Nairobi: Bike tyres available?
 

My girlfriend and I are planning Cairo - Capetown from 12\2013 until 03\2014. Starting in Egypt we will have installed new tyres. After the challenging road from Moyale to Marsabit we want to change from cross-country tyres to road-tyres.
Does anybody know about the possibility to get some tyres for my R1200GS and her XT660R in Nairobi?

Regards
Stefan

hey
i think everyone here on the forum agrees with me if i say that ''jungle junction nairobi'' is the place to go. this campsite, including a workshop and quite a lot of tyres, is a great place (if not the best place in east africa)to meet other overlanders. send the guy an email to see if he can help you.

i took this address last year when i went there but i dont know if it is completely right. somebody can probably verify.
Jungle Junction
Amboseli Rd. Lavington, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. +254 722 752865 / +264 723 392014,
E-mail: jungle_junction_nairobi@yahoo.com

GPS coordinate S1 17.325 E36 45.634

btw. i do not know how much you plan to go offroad, but we did last year windhoek to the netherlands (15.000km) with transalp/africatwin with only one set of tyres. metzeler tourance. they are good enough for the moyale road (if it is in good condition) and for me good enough on road.

Chris at Jungle Junction does not sell new tyres. He didn't when I was there in 2011 anyway.

He does have part worn ones lying about. Mostly abandoned/adopted tyres from travellers. It's pot luck what he has.

If you want a new tyre in Nairobi, there is a KTM place place where you can buy new, large tyres. How lucky you will be with a 17" though, I'm not sure.

I got a Metzeler Sahara 3 off them. It cost me £200 !!

Yes... £200. :eek3:



Sport Motorcycles Ltd.
P.O. Box 15000
00509 Nairobi
Tel: +254 20 891242
Fax: +254 20 891018
E-Mail: ianduncan@africaonline.co.ke

Physical address is

Mobil Garage
Hardy Estate
Langata.

It can be a bit tricky to find. Head out of Nairobi towards Nairobi National Park and the suburb of Karen. About five kms after the National Park, turn left at the sign pointing to the giraffe centre, ride straight for a couple of kms, and then it is a right turn into a Mobil garage in Hardy Estate.

Not if you have the GPS coords....:D
doh Djee Ted... how are we going to drag you into the 21st Century?
Kicking and screaming perhaps? :rofl:

touring ted! you are right indeed! lot of them were used. but at the time i was there (summer 2012) he had some new ones. and we left/sold him some complete new tyres. (in the end we didn't want to carry them over the moyale road)
so you could always give it a try but as you say you gotta be lucky.

I think I do have the coords somewhere...

However, I just did a quick search for the address to add to the post as I was in a rush :)

Ted, I remember seeing lot's of new tyres in the shed adjacent to the BBQ area !!!!, but I bet you need a bank loan to pay for them !

Cheers
paul

When I was there I desperately needed a tyre. I had put a 3" tear in my K60 in Ethiopia and the only tyres available there were these super cheap Chinese 100 section tyres with road treads. I had no choice.... I bought one and had to ride 1000 miles, inc the bandit highway on that tyre. Of all the places to have that tyre !! :(

Anyway, once at Jungle Junction Chris walked me round his tyre collection. There was nothing new there. Lot's of old tyres people had dumped there. If he had new tyres, he didn't show me...... I ended up swapping my Ethiopian tyre with him for a couple of inner tubes.

I rode out to the KTM place (Using gps Bertrand ;:) and they had lots of 18" tyres. Mostly offroad tyres though. The only road suitable one they had was a 140 section Sahara 3. A very good tyre but WAY too tall and fat for my DRZ400. Still, I had no choice and rode that tyre to Capetown. The bike was 3" higher LOL.

In fact I sold the bike in the UK with that tyre on. It still had loads of tread on it. The bike still had the original K60 on the front that I left the UK on 25,000 miles earlier too. :thumbup1:

At jungle junction, you could post a tyre there from home.. Be warned though. The import costs to Kenya are CRAZY !!

I had a small box of goodies shipped into Nairobi by DHL. Front sprocket, gps power cable, etc. The shipping was £80 but the Kenyan euthorities charged me £100 on import charges. F**king RIP OFF !!!

I have had tires sent to Nairobi with ordinary post twice.
Both times I have asked the people in the post-office to write a note in the carnet about the tires instead of paying taxes. This works a lot of places...

It would surprise me if Ian (KTM-place) has tires for the GS or rear for the Yamaha. They sell 1200GS in Nairobi (Chris used to work there) so the BMW-shop might have something, inshallah.

Did you guys posted them ahead or did you wait for them?

I got in contact with Judy from MotoADV Kenya.
She offered us:

We have the tires but not the Metzlers - see below - and it would be nice to know the date of your arrival? Also are we installing these? The install fee $50 per each bike.

1.*******Bike BMW R1200GS - Kenda- Big block* - (Metzler Karoo- equivalent)- *$400 setfront 110/80 R19rear 150/70 R172.*******Bike Yamaha XT660R- Bridgestone Trailwings - ($300 for the set)front 90/90-21 M/Crear 130/80-17 M/C

After asking for street-tyres she also offered us the Heidenau K60 Scout.
We will keep in contact with her :)

Stefan

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Chris does have new tires and a new adress
 

Hi Stefan,
we are currently in Nairobi, staying at the jungle junction, new adress is
GPS Coordinates: S1 21.767 E36 44.438
Kongoni rd,
Karen Hardy
Nairobi

The place moved about 3 months ago to a new location, which is quite a nice one. We needed new tires for our bikes (Dominator & Africa Twin) and Chris led us to his container where he stores the new tires. They weren't cheap (KSH 143' for a now name back tyre) but definetely okay. There is a KTM place 200m down the road, but they are closed at the moment.

May be, we'll meet on the way up. Where are you at the moment?

Mulle

Hi Mulle,

Thanks, we will try it first at the JJ! We alteady noticed that Chrus has moved. We are in Suez and wsnt to be in Aswan at 01.01.14 latest. The ferry to Sudan will leave on 07.01. the barge for the bikes on 05.01.
We are already in contact with Kamal.
Stefan

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Hey moto travelers, any recent info / updates on tire availability in Nairobi? On a DR650. Thx! :thumbup1:

We were in "jungle junction" few months ago and Chris show us some used "Trailwings" in very good conditions, he also mentioned that he have some brand new tires. But I recommend you just contact him directly and ask. Also "Hell Road" not challenging anymore... So It's possible to cross all east coast on one set of trusted tires. We did ~25000 with k60 on our DRs and after this changed rear to mitas E07 in Port Elisabeth (front one is still be OK), they have official mitas dealer here with pretty any sizes in stock.