Mixing Tyres

[boredcol]

Hi All

 

Is it okay to mix tyres.

 

Currently have BT023's on front & rear .

I toured europe earlier this year hence the BT023's and have done 3 track days and will be changing the rear tyre soon.

Is it okay to put BT016 on the back and still keep the 23's on the front as it still looks like it has plenty of life left in it.

Or does it pay to change them both at same time?

 

Thanks

Colin

[khp]

Is it okay to mix tyres.

 

Currently have BT023's on front & rear .

I toured europe earlier this year hence the BT023's and have done 3 track days and will be changing the rear tyre soon.

Is it okay to put BT016 on the back and still keep the 23's on the front as it still looks like it has plenty of life left in it.

Or does it pay to change them both at same time?

Colin,

 

My experience is that mixing tires (within a brand) is just fine. Usually, I've done with with a sports tire in the front and a sport/touring type tire on the rear, like Metzeler M1 in front and a Z6 on the rear.

 

I don't know the BT's, so I cannot comment on the specific combination.

 

Kai

[DUNLOP-RTS]

Hi All

 

Is it okay to mix tyres.

 

Currently have BT023's on front & rear .

I toured europe earlier this year hence the BT023's and have done 3 track days and will be changing the rear tyre soon.

Is it okay to put BT016 on the back and still keep the 23's on the front as it still looks like it has plenty of life left in it.

Or does it pay to change them both at same time?

 

Thanks

Colin

 

Colin,

 

You need to contact your local supplier to get an exact answer for that brand. Each brand is different and may have a specific issue if mix-matched. Check it out from an official supplier to keep on the safe side on things.

[boredcol]

Cheers guys.

Thanks for feedback, very much appreciated.

Trouble is it will be sports/touring on front and sport on back which is probably not a good idea so I'll try and pick my suppliers brains when I get my new rear, he'll most likely talk me into a new one on the front as well, (i'm swinging that way now, if in doubt don't do it , is my normal moto, so don't see why i should change it for tyres) so expect to see a part worn front 23 on fleabay anytime soon.

 

Thanks again chaps.

[johnnyrod]

Mixing tyres is fine but to be honest most bikes scrub out a couple of rears to each front, so you may as well put a sticky front on as it'll last for ages anyway. I've got 016s and they're good on the SV

[Cobie Fair]

We normally see on the track 1-2 front to rear usage (2 rears per 1 front). That being said, after tossing my first bike down the road for a too worn tire...I'm a big fan of keeping good rubber on the thing.

 

CF

[danedwards2]

i never thought of tire mixing. now i'm curious with this idea. i'll try this.

[warregl]

We normally see on the track 1-2 front to rear usage (2 rears per 1 front). That being said, after tossing my first bike down the road for a too worn tire...I'm a big fan of keeping good rubber on the thing.

 

CF

 

This is interesting as I have to replace tires again and for the second time on my K1200R I had life left in the rear and the front is at it's wear limit (first set were sport touring tires, these are sport tires) . It's not a massive difference but the rear currently has a few more 32's of an inch than the front. Is this indicative of something I should work on in my riding? Could this mean I'm not applying enought throttle to shift the suspension to the 40/60 weight distribution while cornering? Or could it have anything to do with the KR's doulever front end? With the HP and weight of the KR I would expect more wear on the back - even if I don't ride it like Gary McCoy .

 

Or am I over thinking this? Any thoughts?

[gogogusgus]

Don't be penny wise pound foolish

[faffi]

My brother consistently wear out fronts quicker than rears, I'm the opposite. The strange thing is that he brakes early and rides corners under power whereas I brake very deep and get on the throttle late. (Well, used to - I have worked hard over the past years to change my style to mimick that of my brother. But I still wear the rears faster.) Another issue is that my brother has plenty of front end slides, whereas I rarely suffer them.

[johnnyrod]

Dunno Warren, a friend of mine used to have a TRX850 and she reckoned it scrubbed out more fronts than rears (road riding) which is one of the few times I've heard of it. Tyre wear is a fairly multi-pronged thing, certainly stiffness of suspension plays a part though I doubt changing a few settings will drstically change the relative wear rates. How manymiles did you get out of each tyre? Maybe you're just good at preserving the rears rather than destroying fronts?

[DUNLOP-RTS]

We normally see on the track 1-2 front to rear usage (2 rears per 1 front). That being said, after tossing my first bike down the road for a too worn tire...I'm a big fan of keeping good rubber on the thing.

 

CF

 

This is interesting as I have to replace tires again and for the second time on my K1200R I had life left in the rear and the front is at it's wear limit (first set were sport touring tires, these are sport tires) . It's not a massive difference but the rear currently has a few more 32's of an inch than the front. Is this indicative of something I should work on in my riding? Could this mean I'm not applying enought throttle to shift the suspension to the 40/60 weight distribution while cornering? Or could it have anything to do with the KR's doulever front end? With the HP and weight of the KR I would expect more wear on the back - even if I don't ride it like Gary McCoy .

 

Or am I over thinking this? Any thoughts?

 

 

You may be over thinking this. Your wear is your wear. Simple as that. If the guy next to you drinks his beer faster or slower than you, do you really need to change your pace of drinking?

 

Change your tires when its time to change. But keep in mind, as another has said here, "Don't be penny wise pound foolish"

[rugbydawg13]

Hey Steve, I've heard you say that it's easy to mix-match the race tires due to the similar profiles without any problem. Does this also apply to the road-going tires? I'm specifically interested in something like the new Roadsmart II rear and a Q2 front on CBR600F4i. The original Roadsmarts were a great gripping, long wearing street tire but I've heard the carcass may be a bit stiff on the new ones for the lighter repli-racer bikes. From what it sounds like, the new Roadsmart IIs will have profile more similar to the Q2s than the orignals so, I thought I'd ask for your feedback on this.

[DUNLOP-RTS]

Hey Steve, I've heard you say that it's easy to mix-match the race tires due to the similar profiles without any problem. Does this also apply to the road-going tires? I'm specifically interested in something like the new Roadsmart II rear and a Q2 front on CBR600F4i. The original Roadsmarts were a great gripping, long wearing street tire but I've heard the carcass may be a bit stiff on the new ones for the lighter repli-racer bikes. From what it sounds like, the new Roadsmart IIs will have profile more similar to the Q2s than the orignals so, I thought I'd ask for your feedback on this.

 

There are many different tires out there. IF someone was to start mix matching all the variations of fronts and rears there would be Millions of combinations. The testing alone would be in the hundreds of thousands of years to determine what front works with what rear.

 

However, all Q2 fronts are tested with Q2 rears. same with RoadSmart front and rears.

 

Its so much simpler to just run the same front and rear. to do anything else just throws infinite variables into the situation.

 

The Q2 is a great tire, so is the RoadSmart. Pick the one you want and go with it. It will make life much easier.