Trelleborg Studded Tire: Are they directional?

[BRush]

I'm getting set to mount my new Trelleborg studded tires for a little winter trail riding and I notice that the stud pattern on the rear is not symetrical w/respect to rotation. There's no directional arrow, but there is a big white stripe on one side. Does anyone know what the deal is with these?

Thanks.

 

[Offroadr]

They are not directional. The color stripe is just a Trelle tradition

 

[KTM Mike]

How well do the studded tires work?

So just how well do these tires work? I live in Michigan and am suffering from major PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome). I cant say i have ever really tried to ride in 10" of snow... but if those tires worked would certainly try!

 

[JoeCharge]

The tires are not directional but most people that I know run them the same direction from year to year. I had heard and had it verified by one poor sap that tried it, that if you reverse the direction on the Trellborgs they will be more likely to throw out studs.

They work great on ice and light snow, up to 4" - 6". Ten inches of snow can be annoying to ride in if you have anymajor uphills. The rear tire gets good traction, the problem is pushing the front tire through the snow.

 

[BRush]

I finally flipped a coin and put the strip on the right side. Man, those things are a beast to mount - any you better wear gloves!. We went riding in about 6 - 8in of snow yesterday. Where the snow is deep, the front begins to plow around. That will stabilize if you speed up, but then any little deflection or hidden obstacle will spit you off. Once into the trees, where the snow was not so deep the tires were great. Amazing traction . You can motor right over piles of angled logs that would give you the cold sweats with regular knobbies.

One fly in the ointment: Inspecting my bike today, I noticed that I threw at least one stud on the rear and about six or seven more (all along the outermost knobs) have been loosened to some extent and will probably end up pulling out on future rides. Kind of a bummer for the first ride on a $300 tire :(. I think this may have been my own stupid fault for spinning the tire when I got stuck in a rut (I think there might have been some rocks underneath the snow cover). Rocks can be rough on these things. On the other hand everyone else in the group were riding the "old" Trelleborgs and did not seem to lose any studs, and we all rode the same trails. Mine are from the first batch of the "new" Trelleborg (made by Mitas in the Czech Republic). Like I say, it was probably my own damn fault, but I'll be interested to see what other new users report.

 

[-chilly]

Hi,
Not that I would know anything about studded tires, since I'm out in California, near the ocean. Around here we think the four months of intermittent rain we get is great riding. Studded tires come to mind when riding on the blue groove sun baked adobe clay.

My thought is to replace the lost studs with sheet metal screws like it
says to use in Eric Gorr's book. You might get a few more rides out of your $300 tire before the Spring thaw. Hope this helps.
See ya,
Carl

 

[andymstevens]

KTM Mike

They're great!
Rocks are a no-no with em though.