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Tyre Question (not a tyre thread)

2K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  visionjohnny 
#1 ·
My '15 Cross Country has spoked wheels. Can anyone explain why Victory have fitted a belt biased tyre (Elite 2) on the front and a radial (Elite 3) on the back? All the alloy wheel variants have radials both ends. Rim size is the same. Would something horrible happen if I used a radial on the front? Can't say I'm developing much fondness for the Elite 2. Obviously I would have tubes.....is that something to do with it?
 
#2 ·
A lot of bikes come with a bias on front and radial on back. My VStar 1300 came that way and my wife's Chieftain is the same. I have switched the Vison to Michelin Commander II tires which are bias. On my 4th set of Commaders with no problems.
 
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#3 ·
Well, after spending an hour googling this it seems that there is no definitive answer as to why Victory do this, but plenty of people have put radials on the front of tubed bikes such as Hardballs and CrossRoads Classics with no ill effects.
 
#4 ·
I was looking for tires on my Vegas and the parts guy behind the counter recommended tires other than stock. When I asked him about changing to all radials as he was recommending I got blank look from him...( I don't think he rides). So, I contacted Dunlop Tech. and they said to stay with the stock as design and tested, match for the bike...going to radials may change the performance characteristics of the bike. I'm okay with the performance of the stock tires...



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#5 ·
on steel frame bikes you shouldn't run a radial tire up front you
have tracking problems and high speed wobble can occur.
I really don't know why but that's the way it is. Harley is a steel frame bike and they all run bias tires except for the v-rod.
A radial tire on the rear is ok because it does not steer it just follows
 
#6 ·
I understand this but don't understand why a XC with a spoked wheel gets a bias tyre and exactly he same bike with an alloy wheel gets a radial. Something to do with the extra heat generated with a tube?
 
#8 · (Edited)
This article made me more confused ..
 
#10 ·
Probably a Cross Roads
 
#11 ·
you should not put a inner tube in a radial tire. It takes away the flexing of the side wall.

You don't really want a tire that flexes on a spoke wheel
 
#13 ·
That's pretty nice :)
 
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