Is it ok to have a front tire a Pilot Power 2CT and the rear a Dunlop Sportmax Q2? I've heard to to mis-match radial, and non-radial; but wanted to double check this combination. Thanks.

 

its actually illegal here in Switzerland, but i don't know about where you live.
i certainly would not advise to mix any rubber.

 

on the street ok... on the track i would not although i know quite a few trackguys who will

 

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

 

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 Many a time I've had matching tyres & when I've gone to get a new one, been told that that particular type had been superseded anyway.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.

 

I have never had matching tires on my bike, mostly because of the 16" front tire on mine. I tried the Pilot Power 2CT, but they don't make a 16". The last set I got are the Battlax BT016 front, and Michellin Pilot Power on the rear. Not sure if that is a good set up, but it works for me.

 

Im running Dunlop Sportmax Q2 in the front and my Conti in the rear...

No problems.. can still rip in the corners.

I think its a good set up because the Dunlop heats up quick, and the Conti always grips and feels very stable.

 

Speaking of tyres, has anyone seen or using these:
Pilot Road 3, supposed to be the ultimate wet weather tyre.

 

wow that is a stupid law....

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

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. My Bird also came with the 21's and I was absolutely convinced that the front tire grip was sketchy at best and was the main reason for low sliding the bike. The rear is holding up just fine but the front (plus rim) was taken off. Piece of crap indeed. I now run an old Metzeler that came on the replacement rim. I have no idea how old it is but it feels better than the new 21'. Some people said I was looking for excuses in my BB crash thread.

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.