MiniMan

I noticed a little sidewall cracking too... so nothing stupid until I get some new rubber on her.

MonkeyLover

...a race take-off is going to be a race tire like a Pirelli Diablo Corsa or Dunlop 208GP. You do NOT want to mix and match tires (brands/compounds)...ESPECIALLY race tires. It will severly alter your handling to the point of literally being unsafe. Take-offs are very cheap so just get a pair of them. It shouldn't cost you more than $120 for. Charging more than that is a ripoff...unless the guy is driving like 300 miles to get them. So PLEASE do not get just one.

MiniMan

front end and apply more throttle coming out of a bend (once it's warmed up). I don't see the downside? There's a set (F+R) for sale locally for $50 that I'm likely going to pickup tomorrow, though I do plan on finishing off my back tire before having it mounted up as well.

Schadenfreude

Race tires are designed to operate very well in a very narrow temperature range and even then only for a very short period of time. The compounds are not comparable to street compounds which offer varying levels of traction over a fairly wide operating range. Race tires can offer effectively no grip when not at temp and then come in fast with tons of grip only to go greasy 20 degrees higher.

MonkeyLover

It's unfortunate that tires are so expensive. That reason alone pushes so many rider to buy take-offs.

MonkeyLover

...and putting a race tire with a different profile (usually more V-shaped due to design and because racers wear away the sides of the tire and not the middle) with a COMPLETELY different compound than a street tire, WILL be unsafe and greatly affect the handling of the bike. A rear take-off would not be as drastic a change because you're not STEERING with it! Also, having a race compound front and street compound rear is a HORRIBLE idea because the two tires grip characteristics are VERY different. At low operating temps (such as the first 30 minutes of riding, or if you're riding in ambient temps of 70' or below) your rear tire will have a LOT more traction than your front tire which is very unsafe and means you can EASILY push your front tire out of it's traction range and lowside your bike in a split-second. You'd be sliding along the pavement before you even knew what happened. Imagine it like pouring oil on your front tire and then trying to ride on it. That's what it'd be like.

Try and argue that the race front offers MORE grip and you'd be correct...if you're running in 80' ambient temps on a sunny day and 100+mph your ENTIRE ride. That's what it would take to get that front warmed up to it's operating temp.

You can do whatever you like, but I'm telling you right now that it's very dangerous and one of the worst things you could do. Your friends might think you're stupid, but seriously, you're paying $50 for a set?? Is your life and your bike worth LESS than $50?! I think not. Just mount the set at the same time and be safe.

BTW, if your friends run tire combinations like you're describing, then they know nothing about motorcycling other than wheelies and looking cool. Any racer or rider who truly loves the sport and is educated will tell you mixing tire brands, and more importantly COMPOUNDS, is a terrible idea and very dangerous. That completely negates the design of the motorcyle and it's suspension. Traction and grip should be IDENTICAL front and rear.

s.carder

impossible (for now) to create but true in theory. The centrifugal force generated at that speed would indeed allow the tire to "grow" (think dragster tires) keeping the rim off the ground.

It's a hypothetical (not the part about the valve depressing at speed; that's fact) and anyone that tries it will/should fall victim to natural selection.

When I think about all the things that can go wrong at top speed, I shudder.