Motorbike Tyres - Talk about tyres you've owned

[spacey1]

Lots of folks ask about tyres.

Ergo, how about starting a list of tyres, types and rider impressions.

Comments added to this discussion should come from bike owners who have had a particular tyre on their own bike and would like share feedback about living with said tyre with other interested motorcycle owners.

The BMWMCCWA has members who participate in a very broad range of motorcycling from extreme off-road to long-distance touring and everything in-between. Many riders even use their machines for commuting.

As such, comments on tyres that fit your particular purpose are welcomed.

General feedback about the quality and accuracy of manufacturers advertising AND non-productive feedback can be added under the 'General' section of the Forum.

Example format:

• Your Bike: BMW R1200 GSA 2008
• Your normal motorcycle use: every-day commuting; dirt-road touring; long-distance bitumen road touring; mixed dirt and bitumen touring; heavy touring loads on dirt and bitumen
• Tyre: Michelin Anakee 2 - multi-purpose road-trail tyre; road biased; single compound across tread
• Initial impressions: Care required during run-in; nothing un-toward to add
• Feedback: Reasonable multi-purpose tyre for dirt and bitumen roads; safe cornering grip right out to the edge; no sprues at end of life; reasonable bitumen touring range; circa 8,000 km on rear; front lasts about 2 rears, but is normally worn out-of-shape before then. Never punctured; balanced easily
• Would you use them again and why: Yes; good solid all-rounder; I have a spare used set that I will fit to complete another single east-Nullarbor-west crossing.
• Would I buy them again and why: Probably not, too noisy; still trying to find a reasonably quiet multipurpose tyre.
• An informative image?

Again: General feedback about the quality and accuracy of manufacturers advertising AND other non-productive feedback can be added under the 'General' section of the Forum.

[spacey1]

Continental TKC 70

Just fitted a new set of Continental TKC 70 on my R1200 GSA 2008 at 136,800km.

Initial impressions:

• QUIET, not just the quietest tyre I've had to listen to on my GSA, but extremely quiet.
• Duel compound; hard in centre for durability; soft on edges for cornering
• Expensive, but price has come down thankfully

Seems good at the outset. Side-walls look a little naked. Did have the very robust Karoo 3 fitted prior to these.
I'm after a tyre that's more comfortable to live with day-to-day. The Karoo 3 is great on the dirt, but not good for commuting.

[wightman]

I have always owned about 5 airheads, and usually buy the following brands in the sequential order of preference:
1. Michelin
2. Continental
3. Metzeler
4. Pirelli
5. Avon
The Michelins win overall because of the fact that they are soft enough for most conditions, yet give an incredible 20 000kms life on the back and 30 000kms+ on the front. My style of riding is probably 90% blacktop, mixture of commuting and long journeys, with 10% offroad. Front stability is definitely improved using a dual purpose tyre.

I regularly check the pressures, as anything below about 25 psi causes a "W" wear, particularly on the front. I have only had about 10 punctures in my life. I crossed a continent once, with 2 inner tubes and never used them. Then I went for a weekend mountain with no tubes and tore a tube from a piece of wire that entered the sidewall. I usually carry an aerosol can with foam and have had about a 40% success rate (in getting home directly)

[spacey1]

Update: Continental TKC 70 @ 400km

The Prez and I undertook a mixed-surface ride with full touring load to the Camp Cook-off.

From Bells Rapids, winding through the hills and forests to Parky (Parkerville), slabbed it on the open road at legal limits through York to Greenhills Sth Road.

From there, mostly dirt roads (of varying conditions) to Bally Bally.

Returned the same way... well mostly... there was that nice little deviation to the Chidlow Bakery for fresh-out-of-the-oven sausage rolls, sticky cinnamon rolls and coffee

My impressions of the TKC 70 are still very positive.

• Extremely quiet
• Great grip out on the edges on the bitumen
• Not as stable as the Karoo3 on the slippery gravel (doh!), but I still sat at 80 kph to 100+ kph comfortably.
• On-road: They tip into corners very quickly. In combination with my Woody's Wheels, 'VERY' quickly...

