So about a month ago I happened to lay my bike down.. 2005 CBR600rr. I pulled out of a parking lot and as I shifted the back wheel somehow came out from under me. All the damage is to the swing arm sprocket and chain along with the rim being broken and tire blown out. After having some guys come over and look at the bike they realized my rear tire was installed backwards. Could this be the cause of the wreck?? I wasn't on gravel or any type of loose surface either. Just looking for an answer. Thanks!

 

I'd probably blame it on cold tires versus the tire installed backwards. But it's only a guess. Cold tires are the cause of more accidents than most realize.

 

Tyres are meant to be fitted in one direction only on both front and rear wheels, hence the word: 'Rotation' and the arrow on the sidewall. Running with the tyre is the opposite direction is almost probably the cause of you problem, although maybe a bit too much power at the wrong time may also have contributed to it! LOL! Hope your bike didn't suffer too badly.

 

At parking lot speeds I doubt tire orientation was the cause of your mishap. The orientation has more to do with water channeling in rain (that's the purpose of tread design, or we would all ride slicks) and the bias of the layers that make up the carcass (which can cause heat and de-lamination issues at high-speeds).

More likely to have hit a slick spot, i.e. oil, anti-freeze or sand. Any of these can be next to invisible and still have a major effect. If you combine that on a slow turn with excess throttle and cold tires, it's easy to break loose the rear.

From your description, the root cause of your get-off is most likely the driver error of not factoring in those conditions. I don't want to hurt your feelings saying that, but the only way to learn, is recognition and correction of a mistake made.

By all means, get the tire re-mounted in the proper orientation. However, to avoid a similar incident, I'd recommend trying to increase your awareness of road condition and/or use more caution when first starting out on cold tires.

Ern

 

Well here's the thing.. It wasn't out of the corner.. I had already started on a straight away and when I shifted into 2nd it all happened.. The tires weren't cold cause I only got off for about 5 minutes to talk to coaches then started riding again. My cousin believes I powershifted on a line going into 2nd. I just find it hard to believe that all the damage is to the back rim tire swingarm sprocket and chain. I got the tires changed less than a week before.. BT 016. it just all seems sketchy.

 

Just a week before? Maybe the tires had that coating on still and still needed broken in?

Like mentioned, tread pattern is really only for channeling water. the rubber is all the same no matter what direction the tread pattern is going, so your coefficient of friction will be the same. It could have been a road line too, but that break in period is my guess since you just said that.

 

I'd say the tire rotating backwards could have caused the tire to blow out, which in turn could have slid you out and wrecked you. The belts in the tires are made to go a certain way and when you do many heat cycles with the tire it can cause the belts to break away from each other inside.

 

If you're looking for an excuse to blame someone else, you'll find it regardless. However, it sounds like the back end just got away from you on a high rpm shift w/ the bike in less than ideal orientation or road condition...& on a less than completely warm tire (yes, 5 min downtime can have an effect).

The tire's installed direction, while incorrect, most likely had little to do w/ loosing the back end. That is, unless there was something else done to the back end during the install, which isn't readily apparent at this point.

It doesn't sound like you inspected your rear end after the tire install. There's a saying that you need to incorporate into your thinking every time you get your bike worked on...TRUST BUT VERIFY. Check that tire rotation arrow, torque specs on the axle nut, check chain tension, & everything else.

Nobody wants to knock you here but instead give you most the likely reasons & precautions for the next time.

 

We install (flip) the tires backwards all the time on race bikes. When a track has mostly lefts, for instance, we wear the left side of the tire more, and the right side is fine. So, we flip 'em so it's like we got new rubber.

As lots of people have stated, the rotation has two purposed: channeling water (which we don't care about on a race track, cause if it rains we switch to rain tires), and the lamination issue, which modern tires really don't have an issue with in my experience on the track.

 

It just seems kind of weird to me that the rim broke and the tire blew out i've never seen a rim break from a low side, if he just overpowered and spun out and wrecked that wouldn't cause the tire to blow out and the rim break. Maybe the tire had way too much pressure also, causing the contact patch to be really small and the blow out