Why do we use identical (paired) tyres?

[Mick F]

I use identical so I can swap them over front/rear as they wear, just like with a car.

[saudidave]

I use identical so I can swap them over front/rear as they wear, just like with a car.

And me

[RobinS]

Until my latest MTB that came with paired tyres, on MTBs I have always had different tyres front and rear. Particularly for muddy conditions I always had a "drive" tyre with big studs on the shoulders for maximum grip, and a "steering" tyre with a more rounded profile. This seemed normal through the 1990s, and certainly up to my 2002 Cinder Cone, which I still have with different tyres front and back.

Also more recently on our heavy tourers we will often have slightly narrower tyres on the less heavy front.

[Bonefishblues]

Until my latest MTB that came with paired tyres, on MTBs I have always had different tyres front and rear. Particularly for muddy conditions I always had a "drive" tyre with big studs on the shoulders for maximum grip, and a "steering" tyre with a more rounded profile. This seemed normal through the 1990s, and certainly up to my 2002 Cinder Cone, which I still have with different tyres front and back.

Also more recently on our heavy tourers we will often have slightly narrower tyres on the less heavy front.

Scratch and Sniff on my 1995 'Cone IIRC

[scottg]

continental produced an unmatched 'pair' of tyres called 'attack' and 'force' some years ago. IIRC the rear was slightly wider and they had specific tread patterns on each.

Yes, Attack & Force 23mm & 25mm, ahh the old days of skinny tyres and good roads.

In the time of Campag horizontal dropouts, you put a bigger tyre in the back,
then slide the wheel back till the top tube was still level.

[Vantage]

I used Panaracers Dart (front) and Smoke (rear) in my mountain biking days and to be honest, I can't really recall noticing their different handling characteristics.
With regard to road tyres, I can't see any point in specific front/rear tyres as the only difference would be tread pattern. As we know, tread on a bicycle road tyre is pointless. The tyres aren't wide enough and the bike won't go fast enough for aquaplaning to be an issue. I can see some benefit for a rear tyre being more heavily built for the extra weight on it but other than that, I can't see the point.

[alexnharvey]

Another non matcher here. I run a larger the e.g. 38mm on the back and then 32/35 on the front. You'll also find me using non matching tyres because i tend to pick up good tyres when sold cheaply and use them as required, whether they match or not.

I do not recommend switching tyres front to back to equalise wear as this will require you to put a part worn tyre on the front where you need the best grip for safety. Instead, I use the rear until worn out, then move the front to the back and put a new front tyre on.


I believe the idea that bicycle tyres do not benefit from tread patterns is a simplistic idea, particularly when wed look beyond summer road use to autumn and winter cycling. Narrow road bike tyres do not require tread to clear water in the same way car tyres do, but that is not the only reason for having tread.

[Cugel]

With regard to road tyres, I can't see any point in specific front/rear tyres as the only difference would be tread pattern. As we know, tread on a bicycle road tyre is pointless. The tyres aren't wide enough and the bike won't go fast enough for aquaplaning to be an issue. I can see some benefit for a rear tyre being more heavily built for the extra weight on it but other than that, I can't see the point.

Once more we can find a bit of myth debunking on Jan Hein's website.

https://www.renehersecycles.com/myth-6- ... -the-road/

A quote:

"There is another way to increase the interlocking between tire and road: provide edges on the tire that ‘hook up’ with the road surface irregularities. Each edge provides a point where a road irregularity can hook up. The more edges you have, the better the tire hooks up".

In other words, tread on a tire can improve it's grip to the road - nothing to do with aquaplaning avoidance in that, you see.

In my own experience, I found that the use of a Schwalbe G-One tyre (those with the wee round knobbles all over them) made a difference to the traction I was able to get from strong thrusts through the pedals laid down on those often wet & slimy back roads found during the autumn and winter months. I was spinning the back wheel on such roads when going up a steep slope with a back tyre of the non-treaded kind (a Schwalbe One). The G-One of the same width at the same pressure seems to get a better grip and doesn't spin out nearly so readily. In fact, not at all, so far.

Sliding out sideways on such roads never seemed an issue with slick tyres, though. So, although I had a pair of G-One knobblers on the winter bike, I suspect that just the one on the back was needed to avoid wheel-spin. There's a case for different front & back tyres, I suppose.

Cugel

[Mick F]

I do not recommend switching tyres front to back to equalise wear as this will require you to put a part worn tyre on the front where you need the best grip for safety. Instead, I use the rear until worn out, then move the front to the back and put a new front tyre on.

