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I know on my 400 I would never mix and match tyres, but I've just noticed a BT014 on the rear and a continental tyre on the front of my ER5.

Not affecting me too much, was riding in the rain too.

The rear was quite new when I looked at the bike, and Bournemouth Kawasaki put the new front on for the fresh MOT. The continental is the cheapest tyre. Should I mention to the guys at Kwak that I want a rear conti to match the front?

Are they allowed to sel me a bike with mismatched tyres?

interested pupps, years ago it was illegal to mix tyres on a car but don't know about bikes, can't say i would mix and match to be honest, i would get one of them changed!

Hi,

Perfectly fine to mix tyres by different makes, not however by different tyre construction ( crossply/radial )

I think the reason for this is the way each construction behaves under extremes, particulary in the wet when braking and/or cornering. One type attempts to move the weight load one way, while the other goes in the opposite direction, causing the car to become uncontrolable usually spinning.

Hope that helps.

Rob.

not illegal anymore if it ever was. i was told just make sure the front sticker than rear and your been fine. but on a er5 used for comuting i wouldnt worry mate

I've mixed and matched on loads of bikes now!

On my ZXR at one point i had a nice sticky D208 front and a KR364 on the rear (race intermediate not for road use).

To be honest it was absolutely fine!

I don't mind the rear sliding on me, but I want grip at the front, so I'll always go for a softer compound, and so it's worth paying out for the front end.

Currently been running BT020's on my VFR but as they're about the most expensive tyres out there, just changed the rear to anAvon AV36.

Never used Avons before but I scrubbed it in fine and I've been pushing to find it's limits, which always seems very progressive and controlled when it does spin up. Nowhere near the performance of the BT020 - but then with tyres you get what you pay for...

I always mix tyres, since I tend to get them cheap individually from ebay and the like.

So far my preferred combination on all my bikes is:

Rear: Continental Contiforce
Front: Dunlop Sportmax

Works great.