Hi,

I recently bought a 1996 R1100GS.

I want to replace the current road tyres and want to get some semi-off-roaders for a trip to Ghana next year.

It's currently fitted with Metzeler Tourances, front and rear.

Can anyone recommed 1; a good set of road tyres, and 2; a good set of dual purpose tyres?

Are the Metzeler's the best option?
Are the Conti TKC80's the best.

Any thoughts welcome!

Thanks.

To be honest, the new "Made in Korea" TKC80s are more to the crap side.

Doing Central-America my TKC80 rear was worn in less than 6000km, front maybe did around 10 000. With their thin and soft walls they pick up punctures like there's no tomorrow and they're hard to repair since the ultra-soft walls don't put much counterpressure on the repair plug to keep it properly sealed for a longer term.

Heidenau K60 seems to be the best pick for boxer GS in tubeless if you want some worthy loose surface grip while wanting them to last on tar roads.

They come in smaller width though: 100/90 front and 140/80 rear but it's within R850/1100/1150/1200GS rim spec that allows +/-1 size width variation on Behr cross-spoke tubless rims. I know they got too popular so Heidenau has plans making them in the original 110/150 width sizes, not sure if they've started distributing them yet or not. Do your homework on this matter.

K60s are amazingly durable for a knobby type of a tire. I get around 25 - 30 000km out of front and 13 - 20 000km from rear depending on the "hard-handness" on the throttle grip. And that's 2-up with full gear!

Their walls is almost twice the thickness of TKC80, and considerably harder - hard as hell in fact. I've done over 100 000km on K60s, half on gravel roads and I've never picked up a puncture on a healthy K60 tire! I rode 2000km from Iran to the middle of Turkey on K60 basically on textile (no rubber left), and I still didn't get any puncture.

Cons: as on any knobby type of tire - you got to be more careful on the wet tarmac and steep curves. Also although the max speed is rated to 160km/h (100mph) it's only for single rider on a light bike. With full gear loaded bike I'd say maximum allowed speed is around 130-140km/h max, doing more than that all day will cause the rear tire to overheat and starting to crack (been there done that - I wrote to Heidenau about this, sent those shocking pictures and I heard they changed the K60 rubber mixture some time after that, but it didn't improved that much, so the max speed rating is still below for fully loaded bikes). So keep your speeds low crossing that fast European autbahn on the way to third-world where the speeds are low anyway.

Anyways, I maybe too biased towards the K60s (and currently crying, since I can't get them in Americas), but they are definately a type of tires to seriously consider for a typical African/Asian/Australian/South-American dirt&tar road fusion abusing under torquey R1xx0GSes that eats those other wannabe DualSport tires too well if you're hard on that throttle.

Ride safe, Margus

Margus,

Thanks for that.

Good information.

Any thoughts on road tyres?
Are Metzeler Tourance's good?

I'm need road tyres for the now and might use them on the European leg of the trip.

Gilles27

Heidenau's K60 everytime ( on my R1200GS) in 150/70/17 (the correct size for the rear - and 110/80/19 front) size
Can't speak about high mileage yet but done 4000ish on them and ...they look brand new!
Fine on tarmac - fully loaded but 1 up- I tend to cruise at 60mph- Excellent grip on compacted earth and gravel- not tried sand on them yet- bit more care on wet roads but that's to be expected-
Seems to be the best choice for 'go-almost-everywhere' tyre with added longer life (from reports)
I'm sold on these and have discarded the rest-

Hi

My experience is that a Conti TKC front and Michillin Anakee rear is the best combo for my GS. (I´ve done more than 250,000kms on two 1150 GS´s)
I´ve tried all sorts of tires, and none gives me the durability and grip like these two (haven´t tried the obove mensoined tires). They typically last 20,000kms (Front) and 16,000kms. I mostly ride slow, below 120km/h, to get these milage. I´ve tried the Cont TKC at the rear, but it only lasts for 8,000 - 10,000kms with all my weight (Two-up)

Johan

For European leg Tourances are probably the best bang for the buck tires around. One of the longest lasting tarmac tires I know for DS bikes.

If you are looking for durability then don't buy the new Tourance EXP version though - they last considerably less than the original Tourance (non-EXP) which are still made because it's still a very popular tire (no wonder, since it really lasts - good for long distance tourers). And here in America I hear people almost have stopped buying the new Tourance EXP since they're dissaponted in them being used to the original Tourances.

