Triumphrat

Tiger-G · 09-29-2009, 04:02 PM

Hi All,

I've just put new Anakee 2 on the front of my Tiger and I wondered why the tread pattern is in the opposite direction to the rear ??

It looks like the "direction of rotation" is the wrong way round (athough it isn't), and that water would be channelled to the centre of the tyre instead of away to the sides. Surely this would make the front more susceptible to aquaplaning ??

Any ideas ??

jmichaelbenzon · 09-29-2009, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graeme

Hi All,

I've just put new Anakee 2 on the front of my Tiger and I wondered why the tread pattern is in the opposite direction to the rear ??

It looks like the "direction of rotation" is the wrong way round (athough it isn't), and that water would be channelled to the centre of the tyre instead of away to the sides. Surely this would make the front more susceptible to aquaplaning ??

Any ideas ??

This very normal. Other brands do the same. It's just that you are looking at somewhat of a directional tread pattern with the Anakees. I asked a tire guy once about the tread direction for motorcycle front tires, he said they are backwards to accomidate braking, which is the opposite of acceleration, hence the reversed direction of tread.
Clear as mud?

Tiger-G · 09-30-2009, 05:07 AM

Sounds good to me - thanks

blacktiger · 10-01-2009, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmichaelbenzon

This very normal.

he said they are backwards to accomidate braking, which is the opposite of acceleration, hence the reversed direction of tread.

Clear as mud?

You see in my laymans book that's crap. The constructional strength needs to be the reverse of the rear because of the forces going through the carcass but the way a tyre displaces water doesn't matter whether you got the brake on or power on. IMO Avon get it right on the Distazias and the Azzaro fronts.

jonkster · 10-01-2009, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacktiger

You see in my laymans book that's crap. The constructional strength needs to be the reverse of the rear because of the forces going through the carcass but the way a tyre displaces water doesn't matter whether you got the brake on or power on.

the 'reverse V' on the front does seem to be common on a number of tyres but it looks wrong! There must be a reason they do it.

Ignoring the tyre construction aspects, I wonder wouldn't the way the grooves/tread distorts on braking/acceleration be an issue?

ie under the force of braking a 'reverse' V (as on the tyres the OP is asking about and on the Metzler LaserTechs etc), would tend to compress the rubber together into the centre of the tyre whilst if the V was facing forward on braking it would tend to push the rubber outwards (and maybe make the tread tend to open apart and hence wear/stress more). In this case the direction of the V's not so much for water dispersion but tyre integrity?

Just a thought...

blacktiger · 10-01-2009, 08:11 AM

As far as I'm aware the tread pattern is there purely to disperse water. Otherwise we'd all be riding on slicks.
As for it distorting. That would occur regardless of pattern direction. It's the carcass construction that determines the tyre integrity.

PS has that dust gone away yet?

jonkster · 10-01-2009, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacktiger

PS has that dust gone away yet?

yep. Lots of cars still look pretty grubby but the dust in the air dispersed very quickly, one day it was there the next, clear blue skies. Feeling it is bound to happen again though - we are only just going into spring...

Tiger-G · 10-01-2009, 03:41 PM

BlackTiger,

I agree with you, the tread pattern is there to disperse water.

If the front was the other way round it would disperse water outwards. The way it is it channels water inwards and could induce aquaplaining

Or is that we are looking down at the tread pattern from above the tyre ?? When it actually gets round and underneath to where it contacts the road, it is actually dispersing the water outwards because as the bike moves forwards the tyre builds up a wall of water in front of it ??

In that case, it's the rear that's the wrong way round ??

If you know what I mean ?? I'm not even sure if I know what I mean now !!

blacktiger · 10-01-2009, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graeme

BlackTiger,

I agree with you, the tread pattern is there to disperse water.

If the front was the other way round it would disperse water outwards. The way it is it channels water inwards and could induce aquaplaining

Or is that we are looking down at the tread pattern from above the tyre ?? When it actually gets round and underneath to where it contacts the road, it is actually dispersing the water outwards because as the bike moves forwards the tyre builds up a wall of water in front of it ??

In that case, it's the rear that's the wrong way round ??

If you know what I mean ?? I'm not even sure if I know what I mean now !!

Basically IMO the point of the arrow should contact the road first thus it would squeeze the water out to the side as it rotates further. In fact if you look at any high performance directional car tyre, they're all designed this way.
http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/car/zz3
Of course it all gets weird when you lean into a corner.

jonkster · 10-01-2009, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacktiger

As far as I'm aware the tread pattern is there purely to disperse water. Otherwise we'd all be riding on slicks.
As for it distorting. That would occur regardless of pattern direction. It's the carcass construction that determines the tyre integrity.

BlackT, don't get me wrong, I wasn't saying the tread was not primarily for wet weather grip however by putting tread on a tyre, I was wondering if this may have an influence on how the tyre physically distorts under braking or acceleration.

I figure there has to be a good reason for why they do this because so many tyres seem to have this 'wrong looking' front tyre pattern direction.

My curiousity being piqued I did a bit of research.

An article by Pirelli on their Angel ST tyre http://www.pirellityre.com/web/motor...n/default.page seems to indicate that the tread pattern does have an effect on tyre stability (whether this is all round stability or is to do with my guess about not distorting under breaking acceleration I don't know!) . NB the Angel ST front also appears to be in the reverse V pattern on the front and forward on the back.

Also check http://www.biker247.com/News/4019.asp where they make comments on this

Quote:

As the front tyre is predominant in the handling of braking and steering forces and the rear tyre takes care of acceleration forces, the pattern directions of the two have to be different.

The power forces on a tyre can be illustrated by three lines. On a front tyre the forces are braking, which is parallel with the tyre''s centre line and in the direction of rotation. The lateral or steering force is at right angles to the tyre and therefore this means that the tyre power forces lie somewhere between the two lines. On a rear tyre, there is driving power for acceleration rather than braking power and the two forces are in opposing directions. In other words the tyre power forces lie at about 45o to the centre line and face forward on the front tyre and backward on the rear tyre. Therefore the lateral tread grooves are parallel to the tyre power force lines for optimum grip in all conditions

I