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Tires

  • Thread starter Thread starter a5692chris
  • Start date Start date
A

a5692chris

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How important is it to have matching tires front to back. My bike calls for a 4.50-17 in the rear, can I put on a 5.00-17?
 
They dont make 450/500 size tires anymore and probably havent in almost 20 years. LOL What bike do you have? Also, GS's have relatively narrow width swingarms and narrow rims, so you will not be able to increase more than one metric size beyond stock width and on a narrow rim, it is not advisable to do so anyhow since the narrow rim pinches the tire, changing the profile and results in a decrease of traction and handling/braking.

Earl

a5692chris said:
How important is it to have matching tires front to back. My bike calls for a 4.50-17 in the rear, can I put on a 5.00-17?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
It is preferable to have tires from the same manufacturer/product line on the front and rear. But that is in a perfect world. Most of the time if you get a set, the rear wears out first and you have to replace it before you want to do the front. So you often end up with a mismatched set. That said you can run different brand tires as long as they match the proper tire size for your bike, most guys go up one size and run sets like that
 
Hi Mr. a5692chris,

A matched set is best. But as long as you ride conservatively you can use mismatched tires until you can save up for the other one.

What bike are we talking about? According to the sizes you mention, you should use a 130/90/17 rear tire.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Tires

I have a GS1000 GL. A local bike shop in my area told me I need to have the same tread pattern on both tires in case I get caught in the rain.
 
a5692chris said:
I have a GS1000 GL. A local bike shop in my area told me I need to have the same tread pattern on both tires in case I get caught in the rain.
Click to expand...

Silly of them to say that. As if one tire effects the others ability to manage the rain.:---):roll:
 
OK, I just checked out a few pairs of "matched" tires. Notice how carefully the fronts match the rears.

Continental ContiTwins
Conti_twins_K112_rb2.jpg


Continental Conti SuperTwins TK22
Conti_tk22_tk44.jpg


Metzeler ME88 Marathon
me88.jpg



And a favorite of many on this board, Pirelli Sport Demon
Pirelli.jpg


Yep, they really match, don't they?

.
 
If you putt around sedately you might not notice a mismatched tire, someone who pushes the bike harder may notice right away. Tires are all different in how they squirm around in corners, how they react to tar snakes, grooves, etc, and in how they just feel on the road, especially as they come close to their limits of adhesion. Some mismatches are worse than others. I test rode a guy's big BMW over in Scotland last summer, after he spent five minutes telling me all about how the front and rear tires do not need to match, as he had two fairly new but completely different style tires on it. I almost dumped the thing on the first roundabout. It just didn't work. This was on dry clean asphalt on the same model bike I had been riding for months.

In my opinion, a nice matched set of quality tires is the best thing in the world you can do to any bike.
 
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