Harley Front Tire???

[427dave]

I have searched "front tire" and all I get is front tire changes for Honda. I found one for a Harley and the person used a MU85B16 rear tire. They did not say if they mounted backwards.

Has anyone put a rear tire on the front of a triglide? Which rotation direction? I notice the MU85 has 11/32" tread depth, the stock front tire has 5/32". What type of tire? What size?

 

[VaThumper]

I used a Bridgestone Battle Axe? tire mounted in reverse and it is doing fine after only 6000 miles no wear.

 

[427dave]

I used a Bridgestone Battle Axe? tire mounted in reverse and it is doing fine after only 6000 miles no wear.

I cannot find a 16" Bridgestone on any of their websites.

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Im running a Dunlop MU85 in reverse direction on my Roadglide trike. Currently I have close to 10k miles on its wearing great. The only thing I would advise you to do is measure the width between your front bumper. I think its slightly smaller then the fender is.

Tom

 

[pigbike]

Am I missing something? Why do you mount the tire in reverse????

 

[Gorilla]

My Roadglide also has the MU85 mounted reverse rotation. 15k and still looks new.

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Am I missing something? Why do you mount the tire in reverse????

This will explain it >>>> Tires Directional Arrows Explained By Avon Tyres at Cyril Huze Post

 

[VaThumper]

The tire I used i Mfg Part# 072664. I ordered it from Partsbandit.com. It is 130/90V16 rear tire mounted in front in reverse.

 

[pigbike]

This will explain it >>>> Tires Directional Arrows Explained By Avon Tyres at Cyril Huze Post

Ok I understand why you reverse a rear tire when you put it on the front. I'm still a little confused why someone would go buy a rear tire to put on the front. Why not just buy a front tire?

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Ok I understand why you reverse a rear tire when you put it on the front. I'm still a little confused why someone would go buy a rear tire to put on the front. Why not just buy a front tire?

The rear motorcycle tire has a flatter profile to give you more contact area when mounted on the front and the rear tire has more tread depth 11/32" compared to 8/32" for the front. Im looking at 25k miles minimum wear on my current front mounted rear tire. The best mileage I could get out of stock front tire was 15k.

 

[KRUZR]

I'm using the Dunlap Rear Bias Ply E3 MT90B-16 74H in reverse rotation on the front of my converted Street Glide. It has a higher weight rating and a deeper tread depth. So I expect I won't have to replace it as often as the front 402. It maybe a little louder running than a 402. The E3 and the AVON Venom tires are the only 2 tires I never found any wild stories about.

 

[pigbike]

Now I understand,,,,Thanks for the clarification

 

[TriGlide]

Ill replace what came on the 09 triglide. for safety sake, Harley did the research and development plus I have ESP dont want to mess that up.

 

[porky]

The only thing to watch out for is rain. If the tire is mounted backwards it will send water under the rear tires in rain.

 

[Gorilla]

Welcome aboard Porky, AH you do realize that we are talking trikes here. The front tire track is well out of the way of the rear tires track.

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

The only thing to watch out for is rain. If the tire is mounted backwards it will send water under the rear tires in rain.

I have ridden through some serious rain down pours with my rear tire mounted on the front in reverse and I have had no issues with handling.

 

[porky]

Correct but the spray of the water will spray out in the path of the rear tires. I have a 2008 and I put the tire on the correct way and spray was not as much as reversed.

 

[Trykerhd1]

I have a Motor Trike kit on my 02' FLHTCUI, tried various brand's of tyre's but the best I have used (and still are) are Shinko Tyre's specificaly made for Trikes. I ride hard n fast
& have 12000 kliks on this one so far, So go & check 'em out

 

[427dave]

I just made up my mind and installed a MT90B16 rear tire on the front with reversed rotation. On the ride home it seemed to steer better. May have just been because the old front tire was down to the wear bars I had gotten 22,000 miles on the original front tire. It was the dealers first time for doing this on a tire.

 

[bobs67ss]

I'm at 18000 and going to put on my 3rd front tire,last one was E3 MT90B16 front tire,will try the rear tire reverse thing this time ,to see if better

 

[GARYD]

What is an average milage for a stock front tire on a 2012 TG? I have almost 9k on mine and it looks like it doesn't have much tread lift - maybe another 1k.
I just read in Rider magazine's "TechQ&A" column that 9k is really good milage for a Harley trike. The author said " I would be happy with 9k miles out of any front tire, let alone a trike."
I see here others with a lot more miles.

 

[Livin2Ride]

I got 8400 miles from mine, it probably had another 1000 in it. The back roads here have a rough surface and on a recent trip to Montana I ran a lot of freshly "chipped and sealed" roads. I also installed a MT90B16 rear tire on the front with reversed rotation. I don't have enough miles to really comment on it, but the wear pattern at 32 PSI looks real good.

 

[Trent]

I squeaked 15,000 out of my original front tire and the wear bars started showing at 14,950..I too have installed a rear tire reversed, have 3,400 on it now...not enough to comment about wear yet. I am really happy with the feel of it in the curves and turns,,

 

[bobs67ss]

I only have been able to get about 8500 on my fronts.after a guy pulled out in front of me I locked it up and had a flat spot in it ,so rear on front for me now also

 

[1852cc]

I have a Bridgestone Battlax BT45 rear tire, on the front and running in reverse direction on my 2009 RoadGlide/Lehman, just did 3500 miles, tire works and looks great, so far, lots of tread.

 

[Bruce]

My trike just turned 19000 miles and have the original front tire ( 10 Tri-Glide ) It looks like i could get another couple of thousand miles out of it. I have a couple of long runs planned for this fall so I'm going to change it out now. I'm going to use the same Dunlop that came on the trike.

 

[trikermutha]

I am just curiuous as to what you all are running on front tire pressure. I am seeing the wear miles vary on this thread. And are you riding two up??

 

[Trent]

Two up more than solo..34 pounds pressure. It is pretty much impossible to do any interesting riding around Idaho without a lotta curves and twisty roads no matter where you go...except the freeway of course. They chip seal a lotta the roads here also, so that rough gravel surface grinds 'em down faster, verses just plain smooth asphalt.

I am usually pushin' it close to the max in the curves, and more so when ridin' solo, so I am fine with buying tires more often to facilitate my fun.

 

[GARYD]

Last night at my HOG chapter meeting I was told that the front wheel on 2009 and up is a 17" dia.
My question is for those that are putting a 16" rear tire on the front in reverse, how does that work?

 

[trikermutha]

Last night at my HOG chapter meeting I was told that the front wheel on 2009 and up is a 17" dia.
My question is for those that are putting a 16" rear tire on the front in reverse, how does that work?

The tire is still a 16 inch

Tires, Front Specification MT90B16 72H