The cons of two different tires?

[jbeele]

I was just wondering if there would be any serious effects from having a Pirelli Diablo as a back tire and a Bridgstone battlax as a front tire (both new). I have the battlax front and back tire now but they are sport touring tires and I spend majority of my time on switchback curves, so I want a more stable back tire.

 

[KingY]

Well i have never had mismatch tyres just incase, due to wear patterns and how different tyres react and different temperatures and in different situations, so it is deffo better that you now got a matching pair, what model of battlax you running?

 

[jbeele]

Back Tire:
Bridgestone Battlax BT-016 Rear Tire - Street Bike - Motorcycle Superstore

Front Tire:
Bridgestone Battlax BT-016 Front Tire - Street Bike - Motorcycle Superstore

 

[KingY]

They are not sport touring tyres. Well they might fall under that catogory, But for fast switch back roads, you will struggle to find a better tyre in my experience. For Grip they are superb, hense they only last about 3000-4000 miles

unless you are looking for sport touring tyres then deffo got the wrong tyre as it wonr last long enough for any touring

 

[adberns]

Wondered that myself. The standard answer is don't do it. Some claim your handling will be not as good due to different compounds and designs, etc. I always wondered about this - is this like "it won't be as great as if you put TWO of our brand of tires on, but its not unsafe?"

In a recent cycling mag, however (don't recall which one), they mentioned a point I had never thought of. A new sport-touring tire had a completely re-designed rear with fewer rain grooves in it. The reason the tire manufacturer did that was because the re-designed front had MORE grooves, and was meant to make a bigger channel for the rear. This is when I started to come around to the standard answer of "both tires, same brand." The rear tire may have compromises that were done assuming the front tire could take over. These compromises could be in grip, compound, tread pattern, etc.

So, long story short. Mixing and matching tire brands - not recommended, and hard for the average person to say what problems may arise due to it.

 

[jbeele]

Well they are not as sticky as the Diablo's (I think). They have slipped on me a few times and I was hoping for stickier tires but dont want to spring for both since the battlax's are still new.

 

[jbeele]

I agree with what your saying Adberns, I hate to say it but its always better safe than sorry I guess.

 

[KingY]

Well they are not as sticky as the Diablo's (I think). They have slipped on me a few times and I was hoping for stickier tires but dont want to spring for both since the battlax's are still new.

I find that quite hard to belive, what model of Diablos are you comapring to? I know that the Bt-016 is one of the higher rated tyres in its catogory for traction and performance, just not for long life, which is what you want from a sports tyre.

Quite curious, dont find many people who have a bad thing to say about the grip on BT-016, well i dont think anyway

 

[Motogiro]

Bridgestone terms their BT-016 tires as 'Hypersport' You'll be hard pressed to find a tire better suited for traction on the street. Now they have the BT-016 Pro with even better compounds , wear and wet traction than they had before.

Front tire wear on my BT-016 Pro looks like it will be about 2 rears to 1 front. I'm fairly aggressive on these tires from time to time and I really like the traction.
The rear sticks very well even pushing it hard out of turns with my twin.
I honestly don't understand where you will find better traction from the Diablo.

 

[YZF73]

They have slipped on me a few times and I was hoping for stickier tires.

In this case I believe the tyres themselves don't have anything to do with the slipping, I'll explain a few things I feel you may want to consider before replacing tyres.


Firstly, suspension setup is an important factor when it comes to bike handling/grip, I would strongly advise that you watch some of the videos by Dave Moss, quite long videos but some very good info, to start you off;


Setting Sag;

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK3flKxf41U]Motorcycle Suspension - Setting Sag - YouTube[/ame]

Chassis Balance;

Dave Moss Unsprung: Chassis Balance, Dave Moss Unsprung: Chassis Balance Dave opens the show with a suspension topic/lesson followed by live Q&A from the ...

There are many more of the unsprung series on onthethrottletv's ustream channel, including the two clicks out series on YouTube.


Secondly, you may want to consider riding technique, Keith Code's California Superbike School, in my opinion, is one of the best training schools out there. I would strongly advise watching the Twist of the Wrist 2 film or reading the book, a lot of very good techniques that make a huge difference to how you and your bike interact whilst riding.


The reason I think this is the case, is that having just returned from a track day on my FZ6 with Michelin Pilot Road 3 tyres fitted, I can report that I experienced absolutely no slipping at any point during the day (7, 20 minute sessions), having reached both edges of the rear tyre and setting respectable don'tknow lap times. (Standard suspension, Racetech front springs of the appropriate rate for my weight, sag set correctly, forks raised 8mm through clamps, damping pretty good on both ends).

I can report similar results on the road, with the tyre having only slipped twice since fitted, both in wet/damp conditions on roundabouts (likely caused by oil/diesel).



Going back to the actual question of fitting different front and rear tyres, I personally wouldn't do it, as tyres are (as previously mentioned :thumbup designed to work in pairs. Differences in compound, hence grip also have the possibility of causing very strange handling characteristics at or near the limit of grip, for instance a 'grippier' tyre fitted to the rear may tend to push the front tyre into a slide near the limits of the front tyres grip, which isn't particularly desirable.



Hope this helps you out, please let me know if you would like any other links etc.


Cheers,
Yamahaboyz

 

[YZF73]

Forgot to attach a picture of the rear tyre, shows a high speed damping problem, but with the standard shock there's nothing I can do about it grr... :spank:


Cheers,
Yamahaboyz

 

[dxh24]

I've done it, had a new angel st on the rear and a dunflop on the front... If you get it wrong like I did your front let's go before the rear and you get "under steer" which can be catastrophic on a bike. Personally I'd get the same tires front and back but if your going to mix and match make sure your front tyre is the stickier one


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[Sawblade]

I've been riding with a BT-020 front and a PR2 rear, and I can feel that front slipping in hard turns. A BT-016 is way stickier, so you might not have that issue.

Once I get back to the states, it's getting both tires replaced with a matching set since it'll have been sitting a few years.

 

[Motogiro]

I've been riding with a BT-020 front and a PR2 rear, and I can feel that front slipping in hard turns. A BT-016 is way stickier, so you might not have that issue.

Once I get back to the states, it's getting both tires replaced with a matching set since it'll have been sitting a few years.

What is the manufacture date on your BT-020? They don't make the BT-021 anymore and that was the BT-020 replacement. The BT-21 has been repalced by the BT=023 so I'm betting that is a pretty old tire?

 

[Blakester122]

Differences in compound, hence grip also have the possibility of causing very strange handling characteristics at or near the limit of grip, for instance a 'grippier' tyre fitted to the rear may tend to push the front tyre into a slide near the limits of the front tyres grip, which isn't particularly desirable.

What about having a grippier tyre up front and dual compound on the read?

 

[YZF73]

What about having a grippier tyre up front and dual compound on the read?

Having a 'grippier' tyre on the front would be much less likely to cause issues, in fact I know the Michelin PR3's I'm currently running use softer compounds in the front than the rear in each of the compound zones (centre and edges) of the tyre, shown on Michelin's website;

http://www.michelinmotorcycle.com/index.cfm?event=pilotroad3


Running a dual-compound on the rear would also be unlikely to cause problems, providing it was of 'lower performance' to the front tyre as previously mentioned. An example of this would be the Pirelli Diablo Rosso 2's, which are a mono-compound front and dual-compound rear.


It is still adviseable however to fit sets of tyres rather than fitting different brands/models front to back, as they are designed to work together and compliment one another.


I hope this helps

Yamahaboyz