different tires... front and rear

[UkiSash]

I have a michelin macadam on the front and the front tire is in great shape. The rear however is beat up. I dont want to spend alot of money buying a whole set of tires so i was wondering can i leave the front and get a different tire for the back( conti road attack 160/60 ).

I know i shouldnt have two different tires but to be honest, i dont exactly know what the reason is.

The front tire would be stock 120/70.
What side affects will i have? Will there be any? Is it going to be noticable? I would like to order the new tire today or tommorow so a quick educated responce would be apriciated. Thanks in advance.

[thetable]

IMNSHO, you want the best tire in the front, because a back tire that washes is much easier to deal with from a riding standpoint. From everything I have read, the Madadams are less than a stellar tire. Yes, you can do it, but that still doesn't make a good idea.

[The CyberPoet]

My advice: get two new tires mail order, and list your existing front tire on eBay to help offset the cost of the new front. I already have the ebay write up for the Macadams (crap-a-dams) posted up so you don't even have to create the listing -- just copy, edit a little to reflect the actual status, and post it up.

http://www.motorcycleanchor.com/temp/macadam120.txt

and

http://www.motorcycleanchor.com/temp/macadam150.txt

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[GregS]

If you don't mind the Macadam now, that means you probably don't ride hard enough to bring out its bad characteristics. That being said you could put a different tire on the rear and probably not notice the funky handling.

[The CyberPoet]

If you don't mind the Macadam now, that means you probably don't ride hard enough to bring out its bad characteristics.

Or simply that he doesn't realize them because he has no experience to compare them against (blaming the bike for the behavior of the tires).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

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[UkiSash]

Or simply that he doesn't realize them because he has no experience to compare them against (blaming the bike for the behavior of the tires).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

i really don't have any experience with any other tires, or bikes for that matter.

[sportbikeridr]

dont take the chance ... change the rear tire ... but the thing of 2 different tires on the bike... 2 me thats horse**** ! thats just the dealers trying to make a sale.. i put 2 new tires on my kat 600 ... have a pirelle diablo on the front and a shinko on the rear... think the only way to know about mixing tires if u where racing

[The CyberPoet]

dont take the chance ... change the rear tire ... but the thing of 2 different tires on the bike... 2 me thats horse**** ! thats just the dealers trying to make a sale.. i put 2 new tires on my kat 600 ... have a pirelle diablo on the front and a shinko on the rear... think the only way to know about mixing tires if u where racing

It's definitely not horse poop, although depending on where/when/how you ride, you may never notice the difference.

The biggest deal about matched tires is how they shift water (the front's shape & tread pattern shifting for the rear's pattern to interact with); if you never ride in the wet, that's not particularly important, is it?

The other issue is strictly how the banking works between the two, whether the arc's (across the tread-face over to the sidewalls) are approximately the same, or if by being radically different, they tend to squat on one end and shove on the other while feeding back the inequality through the frame. Again, if you never ride to the point that you push tires hard enough to notice, that really not all that important, right?

The problem is that if you never notice the differences because you never do these things, when yourself in one of the situations where you desperately need everything to work together correctly and smoothly (like a panic reaction), you're probably already past your normal limits and counting on the tires to do their job exceptionally well, which they suddenly may not be able to because of this mis-matching.

Motorcycle tires' excellence (or lack of it) are almost always most definitive at the extremes of their performance envelopes. Dealers typically tell you to replace both because that's what the manufacturers all say. Manufacturers all say that because their technical guys tell them to (not their marketing guys). The technical guys say it because they actually know the reasons for it, and if they can save just a couple lives a year with the advice, are doing their jobs correctly.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

______________________
CyberPoet's KR Specials
SuzukiStratosphere.com - 6 Cylinders, wet dreams...
The Best Motorcycle Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.