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Question:

Front tire, rear tire . what is the difference?

Shopping for tires for my motorcycle and they are listed as either front of rear, the tread all looks similar, just wondering what the differences are?Our trucks and cars use the same type of tires front and rear so it got my curiosity up.

Answer:

On motorcycle tires it can be different tire to tire but usually the difference is tread and the way the direction bands and the way they were designed to take force. Example a front tire is designed for breaking force not acceleration a rear tire is designed for acceleration with slight braking force. That being said i have run many a tire backwards i road race and tracks like little talladaga are mostly lefts so i run the tire the proper direction until it has worn the i spin it around to where the other side as well. This can work but be careful i do this on tires without rain grooves a tire is directional for both the inner bands and the tread a tire is designed to disperse the water as it rolls over it when on backwards this will not happen as well or maybe not at all. Most tires today can be run on either but only under certain circumstances. One example is i had a bike that they no longer made a high performance rear tire in the size i needed so i took a front tire and mounted it backwards this enabled it to receive the force the way the manufacture intended. If a front tire is designed to brake the spin it around and that is acceleration forces. But it will not handle water dissipation as it was designed to do but i used it in fair weather and on a track so that was not a issue good luck.
Our four wheeled 'friends' steer much differently. On a bike you are leaning more than steering. If you look at the size and tread pattern of most bikes you will notice that they usually have close to the same diameter overall but the front is usually a larger rim. This is because of the gyro/weight/control factor that a larger (read heavier) wheel would put on that dynamics. You should also notice that the tread pattern is reversed, this is done fore two reasons. One the front pattern is angled to 'wash-away' water for more traction to the rear in it's same path but also to give you more of a 'cat's-paw' effect in the road surface.
Biker for existence is close... it particularly is tread layout however the reason being...positioned purely... a rear tire is designed to push and a front tire is designed to tug... tread layout on an identical time as distinctive would desire to tournament besides the undeniable fact that (front and rear). M/C tires are paired in tread layout to bypass jointly. some tires (particularly for moto bypass) would have a twin designation for the two front and rear. The Dunlop must be the only tournament because of the fact HD makes use of them and likes 17 inch rims to throw the different tire adult adult males off. it particularly is a unusual length. base line is... do no longer use a rear tire on the front and don't mixture and tournament front and rear.
The internal construction can be quite different, even though the tread pattern may be the same. Sizing is also quite different. The rear tire must deal with much higher loads when the bike is ridden two-up, and usually runs hotter than the front. The rear also has to deal with cornering and acceleration loads at the same time, while the front should be dealing with cornering OR braking.

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