Tire Selection
Couple of side notes:
Try and always run the same brand of tire week in and week out. Tire compounds and rubberr and rim vary widely between mfr's. This could result in wide variances in handling if trying to compare a 40 from one company to a 40 shore from another mfr.
I agree with Scott on running the harder rear tires. Running one step harder rears ususually evens out the wear front to back, and maintains the splits better. I have almost never worn the front tires faster than the rears. This is especially true for mains.