My rear tire is worn, my front tire is good to go.  How important is it to have the same type of tire on the front and back?

You're going to get two answers, ones saying don't do it and others saying it doesn't matter...

I've been running on two types for the past 12k no problems soooo far...

A friend of mine ran mixed tires on his SV for the same reason. Front was good but rear was toast. The front was a harder rubber and lost traction in a turn and he crashed. 

Yep, it's one of those disscussion's you'll ever get a definitive answer on.

I always stick with the same brand/family of tyres, So I currently run Bridgestone tyres on the Monster, I will stick with a Bridgestone Battlax front and rear, I had an BT016 on the rear and the BT014 on the front, and they went well together, I changed the 014 to the 016 on the front and the performance was even better.

On my old bike I had Bridgestones from factory, I changed the rear to a Pirelli and the bike never felt as safe or as secure/stable, so a month or so later I changed the front to a pirelli and the bike of old came back.

I was told by the Tech at the time that he always sticks the same brand and family of tyres on his bikes, he never does the old mix and match as every brand has there own compounds, designs and shapes.

I go for the stick with the same brand front and rear brigade, but I can almost say with certainty that someone will show a situation where they mixed and match and it worked really well for them.

Quote from: erkishhorde on September 16, 2008, 01:10:04 PM
A friend of mine ran mixed tires on his SV for the same reason. Front was good but rear was toast. The front was a harder rubber and lost traction in a turn and he crashed. 

You need to make sure if you are going to do this that you use a compound that is as close as possible on both tires. The crash could've occurred for a number of reasons. It's much more of a practice on 4 wheeled vehicles, experimentation with traction etc is safer.

I would stick to the same types of tire front and rear, but I have mixed and matched plenty in the past on other bikes and had no ill effects. Sticking to the same brand/ model gives you more of a guarantee that both tires are going to have similar amounts of traction.

Differing tyre profiles between mixed tires can make handling feel a little funny. As far as diffenent compounds, I would say as long as they aren't drastically different it shouldn't be an issue. I would say some people are always going to be more preceptive to such abnormalities while others really wouldn't know the difference. It is not uncommon to get two rears to one front tire. If you go with a mismatched set, you only have to live with it for a few thousand miles.

I've done a lot of mix & match tire combos over the years (no so much anymore), some work great & some are dangerous as hell. The only answer is maybe - but keep in mind that you're the test pilot.

i would say if you can get both of the same tires front and back.

but if you are in a bind and the shop only has another brand on hand and not your preferred brand, then get soemthing with a similar tread profile and such and get the best match you can and then replace the other tire with the same brand as the replaced one when that one is done. 

simple.

sure everyone "wants" to have the perfect scenario but that isn't always possible, like when you get a flat and the closest shop is right there and they dont have your brand tire.

I had dunlop sportmax tires on my bike and HATED them. Put a pilot power on the rear and by the time the front wore out my rear was shot as well. I replace them both for BT21's and am much happier now. The bike handled bad not because of different tire combinations but mainly because the crapy dunlop in the front.

Main point is you can do it so long as you understand to take it easy.  Your riding ability and judgement determine if you're going to crash NOT your tires.

IMO, make sure the front is the stickier of the two.  I'm running a Diablo up front and a Sportmax Qualifier out back.  I don't like the Qualifier, but I don't think it's because I mixed profiles.  The bike seems to handle just fine, even drag the occassional peg ~

JM

Do whatever you want, but take it easy the first few miles to see if you notice a handling difference....

In the past three years my wife and I have run through about 40 tires. We've run Pirelli with Metzeler, Pirelli with Bridgestones, Pirelli with Dunlop, Pirelli with Michelin, Michelin with Dunlop, and actually had tires of the same manufacturer on occasion.   

We've also run sport tires on front and sport touring on the rear and sport-touring on the front and sport on the rear. I've even run Diablo Supercorsa tires on the street........We've run well-worn tires with new tires, and ridden on tires that have been internally patched up to two times. We also have ridden these combinations in 30 degree to 105 degree temps, on wet roads for thousands of miles, and have even ridden them through icey patches......We ride to the outer edges of the tires and I've even dragged a knee with most combinations, so........do as you want. If you feel uncomfortable, simply don't do it. No one can tell you what you should feel comfortable doing.

Quote from: evoasis on September 16, 2008, 09:59:43 AM
You're going to get two answers, ones saying don't do it and others saying it doesn't matter...

I've been running on two types for the past 12k no problems soooo far...

It doesn't matter.   

I've run rather different tires (Michelin Pilot Sport on front and Michelin Pilot race on rear) and it works perfectly well.  I don't think you'd notice.  If they're both worn significantly, just replace them both. 

If you're in doubt.  It's a motorcycle; there are only two tiny little contact patches between you and the world.  Take them seriously.