Mismatched tire brands

In familiarising myself with my 07 Silverwing, it struck me as odd that while the tire sizes seemed correct according to my owners manual and service manual, the front is a Bridgestone and the rear an IRC. Could it have come from the factory like that? It only had 2000 miles showing on the odo when I got it, but three previous owners. The local dealer ran the VIN for recalls and service records for me, but didn't turn up anything. Can any one shed light on my puzzlement?

Well, both tires are used by Honda as OEM tires, but I've not heard of a bike coming w/one of each. It's certainly possible there was a tire puncture or damage, and one of them had to be replaced. It won't hurt anything though, as long as they're both in good condition.

Both tires are specified as approved by Honda for use on the Swing. Perhaps one of the previous owners had a flat that necessitated tire replacement, or perhaps it did come from the factory that way. Either way, you're OK.

I do not have enough experience to say one way or the other about tires on the scooter. What I can tell you is years ago I had a Chevelle Malibu. Didn't have a lot of money at the time, so I was running different brands of tires. The car didn't handle all that good, but I was young and inexperienced and didn't really know that it wasn't handling well. Christmas came along and Santa Claus brought me a set of matching tires. What a difference. The car was great. Since then, I've never mixed brands of tires.

Bill

You were likely noticing the difference between old tires and new tires. If I had you ride on a scoot with matched tires that had 4,000 miles on them, and were 4 years old, then had you ride the same scoot with new, unmatched tires, I can almost guarantee you that you'd notice the difference immediately, and it would be an improvement.