Advice for newbie first tire choice!!

[jameskaya]

My s10 new to me has a rear Tourance EXP. Its up for replacement, from what iv read it does not last well. So have been looking at alternatives. The conti, battle wings, Tourance and K70. They all get good reviews depending on what you like.

So how do I decide? And what would you recommend?

My current situation is:

1) most of the time riding 2up fully loaded
2) ride in all weathers
3) off to Europe for 3 weeks soon if all goes well or round the Uk
4) all Tarmac but that will soon be changing to gravel roads etc

Important points:

1) high milage
2) grip in the wet

 

[hANNAbONE]

I have the battlewings on 3 sets total. bike came with them.
I am getting +12500 on the front and +9000 on the rear.

 

[X5]

Do you ride mostly on road, mostly off road or equal????

 

[jameskaya]

Do you ride mostly on road, mostly off road or equal????

All road, but hunting for gravel as we speak. It will be low amounts and mostly on-road.

 

[barkingllizard]

Michelin Anakee III
http://www.michelinmotorcycle.com/tires/michelin-anakee-iii

I have done 19 000 kms on front, 18 000 kms rear, currently riding on second set, mostly blacktop and gravel roads are a breeze. No fears off road. Yesterday was snow.
Works for me.....

 

[X5]

Stock tires work well on road and were spec'ed by Yamaha and dealers also stock them....

 

[Ironhand]

I was always impressed with the durability and performance of the non-EXP Tourance.

 

[EricV]

My s10 new to me has a rear Tourance EXP. Its up for replacement, from what iv read it does not last well. So have been looking at alternatives. The conti, battle wings, Tourance and K70. They all get good reviews depending on what you like.

So how do I decide? And what would you recommend?

My current situation is:

1) most of the time riding 2up fully loaded
2) ride in all weathers
3) off to Europe for 3 weeks soon if all goes well or round the Uk
4) all Tarmac but that will soon be changing to gravel roads etc

Important points:

1) high milage
2) grip in the wet

To some degree, 1 & 2 are opposed. The Heidenau K70 is a motorcross tire. The other two version that are most used with the S10 are K60 and K76.

If you're going to be riding two up on gravel and traveling, rather than solo hooligan riding on gravel, either the K60 or K76 can be good choices with more gravel security than the street biased tires. You will be giving up so wet traction on tarmac though. Not dangerous, but it's there. It's only really noticeable to me when the tires are new. Do not apply power crossing a paint stripe or it will spin the wheel. Good news, we have traction control to minimize this. After a few hundred miles it's not as noticeable, (to me), but the K60 still doesn't have the wet tarmac traction of the 80/20 tires.

I say this having run four rear Heidenau K60 rears and three fronts, mostly on pavement. I tried a Metzler Anakee 3 and while it was nice on tarmac and good for wet traction, it wore faster than I would like. I get a consistent 12k miles on the K60 and got about 8 from the A3, which wasn't bad really. It didn't have the grip off tarmac that I have grown to like with the K60.

My wife loves her Conti-Trail Attacks and they wear well, (10k+ on the rears, more on the fronts), but she is on a lighter bike, (F650GS twin), though it is heavily loaded and probably over 650 lbs w/o rider. About what the S10 starts at if you have a few farkles or light luggage.

If you're going to be spending those three weeks, nearly all on gravel, it might be worth the K60 or K76. More vibes on the tarmac, but much more secure on the gravel. OTOH, if you're going to be spending mixed time on gravel/tarmac two up, it's probably fine to stick with the 80/20 tires.

 

[Cykel]

Is your high-mileage requirement miles / tire, or $ / mile?

I'm becoming a Shinko 705 fan (radial version), but they likely wouldn't get you through a 6000+ mile trip on a single set. $ / mile and performance are both great for mostly road, some dirt riding.

 

[Travex]

Hot button topic... Right up there with oil. My suggestion would be to read of those who ride similar to you for best results. I'm finishing up on my 4th rear and 2rd front Battlewing. As my confidence and skill with this bike increase the tire life decreases as you'd expect. Horsing it around pretty good gets me around 4k from the rear, riding about 80/20. Coming from a dirt background I had deluded myself into thinking that a non-dirt tire couldn't offer much, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the traction these benign looking tires get on varied surfaces and conditions (in concert with TC). They've served me very well on pavement, packed dirt, gravel, stone, "very" light mud, and rough trail. Snow brought no similar joy. That said, I'm going to give Tourances a shot on the next total change coming up shortly.

Have a great trip on whatever you select! ::003::

 

[Don in Lodi]

Is your high-mileage requirement miles / tire, or $ / mile?

I'm becoming a Shinko 705 fan (radial version), but they likely wouldn't get you through a 6000+ mile trip on a single set. $ / mile and performance are both great for mostly road, some dirt riding.

I'm playing with the Full Bore M-40 version of the 705. 7,000 miles on the rear that is now a spare in the garage, still going on the front and a new rear. The M-40 shows slightly higher numbers than the Shinko. Chaparral sells them. Rode them too and from Colorado, did the mountain goat thing in the dirt just fine, played in the mud and water in the Sierras just fine. Had a rain day to the coast a couple weekends ago, paint, steel bridge joints, and manhole covers are to be prepared for in advance, dicey. No difference there really.
Oh, and my oem EXP's made 8200 before removal.

