Motorcycle tire
AssigneeSumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
InventorKouji TAKENAKA
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A motorcycle tire improved in transient characteristics when leaned is disclosed, wherein the tread portion has a unidirectional tread pattern comprising: inside oblique main grooves disposed on each side of the tire equator staggeredly, inclined to the axially outside toward the intended rotational direction (R) at an angle of 5 to 30 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction, and each having an inner end (Ai) at a distance of 0 to 30% of the half tread width (W) from the tire equator; and outside oblique main grooves 11 disposed on each side of the tire equator staggeredly, inclined to the axially outside toward the counter-rotational direction at an angle of 10 to 60 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction, and each having an inner end (Bi) axially inside the outer end (Ao).
Claims4
A motorcycle tire comprising
- a tread portion having tread edges and a tread face extending therebetween and curved so that the maximum section width of the tire lies between the tread edges,
- the tread portion provided with tread grooves defining a unidirectional tread pattern having an intended tire rotational direction (R),
- the tread grooves including inside oblique main grooves (10) and outside oblique main grooves (11), wherein
- the inside oblique main grooves (10) are arranged circumferentially of the tire and staggeredly on both side of the tire equatorial plane (C),
- the inside oblique main grooves (10) each extend from its axially inner end (Ai) to its axially outer end (Ao), while inclining to the axially outside of the tire toward the intended tire rotational direction (R) at an inclination angle α of from 5 to 30 degrees with respect to the tire circumferential direction,
- the axially inner end (Ai) is spaced apart axially outwardly from the tire equatorial plane (C) by an axial distance of from 0 to 10% of a half tread width (W) measured from the tire equator to one of the tread edges along the tread face and a tire meridian section,
- the outside oblique main grooves (11) are arranged circumferentially of the tire and staggeredly on both side of the tire equatorial plane (C),
- the outside oblique main grooves (11) each extend from its axially inner end (Bi) to its axially outer end (Bo), while inclining to the axially outside of the tire toward the opposite direction to the intended tire rotational direction (R), the axially inner end (Bi) is located axially inward of the outer end (Ao) of the inside oblique main groove (10), the axially outer end (Bo) is spaced apart from the tire equatorial plane (C) by an axial distance of from 80 to 95% of the half tread width (W),
- an inclination angle β of the outside oblique main groove (11) with respect to the tire circumferential direction is gradually increased from the inner end (Bi) toward the axially outer ends (Bo) within a range between 10 degrees and 60 degrees.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.