Tire direction MTB

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jorisee01
Posts: 386
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 8:22 pm

by jorisee01

I just unpacked my son's first MTB. I noticed the rear tire was in the wrong direction.



I messaged Cube and the gave me the below answer


Dear Joris,

our techsupport had a look on that picture and they explain that the tire is in the right position: For a rear tire "rear" and the corresponding arrow have to be in the rolling direction - as you can see on the picture.
(If this was a picture of the front tire, you're right and it has to be the other way round because then "front" and the corresponding arrow have to be in the rolling direction.)

Best regards
Your CUBE Team

I have a road cycling background and on my racer we mount the rear tire in the same direction as the front.

Could anyone shed some light?Image

Merc86
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:08 pm

by Merc86

Your orient the tire on the rear wheel for the maximum traction when pedaling.
So the blocks in the thread face backwards. Think of muddy trails...

On the front tire it's the opposite.

You want the thread to face forward fo maximum braking perfomance. Bigger opening of the blocks forward.
The blocks oriented outwards on the edge also increase the grab while turning.
During leaning the bike into the turn, the inner blocks will grab earlier.

This is just for the thread pattern and may vary with different tires.
I don't know if there is may be a difference in the casing itself.

hope i could help

Merc86

by Weenie


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jorisee01
Posts: 386
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 8:22 pm

by jorisee01

Excellent answer! Makes sense!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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F45
Posts: 1077
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:08 am

by F45

I built a bike for my dad last year. I flipped the rear tire for maximum traction. There was a warranty issue with the rear derailler so he took it to a bike shop for them to deal with Shimano. They told him the rear tire was on wrong so they charged him to flip it back! :unbelievable:

02GF74
Posts: 724
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 4:04 pm
Location: Sunny UK

by 02GF74

In my opinion unless perhaps you are a top athlete who for example can distinguish a differenve of 2 psi in tyre pressure, it is manufacturer bollocks.

As a mere mortal, ive ridden mtbs with tyre in all directions on dry and muddy ground and can not tell that the directionality made any difference.

As a rule i fit rear as per arrow if there is one and front in reverse.

TheRookie
Posts: 926
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:23 pm
Location: Midlands, United Kingdom

by TheRookie

It depends very much where you ride and how you ride whether direction of rotation is important.

Just like the tread patterns on cars which are designed to expel water to keep the tyre on the road and where driving in the dry means its irrelevant as to which way round its going, other than a few MTB tyres which are directional for other (usually how it drives the cornering force) reasons, if you ride hardpack or sand it doesn't usually matter which way round they are fitted, if you ride in mud it can make a big difference.

Tyres are usually directional to expel mud to get grip when rolling, but sometimes for the front they suggest rotating the other way, that way as it starts to lock (so the tread blocks approach the mud in the opposite direction) it will reject mud better, this means it will start to lock more readily but will also try and unlock more readily - which you then prefer is very personal!

Quite how the OP thought that rear was fitted wrong I'm not sure!
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MikeD
Posts: 995
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

For the rear tire, I think it best to have the tread act as a scoop rather than an arrow when it hits the soil.

TheRookie
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Location: Midlands, United Kingdom

by TheRookie

Not in wet mud its not, you need to expel the mud and not scoop it up under the contact patch.
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MikeD
Posts: 995
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

TheRookie wrote:Not in wet mud its not, you need to expel the mud and not scoop it up under the contact patch.


I'm thinking dry, loose soil. I try not to ride in mud. The mud around here is sticky clay; pretty much unrideable.

TheRookie
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by TheRookie

If I accepted that I'd only ride for 3 months of the year!
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MikeD
Posts: 995
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

I've not tried slick tires in sticky clay mud. Wonder how they would work. Would the clay still stick? Would I get any traction? The problem with knobbies in this soil is that it keeps building up and jams the wheels, gets in the drivetrain too. Unrideable, in my opinion. Big cleanup mess too.

TheRookie
Posts: 926
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Location: Midlands, United Kingdom

by TheRookie

Slicks are useless, you need a tread with very open knobbles, Nobby Nic's for example cope quite well, also running lower pressures (tubeless) helps tyre distortion and hence shedding.

Open knobble pattern means they have a high loading/knob and the knobs dig through the thin slimey top layer to the grip below better, plus they don't hold onto the mud and shed it.

Local to me the ground is about 6-8" of soil on top of clay, so on any footpath/bridelway etc the soil has gone and its clay.
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CycloTron
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 12:34 am

by CycloTron

Maybe to help those reading this thread who are not familiar with directional indicators, I would like to clarify that the arrows should ALWAYS point to the front and you flip the tyre around depending on whether it is on the front wheel or the back wheel.

I.e. in the OP's picture, the tyre is on the right way because it is the rear wheel and the arrow indicating "REAR" is pointing forwards. You would want to flip that around for the front wheel.

by Weenie


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