 

[Leopard_125]

++ on the shinko 705r
Sixth rear and third front.
Price to performance is excellent ::015::

 

[Rasher]

EricV probably nailed it ::008::

You really need to give up quite a bit for any off-road performance, this has been discussed before and I pasted a quote in from the adventure riders handbook which had a good section on tyres.

Basically road tyres will perform as well as "Dual Purpose" tyres such as Tourances on the odd gravel track, to get any real improvement off-road will require sacrificing a significant amount of road performance, if your gonna be 99% road based I would stick with road tyres, go with a "dual purpose" tyre if it makes you feel better - just don't expect it to be that great off-road.

I use my bike more like a sports-tourer, but with a preference for B-Roads, back lanes and anything else I can find, this does include the odd dirt tack or gravel lane where the road tyres are fine, but I have to pass up on muddy stuff if it has rained, and I expect anything less than a K60 will be no better in these conditions.

If your not bothered about throwing the bike around too much on tarmac you won't need to worry about the compromise, I just settled on sticking with road tyres and picking my tracks and trails carefully (and only in summer)

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Here's what I've tried on the combined 43K Tenere miles of our bikes.

OEM Battlewing: Very impressed with this tire for mainly road riding with occasional off pavement. Good long life tire. This was the tire I had in the extreme conditions of Hurricane Irene, it was a great wet tire that never gave me any concerns in very bad conditions.

Anakee II: The best all purpose tire I've experienced on the Tenere. Did not last quite as long as the Battlewing, but still very good life.

Heidenau K60: Surprisingly good road tire. No wet issues when new. Can't say I did much wet with them after worn, so I'll trust what others tell me about reduced traction on worn tires/wet roads. Most people report extraordinarily long tire life. I beat those tires pretty hard, so my tire life experience is not a good indicator. Off pavement, very good in the corners, not so great in a straight line under heavy throttle on dry gravel/dirt roads.

OEM Tourance EXP: Don't remember much about this one. Took it off after just 2,300 miles to install the K60s. About to reinstall again on my wife's bike to run out the remainder. What I do remember is tire life looked like it was going to be fairly short. Can't remember much of anything about handling.

Karoo 3: Have less than 1K miles on it, so not much to say yet. Handles the dry pavement better than it looks like it would. Does howl at speed, but not as loud as the K60. No wet experience yet, will probably get some this afternoon. Off pavement, so far they are the opposite of the K60. Good in a straight line, unimpressive in a corner. Keep in mind, I'm fairly aggressive in the non-pavement environment gravel/dirt road environment, so I may be a bit more hyper-sensitive where others may not notice or care.

Based on the desired riding environment jameskaya indicated I personally would probably go back to the OEM Battlewing.

 

[racer1735]

I just returned home from a 900 mile roundtrip, of which the 400 mile return trip was totally in the wet, with conditions ranging from drizzle and spit to full on rain. I am on Avon Distanzia's and have to say that they have performed wonderfully in everything I've ridden on to this point. THat would be pavement, graded dirt roads and wet pavement. I've had them for just over 1,500 miles and they show little, if any, signs of wear and are predictable in their handling. That is to say that seem to stick and do what a tire is supposed to do. I've read some good reviews for a few other tires, but have to say that based on what I've experienced to this point, I'll be purchasing another set of Distanzia. Now, some tires really deteriorate as they wear down...we'll see if thats the case.

 

[RavenLunatic]

Hey Racer1735. How are your Distanzias wearing now after a few more months since your post. I'm seriously thinking of putting them on before a trip from NC to Baja in a couple of weeks. Total trip will be about 7,000 miles. I've run Avons on my Honda Valkyrie for years and absolutely love them. For the ST, I'm deciding between the Avons and the Conti trail attack.
Thanks!

 

[racer1735]

Hey Racer1735. How are your Distanzias wearing now after a few more months since your post. I'm seriously thinking of putting them on before a trip from NC to Baja in a couple of weeks. Total trip will be about 7,000 miles. I've run Avons on my Honda Valkyrie for years and absolutely love them. For the ST, I'm deciding between the Avons and the Conti trail attack.
Thanks!

So far I have nothing but good to report on my Distanzias. They haven't squared-off, have great traction (wet or dry) and great response and interaction with the pavement. I cannot report on how they are in single-track dirt or sand. I have ridden numerous dirt roads and gravel roads and they are very good. No pucker-factor yet!

I will get a picture of the front and rear and post ASAP.

 

[FlaDave]

I like my new Tourance set so far.
My Tourance EXP's didn't seem to wear well at all.
Hopefully, I'll get some better mileage out of these.

 

[jameskaya]

Just putting a tourance on the rear. Was going to put an Anakee 3 on, but one poor review stopped me. And a good price on the tourance.

 

[racer1735]

A follow up on a semi-dormant post. I put right at 4,000 miles on my Distanzia's in both rain and dry. Mainly pavement, but some graded dirt and gravel (not much rock to this point). However, I picked up a screw between the tread lugs in late January. Plugged the hole and it held until recently. Now its leaking down about 2 psi overnight so I'm not real comfortable riding very far, nor very fast on it any longer. Still lots of tread to go, not much in the way of squaring off.

Gut instinct says I should purchase another Distanzia...but my curiousity has me looking at Heidenau K76.