Riding mismatched tires

[Mark McM]

Continental makes front (GP Attack) and rear (GP Force) specific road tires, so these are intended to be ridden mismatched. Many MTB tires are also front and rear specific. Matching tires is just for convenience, not necessity.

[unterhausen]

I couldn't get two tires the same color so I definitely have non matching tires.

I usually end up replacing both tires at once.

[cgates66]

I've done it with a few different combinations. If the tires are "similar" I couldn't really tell a difference, but you can feel say a Gatorskin vs. a GP4000/GP5000 for sure.

There's an aero / rr argument that it's best to have a slightly narrower tire upfront (less load, more wind) and a wider tire out back (more load, less wind), but it's thin.

I would imagine that if you were really aggressive in turns a tire with significantly different grip front or back would yield exciting results as well.