Mixing tyre brands

[A993LAD]

Not for me but asking for a friend

I was helping my nephew change the chain and sprockets on his er6 this morning.

When we took the back wheel off I was so appalled at the state of the tyre I told him to take the wheel to the local bike shop and get a new one fitted

It had a Bridgestone battlax on it but I've never been a fan of those tyres so I told him to get a MICHELIN pr5.

Anyway the Bike Shop told him that if it had a Bridgestone on the front he needed to replace it with a Bridgestone on the back and you shouldn't mix tyre brands.

I have always changed my tyres in pairs so it's never been an issue for me but I do wonder how the front tyre knows what the back one is and vice versa and I can't believe it would affect the bike adversely if you had a Michelin on the back and a Bridgestone on the front.

Surely a nice brand new Michelin on the back would work much better than a worn Bridgestone any day even if it was different to the tyre on the front wheel?

[Ilikemotorbikes]

I think they say it so that the tyres have similar wet and dry performance so you ride accordingly.

I wouldn't worry. I've mixed tyre brands and styles a few times, I think if you're racing or trackdaying the bike you might notice a problem.
Road riding then fresh rubber is always going to be better.

[Jazoli]

The bike shop is giving good advice, as you want grip to be equal and the characteristics of the tyre to be the same, but at the end of the day you can put what you want on.

I have mixed tyres in the past but for riding at this time of year you really want constant predictable grip levels and a matching pair will give you that.

[Rubin215 QFSM]

I would be happy enough replacing a worn out tyre with a brand new one of any brand.

The main reason for keeping matching pairs is definitely because they will work best together; developed to compliment each other, same profiles etc, but let's be honest, a fked tyre is a fked tyre!

[cerberaperv]

The answer to this really depends on how fast you ride to push the limits of the tyres. If it’s just road riding, you’ll be fine. I normally keep the brands the same on the track but there’s many a time where I’ve had an intermediate rear and a different brand wet on the front. I’ve even used a road style tyre on the rear and a wet on the front, when it’s cold.
Call keeping the same brand good practice, but not essential.

[trickywoo]

I quite often run different tyres front and rear. You probably don’t want ditch finders one end and premium the other but otherwise it doesn’t make a lot of difference.