Hio just wondered what everybodys view is on different tyres for my nc30. Im pretty new to riding and wondered if am going to have problems as at the moment ive a got michelin race on the front and a bridgestone battlax bt96 on the rear?/


any advice would be great!!

Kris

Not ideal, but it depends on how you ride the bike.

I would certainly stick with a matched pair if you do track days or push the bike hard. Sometimes the profiles of the two tyres don't work well. When they wear out you should probably plan to buy a matched set.

I don't think it will matter much if you were just commuting for example, but personally it wouldn't do much for my confidence in the total grip.

BT96 were discontinued ages ago..I'll bet that tyre is coming up to 5yrs old...!!

if you are going to run mismatched tyres then try to run from the same manufacturer. I would imagine they would complement each other better than non manufacturer pairings.

Saying that, I don't know this...

I run BT090F and BT092R on my bike for commuting and have spare wheels with BT090R on them for scratching...

Ideal and makes use of the pimp swingarms we have.. Swapping them means that I don't get a seized on wheel either..which has been known to happen in between tyre changes.

Hmmm, I'm having an issue with mine at the minute.

Doesn't feel very steady at the back, thought it might be tyre pressures at first, got off the bike back home and noticed that it's got a BT96 on the back and a Dunlop on the front and the front tyre has a mark around the edge of the chicken strip on the left side only.

Nothing is rubbing it, very strange!! But just wondering if it's because I'm getting used to it now and pushing it a bit more, but the suspension needs sorting so wondering if that might be a factor.

now that you mention it the rear tyre does look old, but its got plenty of grip and isnt cracked!! do you think i should just run it until they wear and replace the pair??

stretchie_ wrote:But just wondering if it's because I'm getting used to it now and pushing it a bit more, but the suspension needs sorting so wondering if that might be a factor.

Tyres are everything! If you're starting to push it then get some new tyres.

Forget mileage, you won't know what these bikes are capable of until you fit sticky tyres!

Bridgestone BT090's and dunlop GPR alpha 10's are the shiznit, but you'll only get 3000km's out of them at best.

Thinking of just banging on a pair of sports tourers. Then I know the tyres are good, then sort out the suspension.

It's never going to be a race bike, and I'm never going to be rider enough even to push this little fella to the edge, just like having a nice well paced ride, I probably do the same speed on this as I do on the BlackBird, or the 1.5 1997 Civic...

I just get to those speeds in differing times depending on the vehicle

Fit some BT92's front and rear. Seeing as your new to the bike, or riding in general as you say, you cant be expected to make the mos tof the bike. The BT92's are a Sport mileage tyre and will easily last 7000 Miles before squaring off and I promise it will be plenty to explore the edges of the tyres for your current experience level.

I Always insist on matched tyres, not just manufacturer, but specific tyres. I just cant trust the affect of running slightly different tyres that I might not be used to. you may find that the rear gives out sooner than you think the front can handle and your likely to push it too hard and have an accident. likewaise for the front. it might not be able to hadnle the cornering force that the Rear can..

Matched tyres are a must for me, brand new every time.

I wouldnt have it any other way. I honestly would rather take the bike off the road when it comes to change the tyre If I cannot afford to replace it with a matched tyre for the front...

I normally only have same set tyres myself but bought the bike like this, the rear goes right over to the edge but the front has huuuge strips (strips not exactly important or really an indicaiton of ability I know but just saying to illustrate the profile must be quite different between them)

Might have to wait until next month to do the tyres though.

Might have the Blackbird back in a couple weeks too.

I'll get it out of my system on friday, got a track day at Mallory park on some buells

ibby4585 wrote:now that you mention it the rear tyre does look old, but its got plenty of grip and isnt cracked!! do you think i should just run it until they wear and replace the pair??

There'll be a DOT code on your tyre, it's 4 numbers, IE 1602 (which tells you the tyre was made in the 16th week of 2002)

Have a look how old it is. I believe its Ford who don't recommend using anything older than 6 years on their cars.

Tyres are more critical on a bike as you only have 2 of them.. If it's very old and still in use the bikes probably been laid up a lot so I wouldn't trust the tyre personally.

I have a spare NC24 wheel who's tyre was made in 1986 ^_^ still had plenty of tread too.