tyre matching

[budd]

I know it's best practise to match your tyres ie Pirelli front with the same make and model on the rear, but exactly how important is this? Given the nature of bike tyres is it that critical? What I mean by the nature of bike tyres is that there is always a size mismatch eg 120 fr 180/190 r and quite often even a compound mismatch, I've used supercorsa's with SC1 front with SC2 rears with no issues and while I'm sure there are construction differences between makes but again how much actual effect would this have ?

Now don't get me wrong in a perfect world I'd always advocate using matched sets but last year I fitted some Dunlop sportmax D211s I went for medium compound front with an endurance rear. So it came as a surprise while on the op storm yorks run Chris (Ziggy) commented on the wear on my rear tyre and sure enough it's pretty much knackered, as the tyre as done around 1200 mls this came as quite a surprise. This wear definitely can not be attributed to harsh or aggressive riding while for sure we didn't hang about it certainly shouldn't have resulted in this wear, basically the centre of the tyre is worn down to the wear indicators. Anyway by contrast the front is like new, so choosing the endurance compound rear seems to have backfired. So at the moment I've got a virtually unmarked front and a buggered rear, of course I could simply stump up £160 for a replacement but if this wears in a similar way to the original than I can only expect another 1200mls before it's another £160. Now to the point of the post (sorry if I've gone on a bit), I've got several supercoras rears which are in much better shape than the Dunlop so I'm thinking why not stick one of those on with the Dunlop front ???

[lloydie]

Stick one on just be mindful that it'll take longer to warm up and it'll cool down faster than your front .
I don't mind mixing road tyres with road tyres but when you mix road tyres with "race" tyres it gets a little interesting !

[budd]

Yeah I that was my thinking, but I've done a little research on the Dunlop D211 and found a very interesting review by ex PB writer Mark Forsyth who tested the tyres for Visordown anyway the upshot is I may have contributed to the rears rapid demise due to incorrect pressure. Apparently the D211 is very very sensitive to tyre pressure and is in fact designed to run much lower pressures then is typical, this is a quote from the visordown review ;

I spent the morning learning the lines and cocking about with tyre pressures. I’d spoken to Dunlop’s technical boffins about pressures and they’d told me I could go as low as 17psi (cold) in the rear, depending on ambient and track temp. Now, I don’t know about you, but 17psi constitutes a flat tyre in my book. That’s the sort of pressure Dougie Lampkin might run. Apparently it’s something to do with the very clever Ntec carcass construction. The kind man from Dunlop did try to explain but I found myself drifting off to sleep.

Yes really 17psi !!!! obviously this absurdly low pressure would be for trackday use with very high track temps and for UK trackdays and road use it would require more PSI but it seems at Aprilia's recommended 36f / 42r I'm way over inflated !!! which i'd assume as caused or at least contributed to the accelerated wear to the centre of the rear tyre, so with all this in mind and given the front is like new I've decided to give the Dunlop another chance, I've found a supplier (Btyres) offering the D211 180/55 med compound at £142 inc vat and delivery which while not exactly cheap it seems to be the best price out there, so I'll be ordering one Mon. Hopefully with the tyre pressures adjusted somewhat it will last better than the first, time will tell.

[tony.mon]

36/42 is to cover them if you ride with a lardy pillion and some luggage.
If riding solo you can drop from this safely.

[budd]

36/42 is to cover them if you ride with a lardy pillion and some luggage.
If riding solo you can drop from this safely.

very true and TBH I wasn't running them at those pressures, more like 36 / 38 but even so it's still well above Dunlops recommended pressures.