Mismatched tyres

[boman]

If you are stuck with having to fit crap tyres, maybe some suspension work is in order to recover the situation.

Steve

Just don't mix crossplys and radials on the same bike.

[scracha]

I'm interested to hear peoples opinions of mixing a crossply tyre with a radial.

Isn't that illegal?

[AD345]

Isn't that illegal?

Either way it would be interesting to know what an insurance company thought of it...

[Katman]

To give you a brief run down...........

I know of someone (yes, they're a member on here) who asked a bike shop to get in a Pirelli Sport Demon (crossply) front tyre to match his rear tyre. The shop obviously never got around to ordering it and when the customer came in to get it fitted, they decided to fit a Metzeler M3 instead, simply because that was all they had in stock.

And yes, there is a lot more to this story than I have told so far.

[cs363]

I thought it was a no-no, as the biasply front and radial rear would cause massive understeer problems and the opposite would cause oversteer.

HOWEVER, this was ages ago and times change.

The Harley-Davidson Rocker runs a radial rear and a biasply front.

And they wouldn't sell anything that could be that dangerous given that they're from USA - the land of the law suit.

I would have thought it a no-no too, but it's interesting about the HD Rocker - though this is obviously a bike that isn't going to demand too much of it's tyres in comparison to a sports bike for instance.

Given that as Riffer correctly states, the US is home to the law suit for anything that may be even remotely dangerous to the vehicle operator, this would tend to indicate that whilst not ideal this combination is at least possible.
I guess it would come down to the bike and it's intended usage, bearing this information in mind. Modern bias ply tyres are very good and light years ahead of the stuff we used to use back in the old days when that was all you could buy.
Any clues as to the bike that generated this question Katman?

[cs363]

After checking the relevant sections of the LTSA website it would appear that the only legal requirement regarding radial and bias ply tyres is the commonly known one regarding the fact that they should not be mixed on the same axle.
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/certifiers/v...cles-10-v3.pdf
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/rules/tyres-...eels-2001.html

So it would seem the authorities are OK with it, unless of course I've missed it on the LTSA's wonderfully easy to navigate website.... *choke*

[Jantar]

To give you a brief run down...........

I know of someone (yes, they're a member on here) who asked a bike shop to get in a Pirelli Sport Demon (crossply) front tyre to match his rear tyre. The shop obviously never got around to ordering it and when the customer came in to get it fitted, they decided to fit a Metzeler M3 instead, simply because that was all they had in stock.....

Depending on the bike I would think that would be a dangerous combination. Different profile as well as different tyre construction is asking for some rather interesting handling characteristics. Personally I wouldn't even take a bike with that combination out of the shop.

[Kickaha]

When radials first began appearing for cars, the advice was, if mixed, to put the radials on the front.

The correct recommendation on a car is radials to the rear

If you are stuck with having to fit crap tyres, maybe some suspension work is in order to recover the situation.

Steve

There are still some very good crossply bike tyres available, you can buy crap radials as well

[Katman]

And yes folks, there's even more to this story.

I don't intend to elaborate further - if the person it happened to chooses to do so, that's his business.

I'm hoping that if the shop in question reads this thread that they may revise their attitude towards him.

[cs363]

Hmm...certainly not a good look for a so called professional shop to be doing something like that regardless of legalities, especially without the customers OK on it. Particularly on a bike designed for radials that are presumably readily available.
Almost calls for a name and shame, but I understand your reticence to do so particularly if it's down to one squid employee for instance, as one squid does not a whole bad shop make, in the same way as one bad dealer does not make an entire industry bad..

[Katman]

Hmm...certainly not a good look for a so called professional shop to be doing something like that regardless of legalities, especially without the customers OK on it. Particularly on a bike designed for radials that are presumably readily available.
Almost calls for a name and shame, but I understand your reticence to do so particularly if it's down to one squid employee for instance, as one squid does not a whole bad shop make, in the same way as one bad dealer does not make an entire industry bad..

Trouble is, on my suggestion, the person in question has been back into the shop to question them on the issue and has been told that the shop has no problem with what they have done.

[cs363]

Trouble is, on my suggestion, the person in question has been back into the shop to question them on the issue and has been told that the shop has no problem with what they have done.

Umm..

[wickle]

always been told and have done, replace front and back at same time with matched tyres, if you chew back tyres out buy two and store reserve in back of garage, most probably will find better wear out of second trye as it has had time to cure properly.

[riffer]

Trouble is, on my suggestion, the person in question has been back into the shop to question them on the issue and has been told that the shop has no problem with what they have done.

Interesting. Did you fail the bike on a WOF check?

[Capt M Stubbing]

i put a crossply (by mistake) on my 1988 zx10, almost killed me. tank slapped something fierce. had crossplys on my vmax, thats all that fitted. was ok...if you like the handling like a vmax. i reckon one of the best improvements in bikes...is proper tyres.