Interesting dialog with LBS

Triathlon Forum
1

So I’ve got my bike in for tuneup, couple of component upgrades and to put on new tires. I’ve always had good luck with Conti’s, so I decide I’m going to try their “TPS Attack Force”, where you have a 22mm up front and run a thicker 23mm on the rear.

I go to pick it up and I note that the 23 is on the front and I say “hey, can you guys reverse this, the 23 (which also has “rear” stamped on it) is supposed to be on the back”…

“Why would you want to run the wider tire on the rear?” he says, continuing “you’ll compromise steering, handling, etc. etc. if on a set of tires that have varying widths…” Well, first that is the way I want them, and second, this is the way Conti has designed them to run. Further, most of my weight will be on the rear (road bike set up as a tri bike) that I would want the thicker, wider tire there as opposed to the front.

But now I’m questioning myself, yet still thinking that the way they are designed is the way I want them mounted…trying not to be too much of a dick, because they do good work but I have to essentially insist to the guy that he put them on the way I want.

So I leave there wondering what to think about him and the shop. Any thoughts, comments out there?

2

Sound like it was a CYA (“cover your @$$”) comment he made after he discovered the shop’s dumb mistake.

3

Hmmm. Well, I guess you could argue just about anything. I do know, as you pointed out, the wider “Force” tire goes on the rear and the narrower “Attack” tire is intended by the manufacturer to go on the front.

Strictly from a liability point of view, if you were killed on the bike a savy attorney would point that out at the trial. Your LBS took their underwear off on this from a liability perspective. The manufacturer’s recommendations were disregarded. They have no second line of defense. Very dangerous.

4

that’s not the only difference between those 2 tires. they also have different treads and (I think) the front tire has a rounder cross-section.

5

to me that sounds like an old school BMX quote. We used to run fatter on the front.

Kurt

6

Indeed they do have different tread…the front is nearly a slick tire, while the back has a fairly intricate pattern, thicker plies, etc.

At least I know I’m not going goofy.

7

He might have a point in the MTB world (my front is bigger and more aggressive than the rear, by design), but on a road bike, this seems a bit backwards…

Out of curiosity, was this the bike shop on Hartz, Railroad or some place different?

8

The tires are also directional. The front has a softer compound and will probably wear very quickly on the rear.

9

Exactly, and there is an extra ply in the rear tire since there is more weight on it.

10

I was hoping you would respond, Tom…what was most intriguing to me about this was the attitude the guy had with me about it, like I was speaking gibberish or something. I’ve run into this sort of thing every now and again at shops (as I think we all have) but never along the lines of this.

No doubt this is not a widely-used technology, and I’m basically experimenting before I get to my “A” races with it to see if there is any difference from “regular” tires, so I guess there could be some product ignorance…but when one of the freakin’ tires says “rear” on it, all I could think was “wow”.

11

Out of curiosity, was this the bike shop on Hartz, Railroad or some place different?

I’ll put it to you this way…it wasn’t Pegasus, and it wasn’t California Pedaller and it is on Hartz. Recently expanded to handle more bike business and as I have said before, I normally have had very good experiences with these guys.