Scooter Tires: Front Use Only And Rear Use Only?

[Massage Empire]

I know that tire manufacturers takes the time to label some tires (front use or rear use) in addition to the arrows of tire rotation.

I want to change the tires on my new Honda Click 125. Thailand model.

I chose IRC NR73R, same size, front and rear, as originally came on the bike.

80/90-14 Front 90/90-14 Rear

Seems like a no brainer, right?

Scoopi I's come with the same set up.

Here is the problem:

Scoopi I and other models of the new Click have:

IRC NR-73R 80/90-14 40P (says Front use only) on side wall - Front tire

IRC NR-73R 90/90-14 46P (says Rear use only) on side wall - Rear tire

My dealer installed on my bike:

IRC NR-73R 80/90-14 46P - Front

IRC NR-73R 90/90-14 46P - Rear

BOTH now say (Rear Use Only)

Does anyone know if this may be a problem? Handling, braking, wear, riding in rain?

Both are mounted with the rotation arrows face forward, correct I believe.

Both look the same, the exception is the rear is a bit larger.

The front, the 46P, has a higher air presser capacity and load carrying ability than the same sized 40P. Both appear to have the same tread pattern.

Dealer says means nothing! All people do it, Thailand etc.

But Front Use and Rear Use must be printed on the tires for a reason!

Why??

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[VocalNeal]

Firstly unless you are racing it probably doesn't make any difference.

Generally speaking the tread on front and rear tires are different, but TIT. If the tire on the front has some tread pattern in the middle of the tire it is OK.

Have but if you look here http://www.irc-tire.com/mce/

EDIT: If you go to this site and select "Moped Sports" from the bar at the top you will find images of NR-73 tires they all have tread in the center so all are 98.8% OK for the front. So the dealer whilst not fitting a specific front tire is not misleading you by telling you "all people do it"

If you select "moped standard" you will see NF 35 is a front and NR41 is a rear and you can see the different in tread pattern.

But if you look at NR 58 it says front and rear and it has tread in the middle.

If the tire on the front of your bike has rubber in the centre and no tread then yes it is a rear tire.

[fasteddie]

Your dealer is an idiot, if it says rear fitment only, it means just that. Ever wondered why there are so many bike accidents in Thailand? It's not just because they're bad riders, it's because of idiots like your dealer.

p.s. check your pressures as well, they always pump them way too hard because ''they all do it''.

[BSJ]

There was another thread on this a month or 2 back. Rears are a little different but putting one on the front shouldn't be a major drama.

[YipYipYa123]

i had no choice but to put a 100mm front tyre on the back wheel of my elegance a couple of days ago ,stock was 80mm but i wanted a softer compound and 20mm wider and there is not much to choose from in 16" and 100mm wide

in a massive tyre dealer in chinatown ,i showed him my requirements and that narrowed the whole shop inventory down to 2

either the IRC SS 530F or the michelin pilots and ive heard many people say the michelins have no grip i in the wet so i took the IRC even though the shop owner was trying to push me onto the michelin because it would last longer etc

thx but no thx ,il take soft with better grip than a longer lasting harder tyre

front was no problem though , dunlop tt900 at 80mm ,10mm wider than stock

surprisingly the OEM IRC tyres i took off were as hard wearing as clint eastwoods face and after 15,000 km they was still near 50% of thread left ,could have probably rode another year on them but they were atrocious in the wet ...so just dumped em

[BSJ]

I'll give you a tip about the IRC's in the wet........slow right down!

[Osiris]

i had no choice but to put a 100mm front tyre on the back wheel of my elegance a couple of days ago ,stock was 80mm but i wanted a softer compound and 20mm wider and there is not much to choose from in 16" and 100mm wide

in a massive tyre dealer in chinatown ,i showed him my requirements and that narrowed the whole shop inventory down to 2

either the IRC SS 530F or the michelin pilots and ive heard many people say the michelins have no grip i in the wet so i took the IRC even though the shop owner was trying to push me onto the michelin because it would last longer etc

thx but no thx ,il take soft with better grip than a longer lasting harder tyre

front was no problem though , dunlop tt900 at 80mm ,10mm wider than stock

surprisingly the OEM IRC tyres i took off were as hard wearing as clint eastwoods face and after 15,000 km they was still near 50% of thread left ,could have probably rode another year on them but they were atrocious in the wet ...so just dumped em

The IRC's suck a$$s. The Michelin pilots are a good tire in the wet. I have run Michelins for a decade on cars, trucks and motorcycles.

[YipYipYa123]

Irc just like Dunlop have many different grades of tyre, they have some quality tyres in their more expensive ranges, just the first experience of the Irc brand that most people get is from the cheapest hardest oem tyre's that came on their bike but all Irc are not like this

[Gweiloman]

I'm looking to put some Pirelli's on my PCX when I next do a tyre change. Does anyone have any experience with the Pirelli's for scooters?

[transam]

I don't understand why scooter tyres in LOS don't have a ''tread'', just have smooth rubber with a few grooves, considering the amount of water at times they must displace and the sand on the roads. Just thinking of my Lambretta days and the nobly tyres we had then with loads of grip. I sometimes ride her PCX and have had issues when cranking it over on bends, touching sand and in the wet.

[blackpanda]

If the front tire says its for rear use only you can still use it for the front bit you have to flip the direction on the tire.

