Thoughts on matching make/brand of front and rear tyres?
 

Some roadies, or so I've gathered, can be a bit OCD. Look at the need to match watch bottle cages to the colour of bike, not to mention the water bottles themselves. Or have a matching kit for example. Nothing wrong with any of this BTW.

I'm curious what the thinking is around tyres. Anyone obsess with having the same manufacturer and make of tyre on the front and back of their bike? I currently have a different tyre on the front and back of my bike for no other reason than I had one of each tyre and I needed to use them. For me, it's not a big deal.

Today though, I was out for a ride and I stopped at the halfway point to have a bite to eat and take a quick breather. Another rider pulled up and while I was eating my bar remarked that I had a nice bike, but it was shame the tyres didn't match. I didn't know what to say. It's not like I'm riding with one black and tan tyre on the front, and a solid black tyre on the rear. They are just different manufacturers. I mumbled along the the lines of "well, so long as the tyres hold air I'm good" and then rode off. The whole conversation just struck me as strange.

Anyway. More food for thought on the forums. Cheers.

For Road I don't think it matters a great deal, unless you're posing for something, but that's not riding. When cranks are turning who cares as long as they work for you.

Like socks, I think most would prefer their tires match. I might rag a friend about it because I'm an ass but I wouldn't call out a stranger, that's just rude.

To be clear, by "colour of bike" I hope you're talking about the secondary trim color or, in some cases, the structural component color. Matching bottle cage color to the primary paint color of a frame is usually sub-optimal, except for some cases where that happens to also be a secondary color.

My reply: "Ask your doctor if Paxil is right for you."

My daily wheelset has a Michelin Lithion on the front and a Conti Gatorskin on the back. Why? I can't remember. Probably because I wore out one of the previous tires and it was what was handy on the workbench that day.

Only mountain bikers are allowed to have 2 different kinds of tires on the same bike.

the road to hell is paved
 

with mismatched tires. don't do it.

I give thought to having tires with consistent ride qualities front and rear. But I have a bunch of front wheels ready to go and likewise rear wheels. Often reasons to use certain ones of each and I am not going to change tires just before riding to make them match. When I buy tires it is for the ride. If I can get them in the sidewall I like, that's a plus. But when I go to get tires, often that option isn't there or I have to settle for a size or tread I don't want. No big deal. Once I"m riding, all I see is the black (or black and green) tread on the front tire. Rear? Who cares?

Ben

The road to hell is paved
 

So, don't ride that road. Take another (on whatever tires you're riding).

Mismatched tires, with inherently mismatched rolling resistance, can lead to wheelbase shrinkage or enlargement. Don't do it.

I might give a friend a hard time, but wouldn't say anything to someone who I didn't know.
For me, I have t have the exact same tire on each wheel, and each tire's writing has to line up with the writing on the rim or with the valve stem.
It even bothers me to have different tubes in each tire.
Cages must match as well, and worst of it all I have to have the same number of wraps of bar tape on each side of the handlebars.
OCD can be a real PIA to deal with.

I’ve thought of trying out this non-matched set, but otherwise no.

Keith

https://www.continental-tires.com/bi...tack-and-force

On a serious note, but hopefully not to divert the original question too much. I'm considering putting a 'race' version of a tire in the front for cornering or whatnot, and the endurance version of the same tire in the rear for flat protection. Both would be same brand and tier. Anyone do this? In my case, I'm referencing a Corsa front and Corsa Control in the rear.

That makes sense to me.

I know a guy who knows a guy who's wing wang fell off after riding on mismatched tires.

Eat on the bike and this won't happen!

tough getting waitress service though.

I've been thinking the same thing with the same tires... at least in the shoulder seasons.

Would be nice if so many tires didn't have Giant brightly colored labels / logos. Then the bike fashion police wouldn't notice.

When I was motorcycling, I always used a different front / rear tire combo on one of my bikes cause that is what I found got me good handling and decent rear tire life. I could care less if someone noticed.

I guess I would have found some cycling faux pas on his part and rub his nose in it. Here are some examples:

In these situations the best thing to do is launch into a 30 minute diatribe about optimising front aero and grip vs rear power delivery requirements and how none of the commercial manufacturers provide an acceptable combination. Tell them you heard it on the 41 and then ask about his (it is a he right?) tyre selection process.


Oh yeah, and +1 for stopping to eat being a no no. You think this is a picnic or something?

In your kit?

You'd be doing everyone a favor...

That's kind of a big deal.

i run different model/tier/size of tire in front and back. My Lynskey came with Conti Ultra Sports in 28mm, which had fine clearance on the fork, but rubbed under power in the back (real width measured at 31.6mm). Switching to a GP4K in 25mm in the back solved this problem (real width 28mm). Considering I figured this out after my first two rides, I wasn’t going to throw out a pair of perfectly fine and nearly new Ultra Sports, so for now I’ll continue running the OEM tire in the front, and keep the spare Gran Prix for the rear. given how little wear the front tire’s seen so far, I’m likely to go through the two GP4ks before I even go through one of the Ultra Sports (provided they don’t somehow get destroyed).

Use what ya got. That it works and you’re out riding matters more than anything else.

Only to be done in dire emergencies. Otherwise, conduct unbecoming.