In a nutshell...
Compound and carcass are much more important than tread pattern.
What you want for a rear tyre:
- Maximum grip: Generally softer compound = better, check tartys durometer rating the lower the better.
- Decent sidewalls: Reinforced sidewalls aka maxxis dual ply, conti rain king/der baron/ der kaiser to stop it folding off camber and pinch protection.
- Width: generally 2.3 +, although the numbers mean nothing these days but wider = better bounce, grip, stability.
And a front:
- Light: This gets less heavy knocks and stability is slightly less important.
- Grip: Same applied as for rear.
- Width: Generally around 2.1 or thereabouts.
People will argue over this till the f**kin sun implodes, people ride different stuff and prefer the feel of different tyres so it comes down to personal preference but the above is a general guide.
Yeah the Shift is the Stiky light front.. They also do the original Stiky which is a tad heavier but has more meat to the tread and is my preferred front tyre.
I run rear Der kaiser or der baron and front try-all stiky, have tried everything else but thats what I prefer. Mismatching front and rear is normal and 98% of people do it.