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Tyres: x-ply v radial
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A bloke here has a Pan and says it's got a Bridgestone Excedra on the
front which he thinks is a x-ply. He wants a new rear but is concerned
about putting a radial on. Are our modern tyres all radials now? And can
he safely mix a radial rear with a x-ply front?
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If by 'modern' you mean 'big tyres for modern superbikes', then I
think they're all radial, yes. There are still loads of crossplies for
bikes that don't need low-profile wide tyres (like my BMW).
And it's illegal to mix radial and crossply, although I can't see what
the problem is on a bike.
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Only on the same axle, IIRC.
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Nope. See elsewhere in the thread. I remember I bought a brand new
cheap tyre for my Ducati at an autojumble, and then the fitter
wouldn't fit it (or something - it was a few years ago) because it was
an x-ply and the other tyre was a radial.
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I thought that only applied to tyres on the same "axle"?
Ah, web-search throws up a couple of hits that say it's also illegal to have
radial front and crossply rear, though that's not from primary legal
sources [1] so should be treated with caution.
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I wasn't asking about legalities though (I live in a different country
to you lot), rather safety/integrity ie; should he do it?
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Fair point, but laws like tend to come in because there's some evidence
suggesting that it's a Good Idea (TM), so I'd generally take it as a
"should" until I could find the reasoning behind the law. Knowing the
law might help you to work back to finding that reasoning.
There, I think I got out of that one without anyone noticing....
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[1] though it cites Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986
regulation 26
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You can still buy x-ply tyres.
If the bike is old, and was originally designed for x-ply, then it is
generally better to stick with x-ply.
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Utter cobblers.
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Of course, Mitchelin Man
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Seriously, you haven't got clue one.
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This is the advice given by the FJOC, and I've had 3 different make sets
radials on my FJ12, but switched to x-ply, and IMO the bike actually
handles better with the x-ply
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