A customer dropped off a ZIPP 202 clincher for me.
Anyway (← is that really okay?),
Hutchinson... nope Pirelli
P ZERO VELO TT, a WO (wire-on) tire was mounted,
If this tire had a directional label on one side, you'd normally install it with the label on the right side, but
in reality it's a completely slick pattern with labels on both sides,
so you'd think it's okay either way... but not quite.
For some reason, there's a rotation direction specification—watch out for that.
To seriously answer "why in the world?,"
it's probably because they share the manufacturing process with other models that do have left/right distinctions.
About the title—
it doesn't mean I'm impressed by Pirelli's tire-making philosophy in general.
Rather, since there's no concept of left/right distinction other than the directional labeling marked on the sidewall,
until you actually look at the tire sidewall, the left/right orientation isn't actually determined—
I sense a philosophical problem in that.
If you're using this tire but never knew about the direction specification,
technically, your installation direction isn't 100% wrong unless you've read the sidewall—
whether that interpretation is "correct" is unclear, but that's how I think about it.
I mean, sure, someone might argue "if you randomly installed it without knowing, you'd be wrong 50% of the time,"
but regardless, once you know about it, human nature is such that you can't help but check the sidewall.
Anyway (← is that really okay?),
P ZERO VELO TT, a WO (wire-on) tire was mounted,
If this tire had a directional label on one side, you'd normally install it with the label on the right side, but
in reality it's a completely slick pattern with labels on both sides,
so you'd think it's okay either way... but not quite.
For some reason, there's a rotation direction specification—watch out for that.
To seriously answer "why in the world?,"
it's probably because they share the manufacturing process with other models that do have left/right distinctions.
About the title—
it doesn't mean I'm impressed by Pirelli's tire-making philosophy in general.
Rather, since there's no concept of left/right distinction other than the directional labeling marked on the sidewall,
until you actually look at the tire sidewall, the left/right orientation isn't actually determined—
I sense a philosophical problem in that.
If you're using this tire but never knew about the direction specification,
technically, your installation direction isn't 100% wrong unless you've read the sidewall—
whether that interpretation is "correct" is unclear, but that's how I think about it.
I mean, sure, someone might argue "if you randomly installed it without knowing, you'd be wrong 50% of the time,"
but regardless, once you know about it, human nature is such that you can't help but check the sidewall.