Non-matching Tires
#1
#4
Front and rear motorcycle tires have very different construction . . . get a matching set and the only thing they share is the name anyway. In some applications one may perform well while the other is a piece of crap. Example: The BT-021s I had on my Blackbird. The back tire was great; good grip in all conditions and lasted a long time. The BT-021 front on the other hand was a well known piece of crap especially on big bikes. Sketchy grip and cupped to death long before the rear was worn out. Matching tires don't matter, having the right tire for the job does.
Since front tires normally last a lot longer than rears anyway, a lot of riders prefer to have a stickier tire up front. It'll still wear decently and maximizing the grip up front means that (in theory of course) everything else being equal the rear end will start sliding first if it should come to that
Mixing bias and radial is even allowed . . . standard oem setup on some cruisers. Probably not something to try on a sportbike I won't even mention the old Goldwing trick of mounting a bias ply BT-45 rear tire backward . . . and running it as a front. And no, I'm not kidding. But there's some sound reasoning involved and you can't argue with results
Since front tires normally last a lot longer than rears anyway, a lot of riders prefer to have a stickier tire up front. It'll still wear decently and maximizing the grip up front means that (in theory of course) everything else being equal the rear end will start sliding first if it should come to that
Mixing bias and radial is even allowed . . . standard oem setup on some cruisers. Probably not something to try on a sportbike I won't even mention the old Goldwing trick of mounting a bias ply BT-45 rear tire backward . . . and running it as a front. And no, I'm not kidding. But there's some sound reasoning involved and you can't argue with results
#5
I think the main concern with running different tyres, is matching the tyre profiles. Red-Eye is right when he mentioned that the rears wear faster, I've run different tyres front & rear on a lot of bikes because of that & had no problems riding on the road. Many a time I've had matching tyres & when I've gone to get a new one, been told that that particular type had been superseded anyway. A lot of manufacturers make a big deal about the benefits of matching tyres, water dispersion from the front being one, so the rear grips better, but unless your running slicks, they all do that anyway.
Most bike companies will recommend at least three manufacturers tyres for replacement (either in the hand book or the sticker on the chain guard). These will match front or rear profile.
Most bike companies will recommend at least three manufacturers tyres for replacement (either in the hand book or the sticker on the chain guard). These will match front or rear profile.
#6
#7
#9
i've ridden with matching and with un-matching tires - i don't notice much of a difference. you definitely wouldn't want to run a radial with a non radial, but if they're both sport tires (say a pp with a corsa), i wouldn't worry one bit about doing it
#10
Example: The BT-021s I had on my Blackbird. The back tire was great; good grip in all conditions and lasted a long time. The BT-021 front on the other hand was a well known piece of crap especially on big bikes. Sketchy grip and cupped to death long before the rear was worn out.
Anyway. When I got my F4 It came with a PP up front and a Road 2 on the back. The PP wore out around 7000km's so I replaced it with a Road 2 (which is still on). I felt no difference in the mismatched tires. The rear will soon be replaced with a Road 3 and the front will be replaced with a Road 3 when necessary. The Bird will also get a Road 3 front soon (keeping the BT-021 on the rear until it needs replacing) and I'm confident it won't matter much.