I currently have EXP in the rear and the original older version Tourance in the front. Rear indeed wears too fast for my liking, but yet in the sharp corners the EXP does feel more planted while the front wants to wash away - and while most of the weight is in the rear. So the EXP seems to be kind of compromise tire - more grip with the cost of durability.

With fully loaded bike you don't go to road racing or footbeg scratching curves anyway, so original Tourance seems to make more sense in that case.

But yet if you go touring with a big money wallet and thus with a litte or no gear on the bike then I'd pick Tourance EXPs over the original Tourances tho - they are just more grippy tires and thus more fun in the corners with a lighter bike .

The good news is K60s have been available in the correct 110/80/19 & 150/70/17 for a few months now.

That's intersting Johan - I needed a new rear TKC on the way back through France a couple of years back and the only tyre I could get for my R11GS was an anakee so I rode the last 250km home on the mostly motorway with exactly that mix - Anakee rear TKC front and although nervous at first with such a mix it behaved remarkably well. I kept them on for a few weeks before getting an Anakee on the front too. It was the first experience with the Anakees and I like them on the road a lot.

Regarding off road - give me TKC80 everytime. I don't want to run with undersized tyres on a big heavy BMW and no doubt if I ask Continental to change the rubber mix on the TKC for me I'm sure they would too

__________________
...on the road to nowhere...

Biking roads by bikers for bikers www.bestbikingroads.com

Johan,

what's your secret trick geting such mileage out of them, or those were the older "Made in Germany" TKC80s?

I got barely less than 10 000km from the new "Made in Korea" TKC80 front and I'm also two-up full gear like you. Rear one wore out way too quick, I'd say even if you're being light on the throttle they are completely worn between 6000-8000km. Good thing the new TKC80s aren't so bloody expensive anymore though!

Margus, I think I'm a very relaxed rider (80-100km/h) compared to most other riders, especially on such long joyrneys. Back home on weekend rides it is a different story.

I just checked, my current TKC (front) tire, its made in Korea. I fitted it in Medellin, Colombia and drove down to Usuaia, and back up again to where we are now, Salta (Northern Argentina). That will be exactly 22,000kms. Will ad another 1500kms to it till I get to Santiago (Chile) to fit a new one. I've done many gravel roads with this tire, not sure if that helps the milage. Rest of the time I was on the straight sections through the Atacama, Patagonian roads as well as the ever so boring Ruta 3 between Ushuaia to Buenos Aires. The tire still looks ok.
I also rarely get punctures in the front, in fact only once in Kenya due to a sharp rock. Most punctures for me hapenes at the rear with the Michillen?

With my last two tires I changed the direction of the tire on the rim at about 12,000kms, seems to wear off more evenly on the knobbies and give me an extra 2,000 - 3,000kms. If I were to cruise at 140km/h or more I would probably not do this, but like I said most of my speeds are below 100km/h. I also keep the tire pressure high (38PSI) when I'm on good roads. Going down to 20PSI on loose gravel etc. (this is for two-up, lots of lugguage)
Handling seems fine for me and I have no probs with grip. Been through the twisties in the French Alps, Scotland, Rockies, Andes etc with this combo and it works for me.

I know most people like to use the same kind of tires front and rear, and Ive been like that too, but the gravel road ability of 'road' tires in the front just suck for me. Thats why I keep to an 'off road' front, even if I only do 5-10% gravel compared to tar. On the tar roads, I realy dont feel any difference in handling.

Johan

Where do you get them from?

Regarding that Conti TKC, below is a photo what it looked like after 23,000kms on the front of my 1150GS.


Johan

hi - me and my husband have used Conti TKC80s for our entire trip so far....almost 7 years on the road and no - we are NOT sponsored by Conti!!

we have found them to be the best dual purpose tyre. we have used them in all types of terrian.. and find that they last long miles both on and off road.
my husbands bike is an R1100GS, mine is an F650GS both are fully laiden.

go have a look at our site if you want to check out the type of terrain we have been using them on.

__________________
Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com

Hi Lisa. What milage does your husband's 1100GS get on his rear wheel tire?
I've never run a TKC till its end on the rear, so are not sure?