mis matched tyres

[clefty]

I saw a self built single speed for sale on ebay the other day that looked interesting, he had mismatched tyres on it, what looked like a big apple type tyre on the front and a skinny slick on the back, he called it his ultimate commuter bike.
I can sort of see his thinking with this setup but had never seen it before and wondered if any of you lot had seen it or tried it. I think my back tyre especially will need replacing soon (beginning to get more punctures than normal) and thought about replacing it with a marathon racer for example instead of another big apple.

Any thoughts?

..found the ebay link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Single-speed-...0QQihZ016QQcategoryZ33503QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Monty Dog]

THere's probably some logic to having a fatter tyre on the front if not running suspension, but there's as much an argument to have a fatter rear tyre to help with traction. This bike looks like a complete hash-up from spares rather than a deliberate atempt to create the 'ultimate' commuter. The fact that he hasn't got any grips would indicate he's trying to off-load his spares for no cost rather than actually having ridden the thing. As to saying a hardtail ally frame is worth £900 these days!!

 

[Steve Austin]

When i used to ride BMX we would always have a wider tyre on the front end, i think it was because the rear just follows the front and isn't really necessary for steering. Its still common to have wider tyres on the front of xc MTB's too, although its not as common as it was.

I agree with Monty though, that looks like a collection of parts..

I can understand using different size profile tyres and its not a bad idea for comfort reasons, but it looks bad

 

[clefty]

I dont think it looks that bad, question is, is there any advantage speed wise or would I only notice that if I replaced both my big apples with marathon racers?