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mixing tires

StratTuner

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I'm a fan of Continental Motion tires

$160 for BOTH tires and about 10K+ mileage. ($100 to have them mounted and balanced.) (May 2018)

I observe that the rear tire ALWAYS shows metal cords first. It wears out well ahead of the front tire, sooo...

I'm thinking of putting something on the rear (Michelin Power 3 maybe) that will last a little longer.

The goal, here, is to have both tires wear out at the same time AND to keep the cost as low as possible.

Two Questions:

1) does it matter if one mixes tires that way?
2) can anyone recommend a dissimilar combination?

I'll stay with the Conti Motion on the front and try different tires on the back to see which wears out at about the same time as the front. That kind of research will take a lot of time.
 
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Michelin Commander II has a good long wear reputation.

What sizes of those will fit the NC?

120/90-17 is OK for the front? ($172.72)

160/70B-17 is OK for the rear? ($190.64)

Stupidly expensive, though. May be out of the running just for that.
Together, that's a $500 set of tires!

$260 for the Conti Motion (tires + mount) = 10,000 miles
$500 for Commander 2 (tires + mount) = ????

the commaders would have to be in the 20,000 mileage range to be worth it.
 
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I’m switching over from Conti Motion to Shinko Raven. I currently have a mismatched set and it works fine. However I wouldn’t mix a street tire with a trail tire.

Since I mount my own tires, I change them when needed and I don’t try to do the set together.
 
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I’m switching over from Conti Motion to Shinko Raven. I currently have a mismatched set and it works fine. However I wouldn’t mix a street tire with a trail tire.

Since I mount my own tires, I change them when needed and I don’t try to do the set together.

I'll go and read about the Shnko Ravens. Thank you.
Nope. Wouldn't mix the street tires with the offroad variety.
shinkoravensNC700X.jpg
 
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The rule is : don't put softer tires on the rear. Why? Because if you loose grip, better be rear than front. Loosing rear usually comes with warnings, front less so.

Also tires have different shapes, mixing may create weird handling. Some are V shaped (provide agility) and other O (more progressive on the angle).

Personally I do not mix tires, and I avoid using them down to metal thread (there is a gage for good reason).
 
Since rear tires wear more quickly than front tires I strive to replace the rear 2 to 1 with the front. Sometimes it even works out. If you're seeing cords you're riding a thousand miles to far.

That's a sure way of getting a flat a long way from home or a garage/bike shop.

It's written in Murphy's Law for Rider's. #1.
 
What sizes of those will fit the NC?

120/90-17 is OK for the front? ($172.72)

160/70B-17 is OK for the rear? ($190.64)

Those are not the size tires specified for the motorcycle. They have different aspect ratios than the specified tires. The specified front tire is 120/70 and the rear 160/60. The tires you list are 120/90 & 160/70. they have higher height to with ratio than the spec'd tires, giving a taller, narrower profile that would make the bike handle differently and not in a good way. Unless you're getting tires for a different application, such as primarily dirt riding, I wouldn't get tires that differ much from the maker's size specification.
 
I have switched to the Shinko Ravens-they were good at KSL and on some of the wet roads. I switched to the Shinko Ravens is due to they have thread in the middle-thus, wear indicators in the middle. The Motion Pros do not have thread directly in the middle, thus no wear indicators in the middle-where most tires wear out. I would check and they would look good, go ride 200 miles and cords would be showing. The Shinko Ravens are about same price as the Motion Pros. Don't know how long they will last-probably wont know until next year-as I have 2 bikes I ride and ride both about the same # of miles each year. The Shinko Ravens have the OEM tire sizes for the NC700x.
 
Anyone try the Avon trailriders? They've got green boys seal of approval just looking for some kind of consensus
 
Based on advice from the good forum members, I think I'm going to abandon mixing tires.

New Plan:
NC700X: Shinko Ravens
FJR1300: Michelin Pilot Power 3

no mixing or using odd sizes.
should get at least 10K from each set of tires.
 
I don’t know the longevity of the Shinko Raven since I just started using them, and currently only a front tire. When my rear Motion is done, I’ll put a Raven on the back. At the price they go for, it’s worth a try.
 
Again, Power 3 are sport tires. Good luck getting 10k out of them on a somewhat heavy bike. On my Street Triple I had two sets, they lasted around 5000 km.
 
When I first put the Shinko Raven on the rear, I had a Kenda K671 on the front. Put about 800-900 miles on the rear Shinko before replacing the front tire. The bike behaved nominally with the Shinko/Kenda mix; however, the Shinko Ravens (in my opinion) are a better sticking tire than the Kendas and I became more confident in the curves with Shinkos are front and rear.
Currently on my C50 Boulevard, I have a Shinko on rear and Kenda on front (not the Raven on the rear-doesn't come in size suitable for the Boulevard). They are ok but in the twisties, I can tell there is a slight incompatibility between the 2 tires-takes just a little more to get leaning in the curves-but no biggie-after 86,000+ miles on the Boulevard, I know its nuances...
 
Again, Power 3 are sport tires. Good luck getting 10k out of them on a somewhat heavy bike. On my Street Triple I had two sets, they lasted around 5000 km.

I've already been through one set of them on the FJR... first set, and I got 10K miles. The front wore out a little faster than the rear.

I understand that sport tires are softer and not as long-wearing.

Can you recommend a long-wearing highway tire that costs about the same?
 
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Pilot Road (4 or 5), T30 / 31, RoadSmart 3, Angel GT, to name few. Well pretty much any touring / GT tires depending on sales you can get.
 
Pilot Road (4 or 5), T30 / 31, RoadSmart 3, Angel GT, to name few. Well pretty much any touring / GT tires depending on sales you can get.
love those. had a set once (Pilot Road 3) ....way too expensive, but thank you.

I notice the Continental Motions are available for the FJR now (they weren't when I first looked), so it's back to those.

good price
10 K miles (consistently)
 
I had a set of Ravens on my previous-to-NCX bike, a CBR600F4. They were completely acceptable tires, but I didn't love them except for price. I think I wrote something about them here on this board a couple years ago. At this point, I'd probably rate them as roughly comparable to the Conti-Motions, in a general way.

I really like the Angel GT set I have now, but for my former mostly-commuting riding, tires matter relatively little.
 
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