Another stupid tyre question

[morrisman]

Fitted new tyres (Schwalbe Marathon) to my bike a couple of weeks ago, today when topping the air up I noticed they had rather indistinct direction of rotation markings. Of course they are both on the wrong way round

Is it worth the trouble of swapping them round?

 

[WorcesteRob]

Yes, otherwise you will be going everywhere backwards!

 

[morrisman]

I did wonder wether it might be the cause of my Garmin top speed being -28mph last night

 

[ianrauk]

From Sheldon Brown

Tread Directionality

Some tires have an asymmetrical tread, for instance "V" shaped tread blocks that could be oriented with the point of the "V" facing forward > or backward <. The question then arises, which way should they face?
Road Applications

With tires for road use, it really doesn't matter, since tire tread patterns serve no function on hard surfaces.
Tires with "V" patterns are common for motorcycles, and are generally installed so that the point of the "V" hits the road first. This is to help "squirt" the water out ahead of and to the side of the tire contact patch, as a protection against hydroplaning . Since hydroplaning is impossible on a bicycle, there's no need to observe this custom.
Off-road Applications

For off-road use in soft surfaces, there may be some merit in paying attention to the tread orientation, though this is far from certain.
Ideally, you would like the front tire to offer maximum traction in the braking direction, while the rear tire would normally be oriented to produce maximum traction for drive forces. Thus, if a particular tread pattern is perceived to have better traction in one direction than the other, it should be facing one way if used on the front wheel, and the opposite way if used on the rear wheel.

 

[boydj]

On the front, you could always just turn the wheel round and switch the q/r.

 

[jazzkat]

Bizarrely the gp4000s tyres I have on my fixed has a direction arrow. As I'd read that on Sheldon's site I wondered why the direction marking so I emailed Continental. The reply from them said it was purely for cosmetic reasons!!

 

[themosquitoking]

From Sheldon Brown

Tread Directionality

Some tires have an asymmetrical tread, for instance "V" shaped tread blocks that could be oriented with the point of the "V" facing forward > or backward <. The question then arises, which way should they face?
Road Applications

With tires for road use, it really doesn't matter, since tire tread patterns serve no function on hard surfaces.
Tires with "V" patterns are common for motorcycles, and are generally installed so that the point of the "V" hits the road first. This is to help "squirt" the water out ahead of and to the side of the tire contact patch, as a protection against hydroplaning . Since hydroplaning is impossible on a bicycle, there's no need to observe this custom.
Off-road Applications

For off-road use in soft surfaces, there may be some merit in paying attention to the tread orientation, though this is far from certain.
Ideally, you would like the front tire to offer maximum traction in the braking direction, while the rear tire would normally be oriented to produce maximum traction for drive forces. Thus, if a particular tread pattern is perceived to have better traction in one direction than the other, it should be facing one way if used on the front wheel, and the opposite way if used on the rear wheel.

Yeah but, do the tyres on your bike face the wrong way?

 

[ianrauk]

Yeah but, do the tyres on your bike face the wrong way?

Who knows?

 

[jonny jeez]

Yeah but, do the tyres on your bike face the wrong way?

If i point one set the wrong way, then i should be able to master trackstands at the lights!!!