Replacing Bridgestone Spitfires and the light goes on . .

My 750E needs new tires. The Bridgestone Spitfires that are on there now, the front looks very good - lots of tread left, but the rear is shot. Both have RWL. I know very little about the cycle's past history so I figured I'd just get a new set. Really wanted to replace w/ the RWL if possible.

I checked the boards here for opinions on replacements and figured I'd just stick w/ the Spitfires (if Rossi has to have Bridgestone then I guess they're good enough for me.) So off I go on my search . . .

Finding the 100/90 19 front in RWL was easy. But finding a replacement 120/90 18 for the rear in RWL is proving difficult. So I looked and could only find that size in the "front tire" listing in most catalogs. Then the light clicked on (I'm slow). Could it be that someone mounted a front tire on the back wheel? I went out to the garage to take a look and sure enough I had a tire marked "front use only" mounted on the back. Adding to that, the tire was mounted in reverse to the rotation marked on the tire. I was pretty ticked at myself after I realized I'd put 2000 miles on it last year and never bothered to really take a close look at the tires. Duh.

I guess my point is to check your tires. If you didn't mount them yourself, check 'em just to be sure that everything is OK.

So I have to ask, anyone ever seen/done this before, mounting a front tire on a rear rim? Is it common? Safe?

I don't know if it's common, but I doubt it's too safe. I've read that the tire construction process is the main reason for the direction arrow--so it doesn't come apart under acceleration (back tire) or braking (front tire) due to the overlapping layers of the casing.

N0NB wrote:

I don't know if it's common, but I doubt it's too safe. I've read that the tire construction process is the main reason for the direction arrow--so it doesn't come apart under acceleration (back tire) or braking (front tire) due to the overlapping layers of the casing.

That's why the back tire was mounted on there in reverse, rotating opposite the direction of the arrow.

It used to be pretty common to do this, on certain bikes, at one time there wasn't even a difference between front and rear, you just bought a set of tires and mounted them

Perfectly safe, although not the absolute best for handling.

I recall from a long time back, some tires can be used for both. I do seem to recall if you switch front to rear you do want to reverse the tread pattern direction. In fact, I remember (maybe it was Avon Roadrunners?) had both on the sidewalls: an arrow pointing one way saying "Front Fitment" and an arrow pointing the opposite way saying "Rear Fitment". As you found out, the tire doesn't explode if you do it.

I got a matched set with "arrow" type of treads and immediately noticed that when mounted as stated on the sidewalls, the tread pattern direction was opposite between the two tires.

Thanks for the info all, it is very informative.

I never would have thought that mounting a front tire like that on the back would be acceptable but I guess in the past it might have been OK. I can't really say how much the rear tire affected the handling because I don't have a basis for comparison, all I can say is she can get pretty squirrelly at times. Hopefully when I get some new skins and get my new fork springs installed she won't be quite the handful.

Thanks again . . .

I've got Bridgestone Spitfires on my bike.

A mechanic buddy has seen them, and says they're not very good/sticky.

He has a set of Avons AM22 and AM21 that have been used on the track "a few times". The sides are worn somewhat, but the centre not much at all. I haven't seen them yet.

He's offered them to me, both for $150. He said the rear alone was over $300 new. That's here in Canada, where a lot of prices are double what they are in the USA.
They are an 18" front and rear.
I'm going to be switching to an 18" Z1R front wheel. I have the rim already.
I'm tempted to take him up on the offer.

Any opinions here? Yay or nay?