The race of your life, and only one spare wheel

[southbound]

Given the choice of only one, would you choose to have on hand a spare front wheel or a spare rear wheel?

Tell us why.

(It would be a desert race.)

 

[einsteingarage]

I would say front wheel. I think it would get damaged easier because it is larger. If you hit something it's with the front wheel and the rear wheel only follows

 

[motogroove]

A rear wheel has both brake and sprocket, so one more system that could fail or stress the whole system to fail. My only wheel failure ever was a rear.

Rear tires wear faster. An optional rear tread pattern might be nice to have mounted ready to go if you aren't sure what conditions will be.

If the front fails, you can just wheelie all the way to the finish.

I'd bring a rear.
Which probably means front is the correct answer.

just guessing...
-dean

 

[jostby]

Rear. The front is usually floating. The rear takes the abuse. Are you planning for the future?

 

[Bandit9]

None, I would use Tire Balls.

 

[GMP]

Front. Rear is stronger. Ask people of all the flats they have had, did they have more front or rear? That should be your answer. That is unless you plan to ride far enough to wear out a rear tire.

 

[southbound]

Thank you for the responses.

I plan on going somewhere between 675 miles and 1100 miles. I'd get both front and rear, but if I keep doubling my expenses, I'll run out of funds half way through my parts list.

.

 

[stainlesscycle]

that's a lot of miles on a non dot tire.... i think a rear would have no knobs left after that many miles...

 

[Bandit9]

Forget tires, you need to bring an extra ass!

 

[southbound]

I'm considering running these tires http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tirecatalog_tire.asp?id=14 with a mousse in the front and a heavy duty tube and slime in the rear. The advice I've been given is a rear mousse will melt at high speeds. What I can't quite figure out is if the melting rear mousse also applies to iron man speeds.

I'm still searching for information. At some point a call to Michelin (the maker of the mousse) will be in order.

 

[Todd5774]

A Michelin moose will run alot better in a Michelin tyre. And I'd be running the tyres they use in the Dakar

 

[stainlesscycle]

what's the terrain/event? mousse will melt at high speeds on pavement (60mph + for extended periods). (just reread original post - desert race - you will be at 60+ for extended periods...) run whatever worked at dakar/baja... they do 300+ miles on a tire..

 

[Fred1956]

I'm considering running these tires http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tirecatalog_tire.asp?id=14 with a mousse in the front and a heavy duty tube and slime in the rear. The advice I've been given is a rear mousse will melt at high speeds. What I can't quite figure out is if the melting rear mousse also applies to iron man speeds.

I'm still searching for information. At some point a call to Michelin (the maker of the mousse) will be in order.

That's a lot of miles and I don't have that much history, but I run the Dunlop 606 on front with HD tube paired with the D739AT rear & TuBliss. Traction wise they work well together