Reverse a rear tire if put on front??

[Stig / Major Tom]

I read in a scooter forum post (won't mention the brand of scoot, but it rhymes with 'HIM') that a fellow could only find a 'rear' tire for the front of his scoot - so he reversed the arrows when he put it on since it is meant for the rear, powered end of a scoot.
This does not make sense to me.
Manufacturers put the rolling direction arrows on there for a reason - his thinking eludes me!
Or, am I out there in left field? Again?

[ophelia]

They do that with the Honda CBR125R bikes with race rubber. I may be wrong, but I read they do that because the front wheel's biggest load comes from braking, not putting power from the engine down to propel the bike forwards. The body of the rear tire is constructed to tolerate acceleration in a certain direction. Therefore, they turn the rear tire backwards when installed as a front tire.

Usually, we can find distinct front and rear tires from the manufacturer, so we don't have to reverse direction of the tire.

edit: the CBR race tire is Pirelli, but it comes in a rear-only size

[AMAC1680]

I read in a scooter forum post (won't mention the brand of scoot, but it rhymes with 'HIM') that a fellow could only find a 'rear' tire for the front of his scoot - so he reversed the arrows when he put it on since it is meant for the rear, powered end of a scoot.
This does not make sense to me.
Manufacturers put the rolling direction arrows on there for a reason - his thinking eludes me!
Or, am I out there in left field? Again?

You get around stig. I saw the same post.

Be Big,
AMAC

[Vivo]

They do that with the Honda CBR125R bikes with race rubber. I may be wrong, but I read they do that because the front wheel's biggest load comes from braking, not putting power from the engine down to propel the bike forwards. The body of the rear tire is constructed to tolerate acceleration in a certain direction. Therefore, they turn the rear tire backwards when installed as a front tire.

Usually, we can find distinct front and rear tires from the manufacturer, so we don't have to reverse direction of the tire.

edit: the CBR race tire is Pirelli, but it comes in a rear-only size

The rear tire is also designed to tolerate heavy load, the front tire..more on cornering...

Put the rear at the rear.... front up front... period.

[johnson]

The rear tire for power, front tire for braking/steering can be seen if you get tires with the same name for front and back.  The treads on the front tire will be reversed from those of the rear tire.  Some manufacturers will just have two arrows on the same tire.  One marked front and one marked rear pointing in the opposite direction.  Pirelli SL26's are that way.    Marked  <-- rear -- | -- front -->  One tire.  You flip it to use it on the other end of your scoot. 

[Stig / Major Tom]

The rear tire for power, front tire for braking/steering can be seen if you get tires with the same name for front and back.  The treads on the front tire will be reversed from those of the rear tire.  Some manufacturers will just have two arrows on the same tire.  One marked front and one marked rear pointing in the opposite direction.  Pirelli SL26's are that way.    Marked  <-- rear -- | -- front -->  One tire.  You flip it to use it on the other end of your scoot. 

I'll be......!
Thanks for the info ...you guys are like Google without the spam!