Tires, Recommendations Anyone?

[mcbrien]

Have you read this entire thread yet?

Yes and everybody is talking Hedenau's but I think I need something in between .
The post just before mine is what I don't want . I too will be at the dragon in a few
weeks .

 

[Desert Dave]

I removed the Tourance EXPs yesterday with only 2350 miles on them I was really surprised at how little tread was left in them. They weren't done yet, but at that rate I doubt they had another 2K miles left in them. Far worse tread life than the Battlewings that came on my first Tenere. I'm a hammer the throttle kind of guy and I do see the TCS light blinking a fair amount on the pavement, but I can usually get at least 6500 miles out of a rear.

Installed the K60s yesterday. Had a really hard time balancing the front tire. Even spun the rim 180 degrees once, then again another 90 degrees. Ultimately I had to give up and just put 2oz of weight on it. With less than 100 miles on them it's too early to form an intelligent opinion yet. I immediately put them on 6 miles of gravel road to rub off any slippery stuff that is usually on new tires. Of course they were squirmy at first, but I do expect that of any new tire. I was a little surprised to see the TCS light blinking when I was throttling out of a traffic circle. Really didn't feel them slip there, but was surprised to see the light. It was only mildly aggressive and I was in TCS2, I checked the mileage at that point and had 65 on them. They do sing when over 60 MPH, but the ride was smooth up to 75 MPH indicated. It really feels like you are riding on knobbies between 20 and 23 MPH. It makes you start looking for a dirt road.

I'm going to go put a couple of hundred on them today and make sure I get in some twisties. I'm leaving in 4 days for riding down near Tail of the Dragon and I want to make sure I'll have confidence hammering them hard in the twisties. I don't get down there very often and want to make sure I'm not thinking about traction while I'm in some chicane.

Did the same as you, at 2200 miles I was at the wear bars on my EXPs.

Funny about the balancing as I was surprised how little mine took, 3/8s of an ounce on the front 1/4 oz on the rear. Mine came from the factory with no weights, so I think the rim is good from get go. Did yours have any weights from the factory.

I did a quick report in the "what you did to your Tenere thread" and after riding them aggressive I think the Tourances have a clear advantage. Doesn't mean you can't still go pretty fast in the canyon and you'll probably still whoop on some squids if you want, but I did have to hold back for certain. I left my TC in TC1 as I really didn't trust the rear yet and never saw it activate in the snow and gravel (on the road) as I rode conservative but on dry twisty road the yellow light was blinking like a strobe light almost on every corner exit where I could hammer the Tourance without that happening. Front really felt aggressive braking in a bad way to, especially if transitioning from full lean angle on one side to the other while braking hard.

 

[Brntrt]

Ordered a set of Mitas E-09. Got em for $220 Cd from Gnarly Parts to the door. We'll see!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mark

 

[keeponriding]

+1 for Jaxon at RideonADV...excellent service and good prices.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Funny about the balancing as I was surprised how little mine took, 3/8s of an ounce on the front 1/4 oz on the rear. Mine came from the factory with no weights, so I think the rim is good from get go. Did yours have any weights from the factory.

No weights from the factory. And it took 2.5 oz, not the 2oz I said earlier. The rear balanced with very little weight.


I put my new K60s though some serious Pennsylvania mountain twisties today. Top notch hard core stuff. Roads that give you an evil grin inside your helmet as you grit your teeth and nail the throttle. Yes, those roads. I am extremely happy with the grip and ride-ability of the K60. In the morning the twisties were wet, which backs off my aggression a health amount (lessons learned the hard way). While in TCS2 I did try multiple times to get the back tire to spin on wet straight roads, I could not do it. Did not see the TCS light blink today, but I'll admit I wasn't watching the dash all that much. When the roads dried out I felt I was able to ride at my normal pace and the grip never gave me any cause for concern. These tires are staying on for Western NC and North GA roads. No problem at all.

There's no question they are different in how they handle. Not bad, just different, but not in a way that prevents me from riding my way. I do notice more vibration in the handlebars. Not really bothering me, but it's there. First 330 miles down, and ? to go. I look forward to enjoying the benefits of these tires..they sure do look badass.

One thing I did not expect was for them to impact my speedometer. I noticed on several occasions today the error between my GPS and my speedo was less than normal. I have nothing else to attribute that to other than the deeper tread of the K60.

Jaxon, thanks for getting these out to me so quickly. I'm very happy with my purchase. ::012::

 

[Don in Lodi]

Yes and everybody is talking Hedenau's but I think I need something in between .
The post just before mine is what I don't want . I too will be at the dragon in a few
weeks .

So, what are you after that OEM replacements won't do it for you? Your talkin' like asphalt knee draggin' is what your looking for. To go for something between OEM and K60s you're going to have to back off on your expectations in the twisties some. Though, I'm impressed with the peg dragging ability of my K60s. No sense of loss of control right down to some solid scraping. And if they do the miles some are hinting at, even though expensive, they are going to be an outstanding choice. All the big names sell a middle ground ADV tire now. The Pirellis look pretty good, three or four to choose from.