Better Late than Never

[Dr.D]

I would like to offer another reason for the reverse mount. The tires are designed to resist a twisting rotational force. The layers themselves and the way they are laminated are put together so they hold under a torque load. The rear resist the twisting to propel the bike forward and the front has to resist the braking force which occurs in the opposite direction.

A rear tire on the front has to be reversed to resist a stopping force, that is opposite to the original design of the tire to be mounted on the rear. I don't think it is about traction or rain as much as it is to prevent a delamination of a multi layer substance designed to hold in one direction.

 

[kipper]

Exactly Dr D .No way I would mount a rear on the front, REALLY bad idea IMHO

 

[Dr.D]

Exactly Dr D .No way I would mount a rear on the front, REALLY bad idea IMHO

I thought it odd too but after some study and discussion with some older more experienced members here I decided to try it. IMHO the R5 works great on the front IF you reverse it on the wheel so the arrow is pointing away from the direction of rotation. So far I can not find a downside to this application of this one specific tire. I do run it a few pounds off the max rating since it is not carrying the weight of the rear of the machine.

Hey at least it is a rounded profile MC tire.

 

[kipper]

Your bike your choice .

 

[Dr.D]

Your bike your choice .

That's my reply to0 the Darksiders.

 

[Tripps]

The reasoning, is that the tire's design has asymmetric traction. So the best traction is with the arrow on the tire. A rear tire would be mounted so the optimum traction is for acceleration, so the arrow would be running with the forward motion of the bike. A rear tire mounted on the front, would be mounted the other way, with the arrow pointed against the forward motion of the bike, because a front tire's primary function is to provide most of the braking. Acceleration - at least forward - is not a factor for a motorcycle front tires.

Of course, things get complicated on all-wheel drive vehicles - that is beyond the discussion here.

But rain....

 

[EasTexRIII]

Exactly Dr D .No way I would mount a rear on the front, REALLY bad idea IMHO

But that’s exactly why it gets mounted backwards on the front

 

[EasTexRIII]

Question regarding the original post. You talk about easier turn in than the excedra/Avon combo.
Then talk about the shorter height of the Michelin, which would help the turn in.
My question is, when you ran that Avon front tire, did you run the one that is one size smaller in height from the factory Metzler size like most guys on here have done? That’s what we did to improve the turn in after ditching the metzlers. There are a few threads discussing this

 

[RockOn]

Question regarding the original post. You talk about easier turn in than the excedra/Avon combo.
Then talk about the shorter height of the Michelin, which would help the turn in.
My question is, when you ran that Avon front tire, did you run the one that is one size smaller in height from the factory Metzler size like most guys on here have done? That’s what we did to improve the turn in after ditching the metzlers. There are a few threads discussing this

I believe my Avon Cobra was the OEM recommended size, 150/80/R17. If a smaller size was recommended by "most guys" when I was searching for a recommended front tire 4 years ago when I joined the forum then I missed that detail.

 

[Tripps]

Some guys run a 140 on front, I tried it, but I went back to stock 150, it turns in fine for me