If you look at my profile you will see I started a tread about this a few months ago. It's short and is explained very well.

[blackpanda]

Because the front and rear tyres peform different functions. The rear tyre is designed to provide traction under acceleration and has a minimal effect when braking or even cornering compared to the front. Since you want the rear tyre to grip and push the bike, you want the front to provide as little resistance as possible. Likewise, when you're attempting a turn, the 'reversed' pattern of the front tyre 'opens up' a bit and provides the added traction that allows the bike to corner...or brake. The manufcaturers know this and when the make their tyres even lay the base layers down so that accelerating causes the rear tyre to compress the ends together and braking causes the front to compress its base layers ends together.

Metzler even instructs you to reverse the arrow if using a rear tyre on the front.

I took the quote from the other tread. I hope it's okay

[Massage Empire]

Thanks very much for all your help.

Visually I can not see a difference in tread patterns between the IRC NR-73R 46P rear (that is now on my front wheel)

and the IRC NR-73R 40P Front (that is on Scoopi i models on their front)

The only perceivable difference is the load capacity. The 40P can carry less weight and air than the same size 46P.

As I said before, bout were mounted with the rotation arrows pointing and rolling forward as the bike moves ahead.

The dealer in Pattaya, Mityon, offered to switch to a new 80/90 40P Front Use tire. And take off the 80/90 46P Rear Use tire.

Should I take the time and go through the hassle to change?

[Osiris]

Irc just like Dunlop have many different grades of tyre, they have some quality tyres in their more expensive ranges, just the first experience of the Irc brand that most people get is from the cheapest hardest oem tyre's that came on their bike but all Irc are not like this

If they sell motorcycle tires and even one of them is <deleted>, they only care about profit, not your life!

[YipYipYa123]

Irc just like Dunlop have many different grades of tyre, they have some quality tyres in their more expensive ranges, just the first experience of the Irc brand that most people get is from the cheapest hardest oem tyre's that came on their bike but all Irc are not like this

If they sell motorcycle tires and even one of them is <deleted>, they only care about profit, not your life!

with a statement like that obviously you have no idea about tyres ,business in the real world let alone anything else

if yamaha throws out a contract for a couple of million scooter tyres that must be 70x 80 x 16 etc and must cost not more than 200 thb per tyre no company is going to be able to to offer their best tyre that comes near what youre going to get spending 5-10 times more on the best rubber from the best manufacturer

its like saying all hondas are <deleted> after just riding a honda wave for 10 minutes since if a company produces a bike thats <deleted> ,it doesnt care abouut anything except profit ......

Edited January 18, 2013 by YipYipYa123

[Mudcrab]

Irc just like Dunlop have many different grades of tyre, they have some quality tyres in their more expensive ranges, just the first experience of the Irc brand that most people get is from the cheapest hardest oem tyre's that came on their bike but all Irc are not like this

If they sell motorcycle tires and even one of them is <deleted>, they only care about profit, not your life!

with a statement like that obviously you have no idea about tyres ,business in the real world let alone anything else

if yamaha throws out a contract for a couple of million scooter tyres that must be 70x 80 x 16 etc and must cost not more than 200 thb per tyre no company is going to be able to to offer their best tyre that comes near what youre going to get spending 5-10 times more on the best rubber from the best manufacturer

its like saying all hondas are <deleted> after just riding a honda wave for 10 minutes since if a company produces a bike thats <deleted> ,it doesnt care abouut anything except profit ......

C'mon fellas...you ain't riding world class racing machines. Keep a decent amount of tread on both tyres for the wet roads and you"ll be as safe as you are ever going to be. The rest of the commentary is basically crap.

[YipYipYa123]

Irc just like Dunlop have many different grades of tyre, they have some quality tyres in their more expensive ranges, just the first experience of the Irc brand that most people get is from the cheapest hardest oem tyre's that came on their bike but all Irc are not like this

If they sell motorcycle tires and even one of them is <deleted>, they only care about profit, not your life!

with a statement like that obviously you have no idea about tyres ,business in the real world let alone anything else

if yamaha throws out a contract for a couple of million scooter tyres that must be 70x 80 x 16 etc and must cost not more than 200 thb per tyre no company is going to be able to to offer their best tyre that comes near what youre going to get spending 5-10 times more on the best rubber from the best manufacturer

its like saying all hondas are <deleted> after just riding a honda wave for 10 minutes since if a company produces a bike thats <deleted> ,it doesnt care abouut anything except profit ......

C'mon fellas...you ain't riding world class racing machines. Keep a decent amount of tread on both tyres for the wet roads and you"ll be as safe as you are ever going to be. The rest of the commentary is basically crap.

you should go and give lectures to the R+ D departments at Goodyear ,Pirelli and Bridgestone ......

they could save billions every year by just "keeping a decent amount of tread on both tyres "

After all ...........the rest is basically crap

[fasteddie]

''Only mount tyres marked “front wheel” on front positions and tyres marked “rear wheel” on rear positions''

Taken off the Dunlop site, ignore this advice at your peril.

[Massage Empire]

I went to Mityon's head office in Pattaya and after showing my tires and explaining the mistake to a secretary, I have been granted

an audience with the "manager" today! I am confident they with make a change to make me happy and protect them from liability.

I had sent two emails to Mityon with no reply....