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My Triumph T100 Bonneville came from the factory with a Metzler bias tire on the front and a Metzler radial on the back. (??)
I really didn't notice the difference until the time came for new tires and I started reading what was on the sidewalls.
The bike rode and handled fine. I had a set of Bridgestone's fitted and the bikes rides and handles exactly the same as before.
I'm not a hard rider, but I enjoy, shall we say, "spirited" riding
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(07-31-2014, 11:51 PM)Rboe_imp Wrote: After being out of the hobby for over twenty years, I come back and find that conventional wisdom is strongly suggesting changing both tires at the same time. Now I didn't on the last tire (replaced due to holes, not wear) and at the price of some of these tires that can be a large pill to swallow. But ideally, do both and keep them in the same family.
I suspect the "replace both at the same time" mantra comes from the tire industry.
(08-01-2014, 01:34 AM)Rocky_imp Wrote: My Triumph T100 Bonneville came from the factory with a Metzler bias tire on the front and a Metzler radial on the back. (??)
I really didn't notice the difference until the time came for new tires and I started reading what was on the sidewalls.
The bike rode and handled fine. I had a set of Bridgestone's fitted and the bikes rides and handles exactly the same as before.
I'm not a hard rider, but I enjoy, shall we say, "spirited" riding 
I looked around on some other forums. Bias ply rear and radial on the front is pretty common OE (especially cruisers, Triumph does it a lot). People report that mixing bias ply and radial on cars is disastrous, but not on motorcycles.
Conventional wisdom I've always heard is that mixing is a no no. This sort of changes that....
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(08-01-2014, 02:44 AM)Pauley_imp Wrote: (07-31-2014, 11:51 PM)Rboe_imp Wrote: After being out of the hobby for over twenty years, I come back and find that conventional wisdom is strongly suggesting changing both tires at the same time. Now I didn't on the last tire (replaced due to holes, not wear) and at the price of some of these tires that can be a large pill to swallow. But ideally, do both and keep them in the same family.
I suspect the "replace both at the same time" mantra comes from the tire industry.
(08-01-2014, 01:34 AM)Rocky_imp Wrote: My Triumph T100 Bonneville came from the factory with a Metzler bias tire on the front and a Metzler radial on the back. (??)
I really didn't notice the difference until the time came for new tires and I started reading what was on the sidewalls.
The bike rode and handled fine. I had a set of Bridgestone's fitted and the bikes rides and handles exactly the same as before.
I'm not a hard rider, but I enjoy, shall we say, "spirited" riding 
I looked around on some other forums. Bias ply rear and radial on the front is pretty common OE (especially cruisers, Triumph does it a lot). People report that mixing bias ply and radial on cars is disastrous, but not on motorcycles.
Conventional wisdom I've always heard is that mixing is a no no. This sort of changes that....
I tend to agree with you since tire in front and back act independent of each other ... to be safe, i will buy the Dunlop Sportmax II the successor of D205. Long lasting tires and sticky is what I am after.
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Over the years I got used to a 2-1 ratio of rear/front tire consumption, but my CB wore both out about the same time. But, it doesn't seem too onerous to wear out too fronts and a rear before trying a new tire brand or model.
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(08-01-2014, 02:44 AM)Pauley_imp Wrote: (07-31-2014, 11:51 PM)Rboe_imp Wrote: After being out of the hobby for over twenty years, I come back and find that conventional wisdom is strongly suggesting changing both tires at the same time. Now I didn't on the last tire (replaced due to holes, not wear) and at the price of some of these tires that can be a large pill to swallow. But ideally, do both and keep them in the same family.
I suspect the "replace both at the same time" mantra comes from the tire industry.
(08-01-2014, 01:34 AM)Rocky_imp Wrote: My Triumph T100 Bonneville came from the factory with a Metzler bias tire on the front and a Metzler radial on the back. (??)
I really didn't notice the difference until the time came for new tires and I started reading what was on the sidewalls.
The bike rode and handled fine. I had a set of Bridgestone's fitted and the bikes rides and handles exactly the same as before.
I'm not a hard rider, but I enjoy, shall we say, "spirited" riding 
I looked around on some other forums. Bias ply rear and radial on the front is pretty common OE (especially cruisers, Triumph does it a lot). People report that mixing bias ply and radial on cars is disastrous, but not on motorcycles.
Conventional wisdom I've always heard is that mixing is a no no. This sort of changes that....
Interesting. I have to admit, my reluctance to mix types comes from cage experience. I guess I always assumed that mixing them on a bike would give equally bad results (and, as you say, it was the conventional wisdom).
If I'd known about this a few weeks ago, I definitely would have gone with the BT-45 as my new front tire.
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The anecdotes on mixing all seem to favor bias ply rear and radial front. Research was not exhaustive by any stretch.
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The Shadow we just bought for my wife only had 3500 miles on it the rear looks like new, front did too except for cracks in the sidewall. Just ordered a Commander II to replace it with. Both are bias ply.
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(08-01-2014, 08:54 AM)Flynrider_imp Wrote: (08-01-2014, 02:44 AM)Pauley_imp Wrote: (07-31-2014, 11:51 PM)Rboe_imp Wrote: After being out of the hobby for over twenty years, I come back and find that conventional wisdom is strongly suggesting changing both tires at the same time. Now I didn't on the last tire (replaced due to holes, not wear) and at the price of some of these tires that can be a large pill to swallow. But ideally, do both and keep them in the same family.
I suspect the "replace both at the same time" mantra comes from the tire industry.
(08-01-2014, 01:34 AM)Rocky_imp Wrote: My Triumph T100 Bonneville came from the factory with a Metzler bias tire on the front and a Metzler radial on the back. (??)
I really didn't notice the difference until the time came for new tires and I started reading what was on the sidewalls.
The bike rode and handled fine. I had a set of Bridgestone's fitted and the bikes rides and handles exactly the same as before.
I'm not a hard rider, but I enjoy, shall we say, "spirited" riding 
I looked around on some other forums. Bias ply rear and radial on the front is pretty common OE (especially cruisers, Triumph does it a lot). People report that mixing bias ply and radial on cars is disastrous, but not on motorcycles.
Conventional wisdom I've always heard is that mixing is a no no. This sort of changes that....
Interesting. I have to admit, my reluctance to mix types comes from cage experience. I guess I always assumed that mixing them on a bike would give equally bad results (and, as you say, it was the conventional wisdom).
If I'd known about this a few weeks ago, I definitely would have gone with the BT-45 as my new front tire.
in car - tires **should be** the same on same axle. so you can have 2 tire types on a car.
The reason is for braking and acceleration, in emergency braking, you want tires on same axle bite the road of same force.
there are a lot of misconception when i change tires of my son's car, they say put a new pair in the back. It does't make sense, the front pair should be the better one, for braking. if one tire would blow up, I prefer the one in the back blows up since front tires provide directional control.
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I just order Dunlop RoadSmart II for the front, the OEM Dunlop and the RoadSmart II are both radial tires, so I assume it is okay, will install them after another 1K because I want to use the tire to the max.
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(07-31-2014, 07:47 AM)CIP57_imp Wrote: If there both original tires its a good idea to change them both at the same time. When my front is shot I change the rear.
As mentioned, you can change brands, i would put a radial to match the back.
Let me get this straight.When your front tire is shot,you replace the rear tire.How does THAT help you?
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