Tyre Direction Arrows

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BigEd

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An article from 2009 that is still relevant today can be read at: Avon tyre direction arrows
It mentions tread splice direction and the water displacement mentioned by Robert. As I said in an earlier post, some tyres are universal and can be fitted either way.
 
Dave Hulstone

Dave Hulstone

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All good motorcycle tyres nowadays are directional, partly due to their tread pattern being designed to displace water. A lot of car tyres are too, making diagonal rotations impossible.
Your bike hasn’t got 28BHP at the back wheel either M.
 
vibrac

vibrac

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Dave Hulstone said:
All good motorcycle tyres nowadays are directional, partly due to their tread pattern being designed to displace water. A lot of car tyres are too, making diagonal rotations impossible.
Your bike hasn’t got 28BHP at the back wheel either M.
Click to expand...
cant see a lot of directional tread here (latest rubber)
1596385592170.png
 
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John Appleton

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MartynG said:
BTW I notice that very few (none?) car tyres have directional arrows.
Click to expand...
Wrong. Many car tyres have arrows or chevrons to show direction, with the word "rotation"embossed as well. Just to confuse the issue, many car tyres have "inside" or "outside" embossed on the walls. These are NOT directional, but have to be fitted the right way round. You would be surprised at the number of cars presented for MOT testing that we have to fail for not complying with these instructions. You would also be surprised at the number of bikes presented with the tyres fitted with the wrong rotation. One particular customer, who fits his own tyres. I had to fail his first bike for wrong front rotation in the morning, and his second bike, in the afternoon, for the same fault.
 
vibrac

vibrac

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Yes Dave older pattern exactly,the sort that the Phils intended to be run either way round interesting to know if that is a directional arrow I can see
 
ClassicBiker

ClassicBiker

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Reading this thread got me wondering more about direction arrows. Sitting next to one of my work benches is a Dunlop K70 rear that was given to me sometime in the 80's that I never fitted. No direction arrow. The Dunlop TT100 I fitted on the front of my son's '53 Speed Twin has direction arrows, one for front and one for rear fitment. The rear tire, made in Thailand, doesn't have any arrows. These were bought and fitted a few years back. Like many I've been spending more time in the garage. I've been recommissioning bikes I built in the late '80s and early '90s with an eye to moving them on. Anyway, the tires on these were bought and fitted in period. Here is what I've observed. The Dunlops K70s do not have arrows. The Avon SM MKII that I replaced on my '66 650 doesn't have a direction arrow. As opposed to the AM26 currently fitted. The Continental Conti Twins only have a direction arrow on the tire that is supposed to be fitted to the rear. The extreme off brands, Sears, Dorcy, etc. do not have arrows. What I can say is the ribbed tires do not have any direction arrows, no surprise really. The "block pattern" type tires are also lacking arrows. Again no real surprise. The tires with a chevron type pattern have direction arrows. What I find anomalous is the TT100 tire. Unlike the chevron pattern tires which appear point up or point down, depending on how you look at them, this appears to be the same either way yet has direction arrows for front or rear fitment. I suspect this has more to do with either manufacturing or driving versus driven rather than water displacement as the pattern looks the same either way.
With regards to tubes being run in tubeless tires. I don't believe that is a problem. The Conti Twins I ran were tubeless fitted with tubes and the AM26 I currently run are tubeless fitted with tubes and I have not noticed anything odd or funny about the handling.
 
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