The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

Hey peeps,

What are your thoughts on mixed tyre brands? Specifically a Michelin City Grip on the front and Pirelli Diablo on the rear?
Why I would want to do this is my business, so let's focus on compound/grip bias front to rear or any other technicalities.
I'm not talking about exchanging front and rear tyres with each tyre, just the differing brands correctly fitted as intended.

Cheers, Gav.

People have done this by replacing the rear for a city grip and keeping the stock IRC until the tread wears down, so mixed brands can be used, just make sure they are correct tyres for your bike (not radial? (if memory serves) and mounted the correct way - direction).

This is a very interesting question.
There are absolutely no published test results from manufacturers of interbrand compatibility that I'm aware of, so it really comes down to the voices in your head.
The voices in my head say that I would wish to have a grippier tyre on the front but there is no definitive scientifically based test on which to make a judgement.
All we know is that tyres all have to meet the same standards so you would think one should be fine with the other, so long as the correct fitment is adhered to regarding radials/bias belt/size/front/rear type/etc.

The combo you suggest sounds odd to me because the Diablo is reputedly a softer tyre than a City Grip, but this is just opinion not fact.
I can attest that the IRC front/CityGrip rear combo works really well on a PCX, but I found the IRCs to be a grippy tyre whereas many people hated them.
As always YMMV.

If a rear City Grip paired with a front IRC is safe, surely a rear Diablo won't outgrip a front City Grip (at least not at scooter levels of performance).

I have to admit that I'm ignorant about radial scooter tyres vs other types of construction. I will look at this more closely when investigating tyres in future.

Thanks, Gav.

chicaboo wrote:If a rear City Grip paired with a front IRC is safe, surely a rear Diablo won't outgrip a front City Grip

There is no definitive way of knowing for certain how this combination will perform.
You said "why I would want to do this is my business", but unless you make known what the situation is regarding your tyres you can't expect to get the best advice.

I have a City Grip in the back and a Dunlop in the front. It seems to me that there are a lot of scooter riders who have mixed brand tires on their scooters because most know that the rear wears out a lot faster than the front and they don't want to waste a perfectly good tire just to match brands.

gn2 wrote:

chicaboo wrote:If a rear City Grip paired with a front IRC is safe, surely a rear Diablo won't outgrip a front City Grip

There is no definitive way of knowing for certain how this combination will perform.
You said "why I would want to do this is my business", but unless you make known what the situation is regarding your tyres you can't expect to get the best advice.

If I said why I'd consider mixing brands I wouldn't get the advice I wanted and the thread would drift off on a tangent I'm not interested in.

chicaboo wrote:If I said why I'd consider mixing brands I wouldn't get the advice I wanted and the thread would drift off on a tangent I'm not interested in.

So how do you think Chris Froome is doing?
I was disappointed that we won't see Mark Cavendish in action on the Champs Elysees but fully understand why he has abandoned.
And the second test starts on Friday, can't wait.

chicaboo wrote:

gn2 wrote:

chicaboo wrote:If a rear City Grip paired with a front IRC is safe, surely a rear Diablo won't outgrip a front City Grip

There is no definitive way of knowing for certain how this combination will perform.
You said "why I would want to do this is my business", but unless you make known what the situation is regarding your tyres you can't expect to get the best advice.

If I said why I'd consider mixing brands I wouldn't get the advice I wanted and the thread would drift off on a tangent I'm not interested in.

If you going down the shops it probably wouldn't matter but if your crossing the Sahara it probably would.

The Pirelli will be softer and the rear wears out quicker so you might have 3 rears on it before the Michelin wears out.

Alibally wrote:The Pirelli will be softer and the rear wears out quicker so you might have 3 rears on it before the Michelin wears out.

Could even be four or maybe five Diablo rears to a CityGrip front.
Hard front + soft rear doesn't seem right to me.

Given the wear, the Pirellis sound too troublesome as they cost 50% more and are hard to get down here anyway...

gn2 wrote: Hard front + soft rear doesn't seem right to me.

Not in a kilt