Hi,
IMO, after just under 200 000km on three different F650 GS Dakars the best knobbly tyre for the back is a Kenda K270 and on the front I always go with the TKC80. In Lesotho there are long stretches of gravel roads with quite large and sharp rocks sticking out of the road surface and I've never had any trouble with either. No sidewall cuts either.
The Kenda is good on any surface (gravel, grass, mud and sand, even on tar) and outlasts any other brand I've tried. With loaded panniers the bike does tend to weave a bit on tar for the first few hundred kms of its life (around 115km/h). Even so, I preferred to pay for the extra weight of a spare one on the flight from SA to the Netherlands before riding from Amsterdam to Cape Town last year because I would not have had time to look for one over there. And there's just not any other tyre I would use. Another advantage is that it's real easy to take off if you have to fix a puncture.
BTW, the same Kenda also fits the F800GS and even at speeds over 120km/h on tarmac I got over 12000km out of it. i would not take it to a track day though, but then, track's not really my thing
Have fun!
Kobus
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"The fates lead him who will; him who won't they drag." - Anon
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