Front Wheel Direction Reversed
 

So today when Detailing the bike I noticed the directional arrow on the Sportmax on the front wheel is going the wrong way. I feel a little embarrased for not having noticed this before. I have no idea why other than accident for doing this. How easy is the flip? Will the wheel and brakes just slide out then in after being reversed? Could this be why my brakes "squeal" a very small amount at low speed when pulling up to a stop sign?

Thanks

GM

get the front end up pull the axle and flip the wheel making sure the spacers go back in correctly. It probably won't fix your break squeak but it can't hurt.

the whole wheel is backwards or just the tire?

If the front tire is showing wear, I would replace it. I would also point it out to the shop that did the installation, for some compensation. If worn, it will affect cornering and braking.

And you can't just flip the wheel. The tire needs to be dismounted and remounted correctly.

I will have to look at the tire direction. As for compensation.....I bought the bike 3 weeks ago and just got around to detailing it up perfect as can be. Does the rim have a directional arrow on it as well? So pulling it out and "flipping" it is not a safe choice?

Thanks for the advice.

My advice is assuming the entire wheel is put together correctly but put on the bike backwards. I have no idea if a reverse wear pattern will have any ill affects.

Your rotors will have directional arrows by the buttons, and you should be able to tell the correct placement of the front wheel by looking at pictures in people's albums. See first if just the tire is reversed or if the entire wheel is.

There are small directional arrows on the discs. Not sure how much anything matters other than the tire. Many tires (like ours) are designed directionally. Don't run it backwards purposely.

+1 on the rotors and tires, if you flip the wheel, the rotors will be on different pads - not good either.

I will inspect it all and then likely take it to my local guy. Thanks for all the info and advice. This is totally why this board is great.

Why by the way is it bad to have the rotors on different pads?

The pads "bed" into the rotors. Slight scoring of the rotor surface will cause reduced lining contact and reduced braking efficiency.

I have stands and am local to you if you need a hand.

Are you 100% sure they are reversed? You wouldn't be the first to be confused by the fact that the arrow is pointing forward when on the upper part of the wheel?

Are all arrows pointing the same direction? There are arrows on the rim, tire and both rotors...

In reference to Tweety's question, check the arrows on the rotors AND the tire, see which way they are pointing. Think of direction as clockwise or counter clockwise, that may help. When moving forward, the right side (throttle side) spins clockwise, while the left side (clutch lever side) spins counter clockwise. The arrows on the tire and rotors should correspond to that.

Let us know before you take the wheel off. JB

did you check the back wheel too to make sure that they didn't do the same thing to the rear?

Good tip. But I did check that right away and the previous owner is batting .500. Not sure if that is good enough for bike building!

Well what model sportmax is it? Just asking as back in the day British manufactured 207 (fronts) were mounted backwards on purpose as they worked better that way. So it might have been mounted that way intentionally.

Good point. Some of the old Pirellis said "reverse direction if used on front" or something like that. I think that was on the original Phantoms. Those were on my 78 CX500 when I bought it.