We watched the black rain clouds in the West from afar.
So no comment on wet conditions as yet.

Unlike other riders, we kept our underpants on

[Bozo]

Nev

Where do you start on tyres and things tyre related?



This tyre (a Metzler Z6 on a 1200 RT ) suddenly went "down to the wire" on a solo ride to Xantippe on a weekend. It had been run flat earlier in its life at Tamworth when a tyre valve failed which may have contributed to the delamination. It is useful to have wear indicators near the centre of the tread on any tyre you fit. A very slow trip back to Perth.

Heidenau K60 Scouts have been the best tyres I have had on a 1200 GS getting 24,000 km on the rear and 37,000 km on the front. The front ran a little square and was getting caught up in Tram Tracks and the rear blocks were starting to crack but excellent tyres touring around Australia. They were a bit noisy at 100 kph and also went through a disconcerting vibration at 15-20 kph.

I am now running Mitas e70's on the 1200 GSA and have only put 4,000 kms on them. They are noisier than I expected and they have a solid centre tread similar to the K60 Scouts. I like their handling on both gravel and on bitumen.

I always travel with multiple tyre repair kits after experiencing a one of the T bar tools that insert the strings into the tyre disintegrating in my hands doing a roadside repair. I also carry multiple tubes of glue after finding one had split and was dry.

Not a fan of Metzeler Tourances due to limited off road grip and feel. I had them on a 650GS and on a 1200GS and got good mileage.

Bozo

[spacey1]

Continental TKC 70

Fitted to my R1200 GSA 2008 at 136,800 km, now 144,200 km

Update: 7,400 km

Longer term impressions:
Very good tread remaining on front and rear.

The front is no longer as silent as before, but still the quietest tyre I've had to listen to on my GSA.

The rear just keeps on doing its job quietly.

Bitumen / Tar: Awesome traction on the tar, particularly out on the edges. It has offered up NO 'pucker' moments in the wet or the dry... The Continental TKC 70s still tip into corners very quickly... and grip.

Dirt roads: Predictable, good grip in the dry. Still no opportunity to test in the mud. I'm sure I won't be surprised when I finally encounter the mud. Very comfortable at speed on fast dirt tracks. I compared comments from fellow riders with knobby tyres on the ANZAC weekend while travelling on very loose pea gravel, and corrugated dirt, where the usual traffic is heavy mining trucks, it would appear that wearing knobbies didn't make a difference. These conditions made all the riders a little edgy

TKC 70 Front 7,400 km



TKC 70 Rear 7,400 km



Would I buy them again? Yep!

[BillB]

I put the same back on when I changed new tyres for he Paynes Find trip a few weeks back. A Conti TKC 80 on the front and Heidenau Scout on back. The noise on tar is fairly bad, but they feel more secure on the loose stuff. The guy from Tyres for bikes convinced me the TKC 70 wouldn't provide the same security as what I had on before on the front and the Heideneau would give better longevity and staking resistance than other tyres.
The old TKC 80 wore fairly quickly with the knobs starting to scallop and crack on the sides and thin down on the centre. I kept it as a spare. It's still probably got some life left in it but I prefere to have decent knobs on the front so the front doesn't slide out in the soft stuff

[spacey1]

Continental TKC 70

Continental TKC 70 on my R1200 GSA 2008 fitted at 136,800km.

Now 155,555 km meaning > 18,755 km.

To put that into perspective:

• I have never had this many kilometres on a motorcycle tyre 'EVER'. Typically 6,000 to 8,000 km from a rear.
• I got 12,000 km on a Tourance-2 in Europe, riding mostly on the sides.
• These are Western Australian kilometres - ie. Flat straight bitumen roads; commuting on freeways 18 km (x2) every day, rain or shine. Club bush rides on dirt roads from the Murchison, down to Esperance and Fitzgerald National Park dirt tracks.
• The TKC70 tyres have never let me down on-road or off-road, wet or dry (still haven't experienced mud - hardly a surprise in WA).
• No pucker moments, they just let you know what's going to happen next.
• They still stick like the proverbial on the sides when pushed to the lean limit.
• Not as quiet as when originally fitted, but still quiet. But never Heidenau LOUD (Where you want 'em to wear out to stop the noise).
• Perform admirably on dirt roads at sustained higher speeds wheelie-ing over cattle grids and power-sliding controllably in 4th.
• Initially concerned about sidewalls, but have encountered no problems thus far.