I believe the idea that bicycle tyres do not benefit from tread patterns is a simplistic idea, particularly when wed look beyond summer road use to autumn and winter cycling. Narrow road bike tyres do not require tread to clear water in the same way car tyres do, but that is not the only reason for having tread.

I've been using slick tyres on my bikes for as long as I can remember.
Tread?
What's that for?

Off road and mud perhaps using wider tyres .............. neither of which applies to me and my bikes, so slicks are fine, and happy to swap front/rear to equalise wear. Replace both tyres at once.

As for cars, I gave up swapping tyres round years ago and just leave them where they are until needing replacement. I don't even open the bonnet on the car these days.

On the subject of cars - front wheel drive one's, that is - I had a pair replaced only a month back. Front ones, and chatted to the tyre place man. I asked him why one of my front ones was worn more than the other.

The answer surprised me.

It's all to do with which side the gearbox is on. The longer driveshaft side has a tyre that wears less than the tyre on the shorter driveshaft side.

He knows this fact due to doing hundreds of tyre replacement a week for years and years and years.

[Carlton green]

Historically I wear the back one out, move the front to the back and fit a new one on the front. I want my best gripping tyre to be the one that steers me and the one that most braking force is applied through, back wheel slip has not been a significant issue for me - but as appropriate I make sure that it has functional tread on it.

I always use tyres of the same declared size and similar inflated width. My preference is to use the same make and model too but sometimes it’s a case of using what’s both available and near enough the same to whatever is already in use by me. I do cycle all year round, something that can take me over mud, snow and rough surfaces with some useful degree of safety is important to me. Perhaps slicks would be fine for use during the warmer and drier part of the year and I could revert to something with more tread for the rest of the year, but to me that switching about doesn’t seem to be worth the fuss and bother. YMMV

[bluespeeder]

An interesting article. I have gone back to tyres with slight pattern on the shoulders (vittoria rubino) for the front during winter. I had a couple of front end slides last autumn on patches of mud (clay around here) and think the knobbles may help. You wouldn't go walking down a muddy trail with no grip on your shoes, not without sliding about anyhow. I would be interested what the pro's use in these conditions or on cobbles for example. I do think on clean wet roads the tread makes no difference and use slicks front and rear in summer - 23c front 25c rear.

[mig]

roads are never clean are they? after weeks of dry weather it rained lots yesterday in nw england and the roads today have a covering of 'silt' and a few mixed sharps washed on. hence the commute was on a bike with heavier tyres.
i do ride bikes with slick tyres but tend not to use these in autumn and winter in preference to a treaded tyre if only to help psychologically.

[bluespeeder]

roads are never clean are they? after weeks of dry weather it rained lots yesterday in nw england and the roads today have a covering of 'silt' and a few mixed sharps washed on. hence the commute was on a bike with heavier tyres.
i do ride bikes with slick tyres but tend not to use these in autumn and winter in preference to a treaded tyre if only to help psychologically.

In general main roads tend to be 'clean' due to the volume of cars. I find rural single track roads can get a significant covering of mud if a tractor has been working in the fields when it is wet leaving clumps of mud on the road. I try to miss these wherever possible but I think this is where some grip on the tyre may help especially on the shoulders of the tyre.
I think the psychological aspect is also important - the more nervous you feel about grip the worse it gets.

[Bmblbzzz]

The reason I use identical tyres is that the rear tyre wears 2 or 3 times as fast as the front.
When the rear wears out, I put the front tyre on the rear, and a new tyre on the front. I do that because the consequences of any tyre failure are potentially a lot worse if it's the front tyre that fails than the rear, so I want my best and least knackered tyre on the front.

I used to do this, but since I started using tubeless, I don't, because swapping a tubeless tyre from front to back is rather a PITA. These days, on my principal bike I use a Compass Bon Jon Pass 700x35 on the front (pretty much the lightest tyre available in that size), and a Schwalbe Marathon Supreme of the same size on the rear, and that means I get approximately the same mileage from both tyres before they need replacing.

To me that sounds like losing the benefits of the light, easy-rolling Compass by weighing it down with the sluggish, stiff Marathon. Or alternatively, losing the benefit of the Marathon's puncture resistance by pairing it with the relatively fragile Compass.

~~~

In general though, I don't think there's a need to have identical tyres front and rear. But neither do I swap them round front to rear. Just let them wear out in their own time.

[esasjl]

The Marathon Supreme is unlike other Marathons and pretty supple. It is a tyre I like but Schwalbe look to have discontinued it?