Tire rotation of travel indicators..... By olivertwisted (Read 967 times)

[olivertwisted]

Hiya folks!
 Well, I am ready to mount my new Pirelli SL 26s onto my rims after recuperating from an emergency room visit over a bout with Sciatica and getting results from x-rays that show no problem. It seems, I'm okay to go, after having gotten any swelling down.
 So , this may seem obvious to many of you and I do hope so but it isn't to me, since I've never had to understand it and don't have any particular knowledge on tires. I'd like to double check the answer that I was given from the rep. , that the rotation of travel is universal on many scooter tires and that it doesn't matter what direction they are mounted. Is that right? Since the vendor sells all kinds of things, I thought it best to confirm since they are not a "Tires only" type of shop and all of the installation videos instruct to be sure of this... The "Rotation" marks on my tires have arrows pointing in opposite directions.  Where they state "Rear" and "Front", my initial thought was that it may refer to whether I am mounting  to the rear or front,  that I install in the corresponding direction stamped . Otherwise, why specify front or rear at all? Or, for that matter, direction, at all? My thinking is that it would be stamped "Rotation universal"

What say you?

[olivertwisted]

According to how I read here , my thinking is correct and the reps is not.
link

So, it seems that according to the link... for the rear rim, I would install as it is in the pic above. And for the front rim, I would flip it and install. Yes?

[jct842]

Tire along side scooter, arrow at the top, direction of arrow is forward. The rear would have to be reversed from the front tire to have its arrow pointing forward.

[Alleyoop]

Correct, the arrows indicate forward rotation and it has to do with the way a tire is built with the belts and how the belts are glued, the rear takes a lot more stress, the front just rolls along. A simple means of explaining is using a roll of toilet paper roll it one way and it will tighten up roll it the other way and it unrolls(NOT GOOD).

So mount it with the arrow pointing into the forward rolling direction. Which means on that tire like John said you have to reverse it so the arrow points forward.
Alleyoop

[olivertwisted]

Thank you much, fellas! Now, I'm confident

[richardv]

Yes you are correct. I've never seen one with two arrows but on a motorcycle/scooter I see how it could apply.
Glad to hear you are doing better.

[jct842]

I have sl26's on my riva180 and they do come with the double arrows. Because of a b f nail I got to change out the rear at about 2000 miles. Pretty sure it is just the rims but the riva was the hardest scooter or bike to change tires I have ever encountered. The rims on it are very shallow and have little room in the center and very hard to lift the bead over the edge of rim.

[olivertwisted]

Thank you, richardv

You know, the tire that I took off of the rear rim was very difficult to come off of the rim. I heard a "snap" that, I assume was the bead wire actually busting. It worried me about what I may do to the tire that would be going onto it but, it was much easier. I hope to preserve the front one as it comes off because, it looks pretty good and I hope to keep it as an emergency backup.
I'm trying out the CounterAct" beads in these. I've read good stuffs about them.

That "Nail" mention reminds me of a motorcycle ride I was on many moons ago... As I was going through a green light right turn at a light, a nail entered the rear tire, caused a violent wobble just as I got into the apex (Lol, I've always wanted to use that term!), then the bike, my passenger and I, all flipped tumbled, and slid down the road.. I received tons of road rash , some on the side of my arm by my elbow that I had to break back open each day because, I needed the mobility to do my job (YOWEE! Each morning)but, we were lucky, it was normally a very busy street in GangLand Pomona. The funny part of it was that we had just come from purchasing the hex wrench we needed , to change out the gear oil in her car and she'd had it in her back pocket. #1. It actually "saved her butt" since, that is exactly where she slid down the road. When she made it to the curb, I heard it drop from the scraped and burned out "L" pattern that was now her Levis pocket, (Plink, plink, plink!). #2. My first name begins with an "L" . So, to this day, she has a great big fat "Cattle brand" of my first initial burned onto her patootie to remind her of that day!

[richardv]

You do seem to take some pride in that "Cattle brand".

[olivertwisted]

I find it somewhat poetic

We have a giggle over the phone with it, still. She remained a good friend