Continental TKC 70 tyres @ 18,755 km



The front is not going to wear out any time soon.
The rear should last to 20,000 km legally.

Would I fit them again > Yep

[SPANDAU BALLET]

I had BOZO's problem with a Metzeler Z8. I was having a beer and admiring the bike and to my horror saw the rear down to the wire. I googled it and scores of people were complaining about the lack of centre wear indicators. These tyres are dangerous and I wont be buying them again.

[boomer61]

On Wrightmans comment on patching tyres and using multiple repair kits on trips.
The best place to store your tyre repair kit patches and glue when not on a trip is in the fridge to prevent the glue from going off.
Get some medium size tubes of glue rather than the really small ones as there is more product to volatilize over time. I had one small tube in a kit and went to use it and it was empty.
Check the kit before you leave to make sure it has all it components and they are still usable.
Get larger size patches (read TRUCK tyre size patches) for fixing ultra heavy duty tubes.
Get some tyre patches to repair the inside of the tyre if running tubeless and these can also be used to patch the inside of tube tyres with big puncture holes.

[Bozo]

In June last year I had a Mitas E07 put on the rear and a Heidenau K60 Scout on the front of my 2008 1200 GSA. The odometer reading was 72,666 km.

I have now hit 90,000 km and need a new rear tyre. I got over 18,000 km out of the last Mitas E07 rear on this bike and have got a similar distance out of the current tyre.

The tyre use is mainly bitumen but has had over 2,000 km's offroad (Gascoyne Junction, Mount Augustus, Arkaroola, Northern Goldfields).

I plan to put a Heidenau K60 Scout on the rear as tyre prices for this brand are very competitive in Victoria where the bike now sits.

Wear on the Heidenau front tyre has been minimal and I expect to get over 30,000 km from it.

The Mitas E07 has been a good value tyre and has performed OK apart from in clay/mud. It does sing in a duet with the front tyre on smooth bitumen.

The cracking at the base of the blocks on the Mitas E07 has been minor.

Picture of the rear tyre at 90,020 km.


Bozo

[Bozo]

Further to the report on the Mitas E07 tyre, I asked Jamie's advice about whether he thought I would get another 2,500 kms out of it before I headed on to Putty Road (it had done 15,500 kms at that stage). His response "No worries Bozo....Digger would get over 5,000 kms out of that tyre".

Bozo

[Digger]

Digger would get over 5,000 kms out of that tyre".
Bozo

...and then some!!! Traction is overated (along with Work).

[Bozo]

There was a bloke called Maslow who knew a bit about motive power who published the "Hierarchy of Needs for Owners of Tyres" in order of importance:

1. Inflation
2. Fit for purpose
3. Predictability (behaviour)
4. Traction
5. Repairability
6. Street Credibility
7. Duration (Wear Life)
8. Absence of irritating habits (noise, delamination, attraction to foreign objects, marking pristine driveways)

I understand that Digger's "Hierarchy of Needs for Owners of Tyres" is:

1. Inflation

Bozo

[Bozo]

The BMW 1200 RT I purchased second hand in September 2016 had just had a Metzler Roadtec 01 Rear Tyre fitted. This tyre had wear indicators across the centre of the tyre and had a good feel to it when cornering. It was superior to my experience on Z8s.

In January this year I put a Metzler Roadtec 01 front tyre on the bike.

The rear has now done 10,000 kms and the front 5,000 kms.

I have been very happy with the tyres which have not had any incident. The only small issue is that the front tyre makes noise when turning on smooth roads. This is probably due to the tranversal grooves on the front tyre (I did not notice any noise before I fitted the Roadtec 01 on the front).

Rear Tyre at 10,000 km


Front Tyre at 5,000 km


Bozo