The darkside is wonderful

[1olbull]

Well it's a hell of a lot smarter than because they said so .

Once I learned the way the tire is composed, the physics of it made perfect sense.
Although new to this Michelin Road 5, I have run the rear sport bike Avon Azaro backwards up front and it was THE best front I have ever ran on my R3R . . . by far. Pretty sure this Road 5 will equal or surpass the Azaro.

 

[mexican]

Do the steering head bearings need to be greased and retorqued?

Maybe, i ahve never done it,

 

[Steel]

Here are some reasons:
You should turn a rear tire around to run it on the front, to run against its direction arrows. This is because of the way the tread joint is made on the tire. When braking, the forces generated will try to open the tread jointing of a rear tire on the front. This will be prevented if the tire is run in reverse direction

The tread is applied to a tire as a flat wide strip of rubber. When molded, the pattern is added. The ends of the tread sections obviously have to be joined together prior to molding. The ends of the tread are not butt jointed together, but cut at a steep angle & then joined together. This obviously makes the joint area larger to help absorb the stress placed upon it. Therefore because they are joined at an angle, if you rotate the tire in one direction you will (in effect) close the joint once every rotation. If you rotate it in the other direction you will try to open the joint once every rotation. The rear tire rotation direction arrow is noted to close the joint on every rotation of the tire as it is put under power.

The same tire would have to be mounted against its rotation direction arrow on the front because although in normal use the joint is running the wrong way. There is no force being applied to it (the front wheel is just running along without the application of power). When you brake, a strong force is pushing from the rear to the front of the motorcycle and this would open up the tread joint, possibly leading to the tread shearing. If you run the rear tire backwards on the front, braking forces will then be trying to close the tread joint, which is overall the best situation.
Tis a little complicated, I know, but I hope this helps a little.

Running rear tires backwards on the front...
What next, running car tires on the rear?

 

[Granada]

Now thats explained it actually makes sense. Always ran michelin pr4 or bridgestone t30 on my old 1050 triple. The new road 5 have awesome reviews and should last the distance.
Just dont ride in the rain as the tread will suck the water in.

 

[BigNorm]

Running rear tires backwards on the front...
What next, running car tires on the rear?

Yep

 

[1olbull]

Running rear tires backwards on the front...
What next, running car tires on the rear?

I'm a devout disciple and member of the "Church of the Rear to Front" (aka "back Door"). You are just another nay-sayer!
Tires for only the front of a motor is a darn conspiracy led by the engineers, designers and tire companies!
How dare you question my data base study of ONE!?!

 

[Steel]

Yep, a study of one is about as scientific as it gets.

 

[Roscoe]

Here are some reasons:
You should turn a rear tire around to run it on the front, to run against its direction arrows. This is because of the way the tread joint is made on the tire. When braking, the forces generated will try to open the tread jointing of a rear tire on the front. This will be prevented if the tire is run in reverse direction

The tread is applied to a tire as a flat wide strip of rubber. When molded, the pattern is added. The ends of the tread sections obviously have to be joined together prior to molding. The ends of the tread are not butt jointed together, but cut at a steep angle & then joined together. This obviously makes the joint area larger to help absorb the stress placed upon it. Therefore because they are joined at an angle, if you rotate the tire in one direction you will (in effect) close the joint once every rotation. If you rotate it in the other direction you will try to open the joint once every rotation. The rear tire rotation direction arrow is noted to close the joint on every rotation of the tire as it is put under power.

The same tire would have to be mounted against its rotation direction arrow on the front because although in normal use the joint is running the wrong way. There is no force being applied to it (the front wheel is just running along without the application of power). When you brake, a strong force is pushing from the rear to the front of the motorcycle and this would open up the tread joint, possibly leading to the tread shearing. If you run the rear tire backwards on the front, braking forces will then be trying to close the tread joint, which is overall the best situation.
Tis a little complicated, I know, but I hope this helps a little.

ahaa, got it, must have missed the part where ya said it was a rear tyre on the front or I was just tyred!

We used to do that in the 80's at the shop with some Triumph bonneville tyres that ya couldn't get for the front, back then some tyres were hard to get for a while for the early 60 model triumphs, as the new bikes were all coming out with different size wheels or something can't remember what the reason was. Don't think I even questioned the boss on it then, I was just a adult apprentice.

 

[barbagris]

but so far tis good and the slightly wider 150/70 aspect ratio has not noticiably slowed handling.

ime a monstrous mismatch in width front/rear does not help handling. If anything I think the 150/70 with the eMax works better than the 140/80 Azzaro did.
I am currently torn between a 140/75 H50 front or another 150/70 (T31 or T30EVO). I have a while to think before a new set is mandated. Rear is a foregone conclusion.

 

[barbagris]

We used to do that in the 80's at the shop with some Triumph bonneville tyres that ya couldn't get for the front, back then some tyres were hard to get for a while for the early 60 model triumphs, as the new bikes were all coming out with different size wheels or something can't remember what the reason was. Don't think I even questioned the boss on it then, I was just a adult apprentice.

Avon, to this day, make some bidirectional tyres - marked with front and rear fitment rotation arrows. In the UK I used them on my Guzzi. And went back to using them here recently. In Germany I fitted Metzlers because they were easier to get. Never liked how the Guzzi ran on them.