Mismatched tyres

[MarkH]

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.

Did they advise this rider that they wished to fit a different tyre to what had been ordered? I would be unhappy if I ordered a tyre and took a bike in to have it fitted only to find the bike shop had forgotten to get the right tyre in and had just fitted what they had in stock. If I take a bike in to have a certain tyre fitted then that is what I expect them to do.

[boman]

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.

Thats a bit of an old wives tale. Tyres nowdays are cured out of the mold. Keeping them stored usually makes the compounds start to harden, over a period of time. They might last longer but the grip can be reduced.

[Katman]

I would be unhappy if I ordered a tyre and took a bike in to have it fitted only to find the bike shop had forgotten to get the right tyre in and had just fitted what they had in stock.

That is precisely what happened.

Pirelli Sport Demon ordered to match Sport Demon on rear. (And told if Pirelli wasn't available than a BT45 would do).

Metzeler M3 (radial) fitted to front because they forgot to get the Pirelli in.

Their story was that the wholesaler was out of stock of the Pirelli. I can vouch for the fact that that was not the case.

[Pussy]

That is precisely what happened.

I'd be SPEWING if it happened to me.
Katman, this DOESN'T apply to your shop.... but this is yet another example of some bike shops doing themselves no favours

[Katman]

I'd be SPEWING if it happened to me.
Katman, this DOESN'T apply to your shop.... but this is yet another example of some bike shops doing themselves no favours

Absolutely.

I have put this matter out in the public view because I feel it is imperitive that shops are not allowed to get away with this sort of shoddy service.

New Zealand bike shops should not be attacked on the prices they charge for their goods (those prices are decided elsewhere) but if they fail to offer adequate service and, in consequence, compromise the safety of their customer then they should be taken to task over it.

[Pussy]

I 100% agree with you, Katman.
I have seen myself the attitudes displayed by a FEW shops.
Conversely, I have had great service from others, too.
Bike shops do not own the customer

[Mikkel]

The job of the front tyre is to force a 'dry' patch on the road for the rear to travel on. That only works in a straight line. At a lean, this is out the door, regardless of tread pattern.

Generally I'd expect that you would want the more capable (better grip in most situations) tyre to be on the front since that is where you do you braking and your steering....

I can't see how you would - in any imaginable case - "force a dry patch on the road for the rear to travel on" TBH. As you say it would work in a straight line only - and in a straight line it doesn't really matter too much...

You're already shown you don't know the first thing about tyres.

If it only was the bloody tyres mate...

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.

1988 ZX10? Here I were to write something sarcastic - but it turns out I learned something today after all

That is precisely what happened.

Pirelli Sport Demon ordered to match Sport Demon on rear. (And told if Pirelli wasn't available than a BT45 would do).

Metzeler M3 (radial) fitted to front because they forgot to get the Pirelli in.

Their story was that the wholesaler was out of stock of the Pirelli. I can vouch for the fact that that was not the case.

So a Pirelli Sport demon isn't a radial? I actually thought pretty much any tyre made today would be radial...

I have put this matter out in the public view because I feel it is imperitive that shops are not allowed to get away with this sort of shoddy service.

Indeed, tyres are "rather" important inside our shared passtime... Just out of curiosity, what shop was it?

[Jantar]

So a Pirelli Sport demon isn't a radial? I actually thought pretty much any tyre made today would be radial...

There are still many older bikes out there with narrow rims and spoked wheels that benefit from crossply rather than radials. Katman has one, and I have another.

[Katman]

There are still many older bikes out there with narrow rims and spoked wheels that benefit from crossply rather than radials. Katman has one, and I have another.

"Benefit" may be stretching it.

[Mikkel]

There are still many older bikes out there with narrow rims and spoked wheels that benefit from crossply rather than radials. Katman has one, and I have another.

In which way would a narrower rim benefit from a tyre manufactured with a, supposedly, less ideal construction method?

I am asking this in all seriousness, I quite simply don't know that much about other construction methods than radial.

[McDuck]

There are still many older bikes out there with narrow rims and spoked wheels that benefit from crossply rather than radials. Katman has one, and I have another.

And when you get a replica of a said bike that can take either the possibility becomes apparent.
One has to wounder how when there seems to be this knowledge out there how a bike shop can do this without thinking anything of it. It certainly dosnt help the biker who has to pick up the pieces...

[koba]

Are there radials and crossplys that will mix if mounting the tyre on the correct rim width?
All the bikes I have owned with cross plys wouldn't fit radials unles they were being jammed on an incorrect rim size...

[McDuck]

Are there radials and crossplys that will mix if mounting the tyre on the correct rim width?
All the bikes I have owned with cross plys wouldn't fit radials unles they were being jammed on an incorrect rim size...

Not that i know of (or at least not well) how ever i have herd of situations where the crossply as gone out of production and riders have run the risk of using a mix while changing over to a simmiler size...

[koba]

In which way would a narrower rim benefit from a tyre manufactured with a, supposedly, less ideal construction method?

I am asking this in all seriousness, I quite simply don't know that much about other construction methods than radial.

Crossplys work better with shit suspension or radials need better suspension to work correctly. (two ways of saying the same thing)
Radials tend to be built for wider rims/tyres.

If I put radials on my NC21 it would probably run worse.

I run sport demons at the moment.

Having experiance with both sport demons and BT45s IMO I would not say they are comparable, a Sport demon seems closer to a BT39.

[koba]

Not that i know of (or at least not well) how ever i have herd of situations where the crossply as gone out of production and riders have run the risk of using a mix while changing over to a simmiler size...

Can you get a 100 wide radial front or a 120 wide crossply front?

EDIT: Ah, My bad! I thought you were saying the opposite!
Time for more beer and battleships!