Matching tires front and back



waxbytes

New Member
Aug 4, 2004
188
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So I was going to replace my rear tire as it was worn down. The front tire was almost like new even though it had as many miles as the back. Went to LBS and got a new tire of same make and model except the maker had changed the sidewall since the old tire was bought. I bought 2 new tires and changed both even though the old front tire was still good for many more miles. I cant stand mis-matched tires.
Am I wasteful or do others have to have matching tires too.?
 
Wasteful. The proper way to "rotate" tires is to throw the old, worn
down rear tire out, move the almost new front tire to the rear and put
a new tire on the front.

For more on tires, READ Sheldon's excellent article:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html
 
"bfd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Wasteful. The proper way to "rotate" tires is to throw the old, worn
> down rear tire out, move the almost new front tire to the rear and put
> a new tire on the front.
>
> For more on tires, READ Sheldon's excellent article:
>
> http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html
>

If you must. There's no particular reason for having matching tires, so
long as the tires are the same size. Non-matching tires make it seem like
the bike's ridden more. Matching tires make me wonder if the rider rides a
lot -- they are suspicious in the same way that a clean mountain bike with
no scratches is suspicious. ;)
 
On Sat, 5 Nov 2005 14:37:09 +1100, waxbytes
<[email protected]> said in
<[email protected]>:

>Am I wasteful or do others have to have matching tires too.?


You are wasteful. But next time buy 3 instead of 2, and you can have
matching tyres despite the rear wearing at twice the rate :)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound
 
waxbytes wrote:
> So I was going to replace my rear tire as it was worn down. The front
> tire was almost like new even though it had as many miles as the back.
> Went to LBS and got a new tire of same make and model except the maker
> had changed the sidewall since the old tire was bought. I bought 2 new
> tires and changed both even though the old front tire was still good for
> many more miles. I cant stand mis-matched tires.
> Am I wasteful or do others have to have matching tires too.?
>
>


Always buy blackwall tires and it is no big deal.
 
waxbytes wrote:
> So I was going to replace my rear tire as it was worn down. The front
> tire was almost like new even though it had as many miles as the back.
> Went to LBS and got a new tire of same make and model except the maker
> had changed the sidewall since the old tire was bought. I bought 2
> new tires and changed both even though the old front tire was still
> good for many more miles. I cant stand mis-matched tires.
> Am I wasteful or do others have to have matching tires too.?


It's perfectly acceptable to have mismatched tires, AS LONG AS one of them
is black. I recently tried running a yellow tire in back with a red tire in
front, and the hallucinations /still/ haven't stopped. (Thank God it was
only for a few rides.)

HTH, BS
 
The ideal design of a front tire and back tire would be different, since
they perform different functions. The rear tire doesn't steer, and the
front doesn't deliver power to the ground. If I saw a well-fitted, up-scale
bike with different tires, front and rear, I would not sneer--I would assume
the rider had chosen them for their particular functions. (Unless, of
course, the front was a fat knobby and the back was a thin road tire :)
 
I have resolved my guilt. I folded up the old but still ok front tire and put it under my seatpack. So now I carry a spare tire as well as tube and patches.

I've gone from wasteful to prudent.:D
 
"Mike Kruger" <[email protected]> wrote:

> If you must. There's no particular reason for having matching
> tires, so long as the tires are the same size. Non-matching tires
> make it seem like the bike's ridden more. Matching tires make me
> wonder if the rider rides a lot -- they are suspicious in the same
> way that a clean mountain bike with no scratches is suspicious. ;)


What's the advantage of having them the same size?

If you put a fatter tire on the rear it tilts the front end downward so
you're always riding downhill -- much more efficient.

--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply)
 
Ray Heindl said:
If you put a fatter tire on the rear it tilts the front end downward so
you're always riding downhill -- much more efficient.

--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply)

If only....
 
"waxbytes" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Ray Heindl Wrote:
>>
>>
>> If you put a fatter tire on the rear it tilts the front end downward so
>> you're always riding downhill -- much more efficient.
>>
>> --
>> Ray Heindl
>> (remove the Xs to reply)

>
> If only....

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Careful, someone will believe this.
some years ago we were handing around an article in a trailering magazine,
in which the author claimed this was true. He cited the typical farm wagon,
where typically the front wheels were smaller, helping the wagon roll
forward.
 
waxbytes wrote:

> I have resolved my guilt. I folded up the old but still ok front tire
> and put it under my seatpack. So now I carry a spare tire as well as
> tube and patches.
>
> I've gone from wasteful to prudent.:D
>
>


The next step is paranoid. :-D
 
Ray Heindl wrote:

> "Mike Kruger" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>If you must. There's no particular reason for having matching
>>tires, so long as the tires are the same size. Non-matching tires
>>make it seem like the bike's ridden more. Matching tires make me
>>wonder if the rider rides a lot -- they are suspicious in the same
>>way that a clean mountain bike with no scratches is suspicious. ;)

>
>
> What's the advantage of having them the same size?
>
> If you put a fatter tire on the rear it tilts the front end downward so
> you're always riding downhill -- much more efficient.
>


Yes, and when you really are riding downhill yer more likely to go over
the bars. :cool:
 
Hi Bill:
So, what would you do if someone gave you a couple of those
multi-colored "Speedplay" tires Grant Peterson came up with? What if
they were different patterns. OH no, I just checked, and he's got a
650B tire that's got a tan sidewall on one side and polychromatic on
the other.

Anyone else see the potential for a great "April Fool's Day" bike?

Robert Leone [email protected]

Bill Sornson wrote:
SNIP
> It's perfectly acceptable to have mismatched tires, AS LONG AS one of them
> is black. I recently tried running a yellow tire in back with a red tire in
> front, and the hallucinations /still/ haven't stopped. (Thank God it was
> only for a few rides.)
>
> HTH, BS
 
"Ray Heindl" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> If you put a fatter tire on the rear it tilts the front end downward so
> you're always riding downhill -- much more efficient.


Believe it or not, I tried to sell this to my Dad when I was a kid. As a
paperboy, I was backed into by a driver exiting a driveway, taco-ing my
front wheel. I picked myself up and dusted myself off. The lady told me I
should look where I was going, and dumb naive kid as I was, I believed her.
She told me I could take the front wheel off her son's bike. Problem was,
it was a 20" wheel. I installed it, threw away my wrecked front wheel, and
rode off to finish throwing my papers. I was petrified that my parents
would learn of my "carelessness", so I made up that story. After my dad
gave me a fish-eye, I told him it was a cool thing to do and that all the
kids were doing it. He bought that.

I didn't tell them about the accident until years later when I was an adult.
They were dismayed that I didn't trust them enough back then to tell them
the truth. I suppose that if it happened nowadays, I'd be smart enough to
roll around on the ground and claim a whiplash or something and call my
attorney. But then again, maybe not. I haven't gotten much smarter since
those days, now that i think of it.