Spare Tyres

[firekdp]

I'm just curious now as to what advantage there might be to reversing them for the rear tyre?

It can only be that they are designed to give the best grip for their intended use, as the forces on front and rear tyres are in opposite directions. The rear to provide grip to get the power onto the road and the front to get grip while being turned (driven) by the road.

[kejj]

Most interesting.
Never used Conti tyres so I wasn't aware of this. On a scooter you are happy if you are able to cary one spare, 2 would be over the top.

[rog60]

I'm just curious now as to what advantage there might be to reversing them for the rear tyre?

It can only be that they are designed to give the best grip for their intended use, as the forces on front and rear tyres are in opposite directions. The rear to provide grip to get the power onto the road and the front to get grip while being turned (driven) by the road.

Interestingly, I fitted Zippy 1's where the rear tyre arrow pointed the wrong way (that is the arrows were on the same side of the scoot). No problem in the dry but a real problem on wet roads as it appears the the tread cuts are supposed to eject water from the tread contact area in the same direction, i.e. to the rear of the scoot, but if fitted wongly then the wrongly fitted tyre will eject water in the opposite direction to the other tyre with some very interesting handling results.

[Doom Patrol]

The contact between the road surface and the rubber compound ejects the moisture and how effective this is is governed by the tread pattern and its ability to channel it away. Which is why some tyres perform better than others. I think.

[Captain Chaos]

As stated earlier - fit it to your preference (prob rear if it was me)

If you get a front end puncture, fit it anyway, take it easy (especially if wet/raining), get home, sort it

[firekdp]

I'd go the other way and fit it as for the front as I'd rather have perfect grip at the front and lose a bit of drive at the rear. You would just need to be careful putting the power down around wet corners, but better to be a bit twitchy at the back than the front let go.
Although I don't know how insurance companies would look at it if you had an accident and one of your tyres was incorrectly fitted, so probably better to have a single directional as a spare.

[joda]

michelin s1 are the same, directional

had an argument with a club member about this, as he had them on arse for tit, but he said "its ok because the arrows pointing up the way", i rotated the tyre, then it was pointing down the way , i tried to exsplian it had to point forward when at the top, not at the bottom!!, but he couldnt work that out

if you had them on the wrong way round, and ran up the arse of a car at a junction, would the insurance see this as a way out of paying up as the tyre is not fitted correctly?

also its an mot failure, if your mot man looks at your tyres that is!!!

[Doom Patrol]

I've received this reply from the nice people at Continental tyres.

"It is quite normal for motorcycle/scooter tyres to be directional. The front
tyre has to cope with most of braking forces where as the rear has the
acceleration forces to deal with.

This would obviously be more applicable to high performance sports bikes
than say a 50cc scooter.

I would fit your spare wheel following the rear rotation arrow, as most
punctures seem to happen in the rear, it will be ok to use on the front in
an emergency but have it swapped over as soon as you can."

Not sure about the 50cc scooter though. What's he trying to say?

[mark]

i did say the experts know what they are talking bout

[kejj]

Of what I've heard of Continetal makes some great tyres.
But if their tyres are bidirectional depending on where you put them, front or rear, I do see it as a major drawback.

I cary one spare and I want to be able to use it on the one that gets the puncture, regardless if it's the front or rear.

Are there more brands of tyres and models for Lambrettas made this way? Good to know what to avoid buying.