A tire story: got a set of the Shinko 705's; front is a 90/90-21, and the rear is 130/80-17 (Front/Rear) (stock sizes for the KLR). I brought them to the local shop to swap them out and balance, but was surprised when I got back to put them on—the rear tire was put on backwards. I drove back to the shop to have them fix it, but the guy at the shop explained that the sidewall arrow doesn't make any sense. The "V" of the tread in the rear tire should be facing forward; this made sense to me, and I have never seen a directional rear tread that "faces" backwards. Furthermore, I've researched many different 705 setups and not one had the tread facing backwards (the direction the "front" arrow says to have it). So I trusted him and put it on.

The 130/80-17 only comes in what Shinko calls a F/R (front/rear). But how does this make sense if the front and the rear face different directions on the 705? The directional arrow only seems to apply if you're using it as a front tire? To make things more strange, I have a pretty bad wobble now that was not there before changing tires, but I'm wondering if that is a bad balance job? What to do? Thoughts!

This sounds like double bassakwardness, sort of like a double negative except it doesn't make it right.

Usually, the arrow on the rear is in the proper direction and we talk about the front tire being mounted opposite the directional arrow.

This is the case with the Kenda K761, a tire I am familiar with.

My first thought is that your mechanic's heart is in the right place but he's a bit confused. We had a thread on this not too long ago.

I'm not familiar with the 705 (intimately enough to know if the arrow is backward, though this would be the first I've heard of it) so I'll defer further comment to @pdwestman.

Well, that's what's weird. The tires as they are mounted now actually face what seems to be the correct way, according to every post I've read. That is: R>>|<<F The only thing that seems wrong is that the rear tire SAYS the chevrons should be point backward, something I've not seen and doesn't make sense to me, the mechanic, or apparently anyone else in the forums I've read. My thought is that it must have something to do with it being not a "Rear" tire but an "F/R" tire, although as mentioned above, I'm not sure how you do that when the 705s are meant to be run in different directions.

Is the F/R a new designation? Is anyone else running the 705's now that could share their set-up?

To my way of thinking, these are properly mounted rear tires with chevrons:



And these are properly mounted front tires with chevrons:



The tires on the KLR are Kenda K761 and the tires on the BMW are Michelin Pilot Road.

On the RMATV site there is a customer gallery showing four different bikes with 705smounted. One of them, a CB500, appears to have the tire mounted backward. The rest are what I would call correct, e.g.:

The rotation arrow would seem to support its being mounted in what is conventionally considered the correct direction:

The pair of Shinko E-705 tires in my stock are both double arrowed for either front or rear positions. And they are properly arrowed for water, sand, grit, gravel, mud dispersion of the appropriate F/R fitment.

The point of the /\ or chevron should be the LAST thing to touch down on a Front tire, to squeeze the stuff to the sides because the front tire is Always Driven (by the roadway).

The point of the V or chevron should be the FIRST thing to touch down on a Rear tire, to scoot the stuff to the sides while the rear tire is Driving the unit forward.

Paul, in the photo above the rotation arrow is labeled "Rear". On the tire in your stock with the arrows labeled "Front" and "Rear", are they on opposite sides of the tire?

The wording and symbols are on the same side. end to / to end, no miss-take about them.

If you posted a pic of it that'd be easiest.

Sounds like your shop put it on backwards. It happens, techs get distracted.

For example, in the pic I attached the front is backwards while the rear is correct.

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bike after (2).jpg (255.7 KB, 18 views)