Which direction do I run my Panasonic Fire XCs?

MST.ESQ

New Member
I bought the 60tpi version. The tires have arrows pointing in opposite directions. One says "front" and the other "rear". Why point out "rear" unless it is the direction that the rear tire is supposed to roll? I recently read in a mtb mag that some tires should run in reverse on the rear to maintain grip under braking. Is this one of those situations?
 

elzoller

El Guac-Oh
do you mean Panaracers??? :hmmm:
My bud, who got me into MTB, told me to run the rear in the opposite direction to get better grip on the climbs....i dunno if it helps or not as I have never tried them in the correct REAR ---> direction....:hmmm::hmmm:
but I am as fast as Speedy Gonzalez so I dont think it makes a difference :cool:
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
REAR-> BIKE-> FRONT->

Make any sense? The tire on the rear should be such that the REAR arrow goes the same way the bike is going. Ditto front.
 

MST.ESQ

New Member
do you mean Panaracers??? :hmmm:

Yes. They are Panaracers.


Thanks for the replies. I guess I will leave them running in opposite directions for JH this Sunday. It just seems counterintuitive to me to run them in reverse positions...
 

RNG1

Well-Known Member
I'm running the same tires for the last few weeks, yes you can run the rear opposite from the front which is the old school way of thinking you will get better grip on the climbs (which is how I am running them) however I doubt if anyone could really tell the difference. It certainly won't make a difference when you stick a rock at JH and go over the bars. Arrow points to the rotation that you want the tire to be running (unless you are going backwards).
 

BiknBen

Well-Known Member
I guess I will leave them running in opposite directions for JH this Sunday. It just seems counterintuitive to me to run them in reverse positions...

Many tire are set up this way. These tires often have triangular or chevron shaped center lugs. On the front tire, they should face forward when looking down on it. The wide part of the shape will be facing forward when the tire is in contact with the ground. The lugs acts like a plow on the front tire to slow you down when you hit the brakes.

The rear tire is opposite. The widest part of the lug should face rearward when the tread is in contact with the ground. This will shovel the soil and keep you from slipping under hard acceleration.
 

rlb

Well-Known Member
Makes sense now...I was also confused when I installed mine. I've got the rear on backwards too. Guess I'll fix that some time this weekend. Its still way better than the tires that came with the bike.
 

MST.ESQ

New Member
Makes sense now...I was also confused when I installed mine. I've got the rear on backwards too. Guess I'll fix that some time this weekend. Its still way better than the tires that came with the bike.

I suspect we are not the only ones that were confused ;)

Another reason why this site is great. 40 minutes of sitting on hold and being bounced from dept to dept on the phone... or post-up on MTBNJ and get well reasoned explanations in less time. Thanks guys!
 
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