Tyre mixing OK??

[shready]

I need to replace the tyres on my 1100GS and have some almost new tyres that I bought from the For Sale board here. Getting prepared for my trip to the Picos and Portugal.

I have a 3/4 worn pair of Tourances and a virtually new old pattern Anakee, plus another 3/4 worn rear Tourance. The Tourances are the old (better) pattern.

Question is, can I mix the front Anakee with a rear Tourance??

 

[t'other dave]

Lots of people do mis-match with out problems but all manufactors don't recommend it, why not see if you can get a cheap Anakee to match?

 

[AdamA]

As I posted to the same question asked elsewhere today:
My view on tyres differs from many mate.
If it's black, round, not dunlop (tho their latest are ok) then it will do me.
Of the known brands I don't think they make a bad tyre any more.
Some people spout stuff about mismatched profiles, but if you think about it any part worn tyre has a different profile from a new one anyhow, so you are pretty much always on mismatched profiles.
I hardly ever change tyres as a pair and often change manufacturer one end at a time.
Never had an issue.

Yes things might feel a bit different than they did on the other tyre, but they would do if you just swapped old for new, and also if you swap from a V profiled tyre to a more rounded one.
Just take it steady scrubbing it in so you get a feel for the combination.
No big thing.
FAR worse to run a seriously worn tyre than to run a a slight mismatch in profiles IMO.

What's the worse that could happen?

It's not going to have no grip, just not [the same grip].
It's not gonna be a totally different shape to the one it's replacing, just slightly.
At worse it makes for different handling.
If that different is a bit unsettling then back off a bit and then look at changing the front too when you get chance.

 

[GSmonkey]

Conventional wisdom will say if you are going to mix, you put the softer (more grippy) tyre on the front. The Anakee has more grip in the dry and probably much the same in the wet, so you should be OK.

Not quite sure what the insurance company would say if you bin it with a mix of tyres. I think if they're all legal in their own right, you shouldn't have a case to answer.

 

[AdamA]

Conventional wisdom will say if you are going to mix, you put the softer (more grippy) tyre on the front.

Conventional wisdom or just the tired old cliché that gets tripped out on these threads?

You are only going to ride to the available grip whatever tyre you have where.
Hopefully you won't be asking maximum grip of any tyre on the road anyhow.
Hence the right people on lardy old BMW twins can show a sports bike on the latest sticky rubber the way ahead on most roads if top speeds aren't an issue.

But even if you are what difference will having a softer tyre on the rear make to your front end and vice versa?
Nowt. It will just wear quicker that's all.
You aren't going to try and push the front harder just cos the rear is gripping well are you?

 

[t'other dave]

Tyre manufactors make the fronts (matched pairs) softer than the rears as standard anyway, the idea being if you are pushing it's easier to control a rear slide than a front.

 

[AdamA]

Tyre manufactors make the fronts (matched pairs) softer than the rears as standard anyway

True.

the idea being if you are pushing it's easier to control a rear slide than a front.

At least that's what they will tell you.
If you are pushing hard enough to get modern road rubber to slide on the front of a bike then you should take to the track.

Of course they won't tell you that they make fronts softer so they wear out roughly as quickly as the rears so they sell more tyres and make more profit, whereas if the front was harder wearing it would still have plenty of grip for most on the road but last forever.

 

[GSmonkey]

True.

At least that's what they will tell you.
If you are pushing hard enough to get modern road rubber to slide on the front of a bike then you should take to the track.

Of course they won't tell you that they make fronts softer so they wear out roughly as quickly as the rears so they sell more tyres and make more profit, whereas if the front was harder wearing it would still have plenty of grip for most on the road but last forever.

Well at best I'll get a two wheel drift, most common for me is a rear end slide when pushing hard..........and that's the limit of my riding skills. When the front goes, its a pant filling moment which has me backing off for quite some time. So with this in mind, stickier tyre on the front seems logical.

Don't know about the relative softness of front/back of a matching pair. All my tyres wear 2f=1r.

Either way the answer is yes - mix the tyres.

 

[bowser]

Don't think that this really applies here as the tyres are both "dual role" and I think that they are all radial, but it can make a difference with road tyres.
Remember that you cant mix a radial front and a bias belt rear. The other way round is legal and safe ish but best to stick with one or the other.

 

[Borderraider]

can I mix the front Anakee with a rear Tourance??

Ran above combination on a R1200GS...Bike handled better than it did with a set of Anakees

 

[davegs]

mixes

I have run my 1150 with tourence on the back and bridgestones on the front no probs also did many thousands of miles with a KC80 on the fromnt and tourence on the back (longer milage over long stretches with no tyre shops!)
never had a prob even in the wey foot pegs stiil grind into the deck ok.
Dave gs.

 

[not0T1]

The reason tyre manufactures recommend pairing of tyres on a bike or on the same axle of a car is because of slipangle. This is basically the difference in the angle between the sidewall of the tyre deforming under cornering and the road wheel.

If you have tyres from different manufacturers the construction of the carcase will be different and the tyres will perform differently under load. The differences are minute but might cause one tyre to break away while another tyre continues to grip. Some manufacturers use the same carcase for several models of tyre but then you have the problem of levels of grip from different rubber compunds.

My preference is to keep tyres paired.

 

[speeder]

I've had different combinations of Michelin T66/tourances/Anakee's on my 1100 and to be honest there was no noticeable difference with any of them apart from short life on the Anakees.
I think tyres are like oil, lots of different opinions but basically all the same.

 

[AdamA]

I think tyres are like oil, lots of different opinions but basically all the same.

Move along. Nothing to see.
Hopefully nobody else will notice now.

 

[ianboydsnr]

The reason tyre manufactures recommend pairing of tyres on a bike or on the same axle of a car is because of slipangle. This is basically the difference in the angle between the sidewall of the tyre deforming under cornering and the road wheel.

If you have tyres from different manufacturers the construction of the carcase will be different and the tyres will perform differently under load. The differences are minute but might cause one tyre to break away while another tyre continues to grip. Some manufacturers use the same carcase for several models of tyre but then you have the problem of levels of grip from different rubber compunds.

My preference is to keep tyres paired.

sounds like snake oil


I run a Tourance front and a well squared off trial attack rear, works brilliantly, still tons of grip and it doesn't have any of the odd behavior that you normally get with a well squared of rear

 

[AdamA]

The reason tyre manufactures recommend pairing of tyres on a bike or on the same axle of a car is because of slipangle. This is basically the difference in the angle between the sidewall of the tyre deforming under cornering and the road wheel.

If you have tyres from different manufacturers the construction of the carcase will be different and the tyres will perform differently under load. The differences are minute but might cause one tyre to break away while another tyre continues to grip. Some manufacturers use the same carcase for several models of tyre but then you have the problem of levels of grip from different rubber compunds.

My preference is to keep tyres paired.

sounds like snake oil

Does snake oil = bullshit spouted by tyre manufacturers/reps to try and get you to buy another one of their tyres rather than swap to another make one end at a time?

Yes different tyres have slightly different specs, slightly different compounds, slightly different levels of grip availible and slightly different profiles.

But as 99.9% of people on the road ride well within the capabilities of ANY road tyre they will only make things slightly different, and well within what most people won't even notice and all can cope with.
It's not like you can't cope with many different changes in grip availible from the road surface as you cross it, so why can't you cope with a constant very slight difference in tyres?

 

[not0T1]

whatever floats your boat!