Slick tyres - unidirectional?

Lagavulin

When I first got my bike they came with Mondos. These were slicks and had arrows to indicate which way they should be mounted.

Several punctures later I upgraded to Mondo Pros with their Armadillo protection. These to are slicks but still state on the sidewalls that theres a correct way to mount the tyre.

When I got my new wheels I thought I'd give Conti a try and got a pair of 4000's and 4000S's. These have at least have a tread of some description so I can understand them being unidirectional.

Not wanting to destroy (or even discolour :P) my nice new wheels during the winter I bought a set of Aksiums last week and, having read a recent C+ tyre review, thought I'd give the Krylion Carbons a try.

These are slicks but dont appear to have any directions for mounting. There's a bit more info on one sidewall than tuther but other than that I'm a bit confused.

My French is rubbish (I used the lesson to do other homework in truth be told) so there could be something on the tyre I'm oblivious to.

Monty Dog

Tread on a road tyre serves very little function, so its pretty immaterial which way round they go. As far which way round a tyre goes, convention has it that the label goes on the right side and ideally lined up with the valve too!

Lagavulin

Oh I always have the valve lined up with the labels.
Even if the tread mattered, the tyre might be on the wrong way round but the valve would be in the dead-center of the sidewall markings!

Cheers Monty.

Smokin Joe

The label should be opposite the valve. Lining it up with the valve is sooooooo last year.

cougie

Oh just put on a new tyre - I've never lined it up.

Smokin Joe

cougie wrote:

Oh just put on a new tyre - I've never lined it up.

Now you know why no-one waves to you. :P

Lagavulin

Smokin Joe wrote:

Lining it up with the valve is sooooooo last year.

Give or take a few months thats probably about where I am compared to everyone else out on the road. :oops:

Cunobelin

Lagavulin wrote:

Oh I always have the valve lined up with the labels.
Even if the tread mattered, the tyre might be on the wrong way round but the valve would be in the dead-center of the sidewall markings!

Cheers Monty.

My wife used to think I was sad doing this until I showed her how it enabled you to locate punctures accurately

( I presume this is your reason as well?)

OnTow

I read a post that suggested the directionality (is that a real word) of the tyres is to do with the "canvas" and the way it is woven to handle traction/braking.... generally I can decelerate much faster than I can accelerate.

In fact, someone did post to say that they thought they had a lot less punctures after mounting them the correct way round, as opposed to having previously had them the wrong way round, and that they noticed an improvement in handling.

Smokin Joe

OnTow wrote:

I read a post that suggested the directionality (is that a real word) of the tyres is to do with the "canvas" and the way it is woven to handle traction/braking.... generally I can decelerate much faster than I can accelerate.

In fact, someone did post to say that they thought they had a lot less punctures after mounting them the correct way round, as opposed to having previously had them the wrong way round, and that they noticed an improvement in handling.

I couldn't comment on the handling after changing the direction of mounting, though I very much doubt it makes a difference. But the reason they had less puntures is because they didn't ride over so many sharp objects.

OnTow

....or perhaps, after changing the rotation, they didn't ride at all....
or perhaps they accidentally first fitted them to a unicycle
Ooh, the list is endless

Lagavulin

Part of the reason for my post, other than confusion as to the Krylions not stating a mounting direction (in English anyway), was that I was a bit nervous on them this morning.

I've only been out on them three times (127 miles) but while they felt OK in the dry they did feel a bit odd in the wet today, particularly the rear.
On one ocassion I got a real big slide on. I wasn't really pushing through the corner and that really surprised me. It was quite wet and raining heavily at the time but it seemed abnormal.

From then on I was a bit short of confidence and had a poor ride, my 44 miles taking me over 2hrs 53mins.

The only proper labels on the Krylion Carbons are on both sides. One side of the tyre has recommended pressures etc. on it so I put that on the right-hand side (as per the case with the tyres with rotational arrows).