[dgangi]

I recently heard a "trick" to get better performance out of a Hutchinson Python front tire - ride it mounted in reverse.

I have not had a chance to try this myself as I am currently demo'ing some Panaracer Fire XC's on my bike (which I have found to be inferior to the Pythons IMHO). But I told this to my brother-in-law today and he flipped his front tire around - he claimed it made significant difference in cornering ability.

Has anybody else tried this with any "empirical" evidence of improved grip?

Thx...Doug

 

[Trevor!]

Fire XCs suck in contrast to Pythons, but they are two very different pieces of rubber.

Don't know about empirical evidence, but running a Python in reverse on the front, does improve cornering and yes it is noticeable. Here is a trick, run it in reverse and have a look at the direction of the tread. I think the answer is in that alone.

I don't know if there is any authority on this, I think it is more a thing of fact that people have discovered when riding these tyres. I originally discovered the 'wonders' of using the python in reverse in the front by accidently mounting it this way. Since it was a new bike, and I was more interested in throwing my legs over my bike I didn't change it, and was totally satisfied with the results.

Trevor!

 

[Moo Shoo Pork]

Yes it Works. For me at least

I recently heard a "trick" to get better performance out of a Hutchinson Python front tire - ride it mounted in reverse.

I have not had a chance to try this myself as I am currently demo'ing some Panaracer Fire XC's on my bike (which I have found to be inferior to the Pythons IMHO). But I told this to my brother-in-law today and he flipped his front tire around - he claimed it made significant difference in cornering ability.

Has anybody else tried this with any "empirical" evidence of improved grip?

Thx...Doug

I have no empirical evidence either. I started the same thread about a month ago and the advice I got was to give it a go. All the posters said it worked. Well, I ride the Airlights Pythons on both my FS and HT and reversed the front tire on both. For it me, it really helps cornering, and braking, especaily on switchbacks and nice singletrack downhill runs. I find that the front wheel does not wander like it use to and I do not have to steer us much, instead I am able to shift wieght to steer the bike. Give it a shot. I think you might find that it really does work.

 

[Cyco-Dude]

does the tire roll slower when mounted backwards or is it not really noticable? what about mounting the rear tire backwards, would that do anything or just make traction and / or braking worse?