours until my front tire started losing air and we were far from civilization. I had checked the pressure in both tires before we left and both were right at 26 PSI. It was basically completely flat with only ~3 PSI showing on the tire gauge when I finally found a place with an air pump. I put 38 PSI in the tire and made it back home before it went completely flat again. My question is that when looking at the front tire, I noticed that the rear tire is mounted with the tire rotation backwards. I can't believe I never noticed it before. It has been that way since I got the bike. The tire is a Dunlop 4.10H X19 K81. The tread design on that tire is uniform so from that standpoint it shouldn't make any difference which way it's mounted based on traction, etc. I'm tempted to leave the tire as is instead of re-mounting it. The bike handles really well and I have no complaints.

So did you sort out the front tyre - it sounds more of a problem !

Tyre rotation is related more to do with the overlap of the cords when they are building the tyre.
From this, the most stress on the front tyre is braking - so they arrange the cords so this is not a problem.
On the back wheel, the most stress is from acceleration - so they arrange the cords more to suit this.

If you ONLY ever accelerated gently, or braked gently, its not a problem (don't sue me for this 'advice' !!!)

In antiquity, I've had car tyres that delaminated (a bit) to be unserviceable, so it does pay to note these things.
But not in recent decades ...

SPEED also influences this - some folks like to fly at warp speed, so the tyre makers need to pay heed here.
And put direction of rotation on the tyre walls.

If you are intending to do much fast touring or canyon carving, I'd refit that tyre the correct way.
Hereabouts, the accident investigation folks may view you as at 'fault', if anything untoward happened ?
Unlikely as that may be...

And if you don't know the history of a wheel, replacing the tube (regularly) is good insurance. ??

^^^yes

it wouldnt be the tread, gary, it would be the orientation of the belts laid inside the carcase. im no tire expert, but the rear tire is reinforced to resist acceleration, while the front is reinforced to resist braking.

but i honestly dont know whether the forces generated at the relatively modest horsepowers and speeds our stuff generates are strong enough for it to matter.

It might, if you were at the maximum of the tyres speed rating. !

I remember the ole S and V speed ratings.
S was pedestrian speeds, not much at all.
V was for faster.
H was somewhere in there.
Dunno what they are up to these days.
Plenty more, I'd say ...

I've ordered both a new 4.10H X19 K81 tire and tube for it to go on the front. The tire had some slight evidence of aging so I thought it would be a good time to replace it, although the tread on it looked almost new. I didn't look at the date code, but it most certainly is old.

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