Purposely mismatched tires?

[ScottysB12]

I know that at time either by choice or circumstance tires become mismatched (brand-wise)... I was curious if anyone mismatches tires PURPOSEFULLY... you know, like matching a different rear and front...

Do tires actually perform better if paired up with their partners? Is it an aesthetic thing?

[county]

The information I read on this topic talked a bit about how cruisers will sometimes put a bias ply tire on the front for aesthetics and went on to talk about all kinds of stuff that I found fairly boring.

Ultimately they claimed that mismatching tires was possibly of benefit but that in doing so you were putting your knowledge/experience up against the expertise of the tire industry and were in all likelihood gonna come out on the short end.

I wish I could remember the hazards they mentioned.

[Playinthestreet]

Don't listen to County, he's running Dubs on his Blackbird.

[Cricket1]

People do it all the time, lots of folks run Michelin Pilot Powers on the front, and a Pilot Road on the rear.

I know that Guy has done that on his VFR, and finds the wear is about even front to rear, and gives great feel and stick up front. I have ridden his bike with this combo,

[garry]

People do it all the time, lots of folks run Michelin Pilot Powers on the front, and a Pilot Road on the rear.

I know that Guy has done that on his VFR, and finds the wear is about even front to rear, and gives great feel and stick up front. I have ridden his bike with this combo,

+1. I generally don't mix brands, but I'm a big fan of a sport front with a sport-touring rear. My favorite combo to date is the (regular) Diablo front with a Diablo Strada rear.

[et]

Brands; no. Bias + radial; yes.

When I was racing my old '89 GS500 during the late 90's and early 00's. There was not any available track bias tires for the bike. So I raced with a Metzler radial on the front and a Metzler bias on the rear. That was the only time I ever "mismatched" tires.

[atadaskew]

I'm currently running a Pilot Power front with Avon Storm rear.  Why? Cuz I won a set of Avons, but only my rear was worn out, the front still has lots of mileage left in it, so I just replaced the rear Power with the Avon.
Bike handles just fine.  Not as good as putting on a complete new set, but I'm not pushing it hard either seeing that my gf is on the back almost all the time.  Did a 1200 mile trip a little while ago, no issues.

[nomagnashn]

I'm currently running a Pilot Power front with Avon Storm rear.  Why? Cuz I won a set of Avons, but only my rear was worn out, the front still has lots of mileage left in it, so I just replaced the rear Power with the Avon.
Bike handles just fine.  Not as good as putting on a complete new set, but I'm not pushing it hard either seeing that my gf is on the back almost all the time.  Did a 1200 mile trip a little while ago, no issues.

I'm going to be in that situation later this month.  I have Diablo Stradas front and rear right now.  The rear has over 9k miles on it and will need to be replaced before I go on my trip near the end of Aug.  I'm going to be replacing it with an Avon AV46.  I'm not anticipating any problems but this thread was very timely for getting some input from others that have done this same thing.  

[cultureslayer]

I mix them, not many fronts available for the 250, but many more rear tire choices.  In general it's not much of a problem as long as you aren't going crazy and the front is stickier than the back.

I really liked the ST66 front and Kenda challenger rear combo I had.  I tried it because I ordered the ST66, and bought a parts bike with the kenda on it.  great combo for price and wet traction, I'll do it again once I use up all these GT501s I got cheap.

[2wTraveler]

I used to run a Michelin Pilot POWER on the front and a Michelin Pilot ROAD on the rear. This combo gave me confidence diving into fast corners, with the added tire life in the rear. This was on my Triumph 955i, and they would get about the same mileage front and rear so I could replace as a set. Compared to getting 2 rears to 1 front...

[Tar Snake]

I've been running mixed (Not on purpose, just worked out that way) on my Sprint. I have a Dunlop Roadsmart or whatever their sport-touring tire is now, on the back and Avon Azzaro I had lying around in the garage. It was 1/2 worn when I took it off for a track day so I figure why not use it up?

Bike handles fine.

I don't know enough about tires to select a certain front with a certain rear. I usually start with a matching pair than rear wears out 1st, and if it's exact replacement isn't available than the mixing starts!

[JIMLARCH]

It was common when we only ran bias tires (before radials) to use different makes of tires.  I did it all the time and never had any problems.  Since buying new sport bikes I have always used the same brand of tires front and rear.  Just a mental thing for me, but with the power potential of modern machinery, it just seemed a safer thing to do.

[Desmo Demon]

Like previously mentioned, I like to run a sport tire up front and a sport-touring tire on the rear of the same brand (Diablo front and Diablo Strada rear), but......the way the wife and I have been burning through tires, we have a tendency to run whatever we can find that is on sale. We've mix-matched Pirellis with Michelins, Dunlops with Bridgestones, Pirellis with Dunlops, and whatever other combination happens to be created by the circumstances. Thinking of our bikes, now....it's a fluke that each bike is currently shoed with same-brand tires.

[Court Jester]

I changed my tires last Saturday. I'm heading to Kentucky with a Michelin Power Race on the front and a Dunlop GP on the rear.
I'll let ya know how it worked out when I get back.

[earthshake]

5th generation VFR, Pilot Power front and Road 2 rear...great combination.

[Court Jester]

I changed my tires last Saturday. I'm heading to Kentucky with a Michelin Power Race on the front and a Dunlop GP on the rear.
I'll let ya know how it worked out when I get back.

I did about 1300ish miles total and had no issues with the mix-matched tires. Worked like a charm

[Zerosum]

On my Hawk, I'm currently running a Perelli Diablo radial on the rear, and a Bridgestone BT-45 on the front.  No problems so far, though people have told me that this is dangerous.  I wish I had a 2.5" front rim, so I could run a proper 120mm wide tire up front, but I am pretty much done spending money on the Hawk at this point.

[Court Jester]

I changed my tires last Saturday. I'm heading to Kentucky with a Michelin Power Race on the front and a Dunlop GP on the rear.
I'll let ya know how it worked out when I get back.

Worked like a charm. No complaints here

[Mastros2]

I'm running Metzler Z6's in the front with Marathon ME880's in the rear on my X1.  The tread wear should be even on the tires.  The marathon's are meant for a heavier bike so watch the rear end in the rain and you will be set.  The Z6 is a nice tire.  Probably will match the front and back with z6's next time.