radial/cross ply

[sAsLEX]

heard these two terms being thrown around at puke a while back and was wondering what the difference was. Think it was KK saying his dad was used to riding cross plys so wasn't used to getting his knee down, well it was a while ago..

anyways any info on the difference would be good as I was looking in to it for a uni project.

[k14]

Its the way the reinforcing beads are in the tyre. Radials go around the radius of the tyre, parallel to the direction of travel. Cross ply go side to side, perpendicular to the direction of travel. Not too sure what this makes a difference in, but radials are alot stronger and i think they flex less. Not sure of the benefits of cross plys though. Might be on how stuff works.

[sAsLEX]

yeah had a quick look on there but wasn't much, just an idea at the mo

[Kwaka-Kid]

crossply/radial is just hte way the tyre is made, crossplys are exactly that, the plys cross over eachother at 90 degrees- right people?
either way at the end of the day saslex a crossply tyre always ends up with higher sidewalls, so generally a skinneyer and taller tyre made of harder rubber compounds (as nobody seems to have developed cross plys as much as they have radials (correct ppl?) short of the newer Pirelli sport demons).
radial tyres have alot less height in the sidewall and adopt a lesser arc. So like they just look like really broad... wheras crossplys seem to be a full semi circle (never can get the edges mostly)... well yeah, thats just what im going off?
and it doesnt really mean the diff between kneedown or not, more or less just the differing riding styles that went with the era of tyres/bikes if you know what i mean?.. old GS1000 only has crossplys, the guys that used to race 'em on the std rims would be grinding engine casings before knee down (although the GS1000's these days in post classics have wide RGV rims and so run nice wide radial tyres)

[Drunken Monkey]

I understand cross-plys are a better for handling heavy loads, and are now mostly used for truck and trailer tyres.

[Posh Tourer :P]

wheras crossplys seem to be a full semi circle (never can get the edges mostly)...

Have you seen my rear?

[Kwaka-Kid]

oh yeh - in saying that they can look like car tyres too :P but they seem to wrap fully treaded around the edge.. strange.. but yeah thats the other thing, crossplys hold their shape alot more then radials, hence why the police big heavy ST1100's are on crossplys - the radials had too much movement at high speed.

[Mongoose]

The ammount of grip offered by the two sorts of tyres varies a fair bit too. Cross-ply tyres will *start* letting go well before a radial, but becauase of this can be more controllable. Radial hang on till the death and then LET GO, less warning that you have reached their optimum and past it.
Having said that, have a look at whats on bikes/cars etc and I think you will find radials are the better tyre all up.

[DEATH_INC.]

Crossply's are much more rigid,they dont flatten out on the road surface like a radial does,you don't get as much footprint and they don't heat up as well.
I don't agree that a crossply is easier to control when letting go,all the one's I've had let go very quickly and completely.

Crossply:

http://www.motorcycle-karttires.com/tireimages/bt45r.jpg


Radial:

http://www.motorcycle-karttires.com/tireimages/BT012RSS.JPG

http://www.metzelermoto.com/product_info/construction.asp

[Mongoose]

[QUOTE=DEATH_INC.].
I don't agree that a crossply is easier to control when letting go,all the one's I've had let go very quickly and completely.

QUOTE]
And when a radial has let go How quick was that?

[DEATH_INC.]

[QUOTE=DEATH_INC.].
I don't agree that a crossply is easier to control when letting go,all the one's I've had let go very quickly and completely.

QUOTE]
And when a radial has let go How quick was that?
All the one's I've used have been very progressive,some more than others of course....

[Mongoose]

All the one's I've used have been very progressive,some more than others of course....

Unfortunately, or mabe fortunately, my experience does not relate to bikes, hence the questioning.