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Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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Old 1 Oct 2011
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tyres
hi all, just had fitted some continental twinduro tkc80 tyres and never used this profile of tyre before.been out on the roads today and they are great but could anyone tell me are they ok on the roads when wet or anything i should know to stay safe thanks
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Old 2 Oct 2011
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Depends what you've used before. Road legal knobblies are generally ok in the dry (as long as you haven't put them on an R1 or something similar) but need a bit of care on wet roads. TKCs are at the softer / grippier end of the knobblie spectrum but compared to regular road tyres that's not saying much. For wet weather use there are worse out there.
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Old 2 Oct 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond View Post
Depends what you've used before. Road legal knobblies are generally ok in the dry (as long as you haven't put them on an R1 or something similar) but need a bit of care on wet roads. TKCs are at the softer / grippier end of the knobblie spectrum but compared to regular road tyres that's not saying much. For wet weather use there are worse out there.
thanks ,there on my tenere and have only used the standard tyres the bike came with from new {still came off in the wet so could be interesting with these tyres}
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Old 2 Oct 2011
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Hi, i have used the Tck80s on my Teneres for years in all conditions (even snow) and highly recommend them, they are a compromise on the road but still ride well as few sport bikes learnt in the Alps last summer. Andy
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Old 3 Oct 2011
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Tenere + TKC80 tyres
After coming off with the factory fitted Metzeler Tourance and breaking 3 ribs, I swapped to TKC80. Made a completely different bike in sand/gravel. Once rear worn, replaced with TKC80 also. Commute about 20km every day, and OK on bitumen, especially where driveway gravel on road surface. I enjoy the tyres as sometimes take the long way home over about 20km gravel/stone/sand. May not be best knobbly around, but I think they are a good compromise - OK on bitumen (today was first ride in wet with them), OK on sand/gravel/stoney roads. Seem to be wearing OK, front has done over 5000km now, and rear about 2000km.
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Old 3 Oct 2011
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TKC 80's have got pretty good on road manners, I used them (to start with) in South America, 2up on a DR650 and they are popular in North America on many dual sport bikes, especially BMW GS and KTMs

Like any tyre, they are better after they have 'bedded in' and the release agent worn off them after a few hundred miles, as for wet asphalt, even in the rain you can achieve some good lean angles as long as you are not too agressive on the throttle.

Being softer, they dont last as well as some other tyres, I got about 9000 kms out of the rear and 15,000kms from the front in South America, but thats the compromise!
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Old 3 Oct 2011
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Slightly different but still the same tyre, anyone got experience of using TKC80's in Mongolia, fitted to an XT600 or the like?

I'm looking at tyre choices for my upcoming trip and have heard they might be a bit soft compound-wise for the stoney ground there.

Dan
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Old 3 Oct 2011
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they seem to move around abit more if you catch the white lines but that could be just because i'm a crap rider.
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Old 7 Oct 2011
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Went to Morocco last year on my XT600 Tenere, running MT21s. My mate on his KTM990 Adv had TKC 80s. After 2 weeks of mainly rocky off road his rear tyre was as good as bald. I still had half the life left in mine. Admittedly he had 2 x my power, and initially was using it and spinning up a lot, but the TKC seemed much softer, especially once it was hot.

I rate the MT21s and used them again this year: 3/4 worn after 3 weeks and almost 7000kms, an d lots of sharp rocks. Nop punctures on either trip too - Michelin HD tubes.

Guess they'd be as good as anything in Mongolia, though I have heard that the Mitas CO2 listed above are really durable.
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Old 8 Oct 2011
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Im astonished you get such good life out of MT21's considering how knobbly they are, how much of your 7k would you guess was tarmac?
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Old 8 Oct 2011
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Yeah MT21s are a pretty good tyre in the dirt and wear quite well, on wet asphalt I found them quite sketchy on a KTM 640 Adv around roundabouts...though it was jetted and piped......
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Old 8 Oct 2011
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my bike had a pair of half worn MT21's on when i bought it, i never actually hit dirt on the bike until i had switched them for Heidenau K60's which i use now. On wet for me they were ok as i usually ride pretty sedately on wet roads, but when dry i found them to not be confidence inspiring in corners.

But now looking back i figure that might have been inexperience on the bike which as a DS bike was quite a style change from the 80's Honda i was on immediately before buying it. How do you find them and similar knobbly road legal tyres compared to a more hybrid tyre?
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Old 8 Oct 2011
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Hi,

Best tire you can use is Mitas E07. This tire lasted for more then 25.000 km all the way from germany to southafrica.

Riding the rough west coast through Africa part 3

Travel save, Tobi
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Old 9 Oct 2011
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With respect to Toby's personal experience, you might want to look at this
I lost confidence in this tyre and have switched over to using a 140 instead of a 130 Heidenau K60 Scout and very glad I did.
A michelin T63 on the front and the job's a good one. It's all about personal choice.
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Old 9 Oct 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dan66 View Post
Slightly different but still the same tyre, anyone got experience of using TKC80's in Mongolia, fitted to an XT600 or the like?

I'm looking at tyre choices for my upcoming trip and have heard they might be a bit soft compound-wise for the stoney ground there.

Dan
Pretty much agree with what other guys have said above.

The TKC80 is the knobbly with the best road manners - even in the wet. The compromise is in the off road performance and the wear. Its like the Karoo in that sense - Suited to spending over half the time on asphalt with sorties on the gravel and off road. But dont expect too much tread depth left after 3000 km.

If you are going to spend most of your time off the asphalt (like Mongolia) then I would go with a little more off-road bias in your tyres ... Best combination I have found for Mongolia is a Michelin T63 front and a Michelin Desert rear. The super tough Desert rear is ideal for the sand and rocks you will find in Mongolia, and the T63 front gives a good stable predictable front end.

(subject to wheel size ... what size is the rear wheel on the XT? If its 17 inch then the Desert wont work for you.)
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