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Mountain Bikers Guide To Etiquette and Vocabulary: Tires
October 15th, 2008 by Guitar TedMany of cyclings conventions are confusing and cryptic to the uninformed or new cyclist. Find out what the secrets and meanings of some of cyclings culture and actions are here as I have come to understand them. Hey! I didn’t make this stuff up, I am just reporting on it. Read on!
Today’s topic: Tire Rules For Cyclists
Take a look at this wheel. Today I am going to reveal to you how your tires should be mounted to help you avoid a cycling fashion faux pas. Actually, this is one of the “rules” that will have a practical benefit, as I will attempt to illustrate for you.
One thing most “quality” bicycle tires will have on them is a label, often brightly colored, called a “hot patch”. (There’s another cryptic term for ya!) The “hot patch” will have the tires manufacturer’s name and/or the model of the tire printed on it with some sizing information and maybe even a pressure range. This “hot patch” label must be in line with your valve stem sticking out of your rim, as shown above. In addition, most often the “hot patch” label goes on the driveside of your bicycle. This rule is only amended if the tire has a “hot patch” on both sides of the casing, or if the tire is directional in its tread pattern. (See Directional Treads below) If your tire has no “hot patch” label, all bets are off!
Why? Actually, there are two reasons for this rule and they actually make sense. One, your tire label is easy to see and will guide you to your valve stem quickly when you inflate your tires. (You do inflate your tires on a regular basis, don’t you? Well…..you should! That’s another post!)
Secondly, your valve stem is part of your tube, (On tubed systems, if you run tubeless, please ignore the following) so if you suffer a flat, the tube orientation inside the tire can always be referenced, which helps in diagnosing the cause of your flat more quickly.
Directional Treads: Some tires, (yes- even some road oriented tires) have a “directional tread” pattern. This means that the tires were meant to be run in a certain direction to give the rider the best performance characteristics. Most quality bicycle tires are marked with arrows on the sidewall to help in determining which way to mount your tire on the front wheel or back wheel. Notice: some tread patterns are the same for front or rear usage, but the direction they are mounted for either end is different. Don’t get caught with a directional tread mounted the “wrong” way, or if you do, have a great reason for why you do. For example: “I’m just checking the cornering characteristics of this Panaracer Dart in the reverse direction to test a theory I have about knob shapes for an upcoming tread design I am working on…or….erm…..something. Yeah!”
By following these simple rules, you will avoid looking like a “Fred”, (I’ll explain that later!) and you will have an easier time when it comes to maintaining or repairing your tires.
If you’re worried about looking cute out on the trail, then you’re riding for the wrong reasons. I hope to catch some douchebag looking at my tires to see if they’re aligned correctly.
I must be in real trouble if I’m responding to an article on unimportant trivia. But then I am avoiding cleaning up my office.
But I do think about these things too. I mount my tires 90 degrees to your recommendation because the graphics on the wheels (Mavic) compete with the tire graphics.
But I do like your point of knowing where the holes line up. But I also used to rotate my tires 10 or 20 degrees when I fixed a flat (particularly on the rear) because the brakes tend to grab more in one or two spots and concentrate the tire wear. So rotating the tire a bit moved the wear spot. This has become a moot point with tubeless plus Stans. May not be as important with disk brakes either.
But to show how much I care about cool, I wear Lycra.
Fred: You mount your tires 90 degrees different? It must be interesting riding sideways tires… (I kid, I kid)
Here’s a “He looks like a Fred” story…
I bought a new wheelset for a bike after tacoing the factory wheels, and the shop transferred the tires onto my new wheels, Rhyno Lites on XT Disc hubs. I didn’t have disc brakes at the time, but I got the better hubs because I planned to eventually upgrade.
The shop mounted the front tire backwards on the wheel. I decided, since I am lazy, that my easiest option was to just mount the front wheel backward. A few people who looked closely at my bike noticed I had a disc hub with no rotor with the mount facing the right, so I got to tell them the story.
They though I was dumb.
This was backed up by my riding skills.
Also: The reason the “hot patch” is designed to go on the right is because most photos of bikes are taken from the drive side and tire makers want to show off their logos in magazines.
“The reason the “hot patch†is designed to go on the right is because most photos of bikes are taken from the drive side and tire makers want to show off their logos in magazines.”
Amen! That’s really the only reason to mount the hot-patch side the way described above.
Some tires work better “backwards”…I remember when Farmer Johns came out (the ones with the chevron-shaped center “paddles”), if you ran them so the back (scoop) side of the chevron bit into the ground first, they got WAY more traction in really loose conditions…soft sand and loose clayey muck along coastal Alabama, in particular. We looked askance at folks running them the “right” way!
1 other associated tip, the label on the wheel is 180 from the valve (hole), so if I spot the wheel lable first, I just look 180 across to the Hot Patch to confirm where the valve is,
and if the tire does have a Hot Patch on both sidewalls, the whole “flipping the rear tire” argument doesn’t work.
I am one to line up the hot patch and valve, and I get annoyed at people that don’t because it is such an easy thing to do, and it very well care make things easier, it is a sign to me that the rider honestly doesn’t care about their bike.
GT - Thank You for witing this basic level information.
Ooohh where to start where to start.
1. First off, I’m running Bontrager tires on Bontrager rims and the dude at the bike shop insisted that the logos line up. Sounded fine to me.
2. Also running tubless with Stans so to hell with the lining up the tubes.
3. Totally an Image thing, get out and ride.
4. The only people that wear Lycra and spandex are people that do timetrials and races or people that want to “look” like Mountainbikers.
5. I’m with ya ghost rider, On my hardtail I put my computer sensor on the worng side of the wheel and said “to hell with it” I’m out of zip ties and this should be good enough. The tires actually performed a lot better. Now I put them on backwards purposely on that bike.
6. Sorry Quin, to say that someone who doesn’t waste the time to line up their valve stems doesn’t care about their bike is crap. I paid almost as much for my bike as I did for my last car and care about it equally as much. I wash it after every ride, strip down the chain and lube it after every ride. I clean and inspect my shock and fork, polish my rotors and check the tightness on all of the bolts on my bike after every ride. But!…..When I’m slamming through a rock garden at top speed, jumping a log-pile or hucking a six foot drop I couldn’t care less whether my “hot patch” is aligned with my valve stem! All I care about is whether my equipment is going to hold up.
Oh yeah, Thanks Ted for providing me a diversion from my regular duties and giving me a chance to bitch about something.
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