Heidenau K60 Scout review - not good!
 

Following reasonable reviews, I had a pair of these fitted about a third of the way into my journey from the UK to Thailand. This was on the basis of them having a long life and being suitable for the occasional unpaved roads I might encounter from Russia onwards.

My bike was a Honda Transalp 700, ridden solo, and with only lightly loaded panniers & top-box. I inflated the rear to around 35psi (being mid-point between the solo & pillion recommended pressures), and the front to the correct amount. My riding style on this tour was quite leisurely.

Grip was good on dry roads, but white lines and the like caused a lot of weaving around. Wet grip was acceptable, but I took it steady. In the mild off-road sections, they performed well.

I suffered two punctures in the rear, both caused by nails, and these were repaired immediately with no riding on flat tyres.

Problems arose after about 6000 miles, when small cracks started to appear at the base of the knobs on the rear tyre, but with an estimated 5-6 mm of tread left, I carried on. The front was fine and did not show any similar issues.

These cracks/tears slowly propagated over the next 3-4000 miles, and at 9500 miles, I woke up one morning to witness about 3 of the knobs had completely torn off the tyre carcass, exposing the tyre cords.

In hindsight, I should not have ridden with the tyre in this state, but simply in the middle of Thailand, I had little choice but to ride 300 miles slowly to a tyre dealer to have replacements fitted. On arrival, another 2-3 chunks had come off, suggesting it would not have lasted much longer.

So, if this had have happened in a more isolated place, it would have been a major problem, and on that basis, I feel this is unacceptable from a 3 month old German built tyre. Although the front was fine, I can not recommend the K-60 Scouts any more.

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Interesting. I run K60's, and although I don't do much off road stuff they are holding up very well on my F 800 even when sometimes fully loaded. 12,000Kms so far and no problems.

Can't help noticing that all the issues you've had are on one side of the tyre, which could suggest acute stress on one side , perhaps caused by the tracking being slightly out and overheating up one side of the tyre more than the other, with the subsequent failure.

Yes very.....I have been running a K60 Scout rear and a normal K60 front for 5000 miles on my XT600E and 4700 of those mile were mixed terrain on my trip, and they are doing really well, better than the Sahara's I had on before.

Maybe just a faulty tyre?

Wayne

Our sample size is too small to be meaningful, but I’m another user who’s run through a couple of sets of K60 Scouts (Triumph Bonneville) both solo and as an outfit on snow a bit of gravel and a lot of road. The sidecar will tend to reveal reaction to odd loadings and I’ve nothing but praise for them (and not only because Heidenaus never tried to kill me like Pneumats on MZ’s back in the day!).

Andy

Yes, I still have an involuntary shiver when I remember those on my old MZ but the worst of all time must be the Inoue's fitted to early Jap stuff. It was like riding on ice every time it rained. :rain: :nono:

This is very surprising Russ, thank you for sharing. I suggest to send these pictures to Heidenau directly and without delay. Careful selecting an alternative, maybe a MEFO or TKC-80 is you can find these locally, but unlikely to last as long.

Here's Heidenau's address:
Reifenwerk Heidenau GmbH & Co. KG
Hauptstrasse 44
01809 Heidenau
Germany
info@heidenau.com
Phone: +49 (0) 3529 552801
Fax: +49 (0) 3529 512438

I only have a positive experience with those mounted on my 690R and I give them hell each time. I like those tires very much though scary at times on wet surface. Ride safe!

I had exactly the same issues with my Heidenau K60s. Huge cracks around the knobbies and parts and bits starting to come off. However I replaced that tyre before it became as bad at Russ' tyre. Had 12 k kms at that time.

Heat ?
 

Thanks for the comments, and I will send the thread link to Heidenau.... ( two weeks later, no reply)

I do agree that it is probably related to heat, although the failure mechanism might be complex. The ambient temperatures were around 30 deg C, but the Transalp does have a large exhaust catalytic converter mounted right in front of the rear tyre which would have passed some heat onto the tyre.

However, I do tend to check tyre temperatures at fuel stops, and at no time would it have been over 60 degrees C (the temp at which you cant really touch it with your bare palms for more than a second or so).

I can't see that poor tracking has anything to to with it, as on a bike, incorrect wheel alignment does not "scrub" tyres as it does on a car .. besides, I checked the alignment many times during adjustments to the chain, which was fine.

However, lets not loose sight of the fact this is a "T rated" tyre, which should be capable of max speeds of 190 kmph (118 mph) ... something I assure you the Transalp is barely capable of reaching.

The tyre was built in 2015, so was not an old one, and while it might be a case of faulty manufacture, if that is so, then I suggest Heidenau have some major quality issues across their range. I'm more inclined to say its operating on the limits of its design, and perhaps a more cautious description of its capabilities is whats needed.

Same same
 

Another also had lots of cracking.
I got 30,000 km out of my set of Heidenau tires and had one puncture.
They went though the Pamir highway and Mongolia with only one puncture , only happened on a gravel road though a crack and sharp large stone I reckon.
Plugged it and did something like another 2000 km before I put a tube in it as the tire was too bald for plugs to stay in very long without losing air.
Riding a BMW R100 GS.

I'd also just like to add that after approximately 8000km on my TKC80's they're done for. Spain to Mali via Guinea. If I could get even 10,000km from a tire now I'd be stoked. The k60 will for sure be my next tire.

Are you sure 35 psi is not too high for those tyres?
Never had K60 yet but I never inflated my tkc80 more then 25psi and they lasted over 20 000 km.

Back in 2014 I rode from Serbia to Japan ...24.000 km on Haidenay K-60
Highly recomended to adventure riders....as I used onother set for my trip acros Central and South America and they lasted 25.000 km.

Safe ride kawazoki

K60 and Road Riding
 

Hi,

I've just finished riding my K60 Scouts for 7000 miles, mainly on the road with some off road and green laning.

I found them to be excellent tyres, but poor in Mud (which we have a lot of in UK).

I dd get some crakcs / cuts in teh tyre after aggressive riding on dry stones. This was not unexpected as they are "softish" tyres. remember its a 50.50 tyre and hard off road will not do it good.

Happy traveling and thanks for posting your story - always interesting to hear experiences.

Add me to the list of people who experienced pronounced cracking on a K60 Scout rear.

I fitted them to my XT660z last year and rode from Cape Town to Nairobi - a mix of tarmac, gravel, dirt and the odd bit of sand. Overall I liked the tyre and after 12,000 kms or so there is plenty of tread left but the cracking was a bit disconcerting. Based upon this thread and comments i've read elsewhere I am working on the assumption that the cracking is an unwelcome feature of the tyre.

Russ, your conclusion is very understandable from your point of view. However, please bear in mind with other tires wouldn't even make it to Thailand.

Wauschi

I'm completely surprised
 

I think Russ must have received a bad set. I have been running K60's on my around the world trip. The tires have worked phenomenally well for me. Great on pavement and sand. I put 19,000 miles on the front tire and 13,000 on the rear, and this was on a fully loaded R1200GS. I also took a puncture at about 10,000 miles on the rear, plugged it, and moved on. I recommend them.

I don't like these tyres either.

I think they're over-rated.

They're just horrible on anything but very dry roads.

I've got them on my 750 Africa Twin. Not exactly a powerful bike. But the back end always steps out and slips on damp or wet roads. Not fun.

I think the non-scout versions are much better. You can get your knee down on those. That solid hard centre strip may be good for the Motorway straight line adventurers; but if you like to enjoy your bike in the corners then they're just horrible.

What's the point of a long lasting tyre if riding the bike isn't fun. Just plan better and swap better tyres a little earlier.

Just put my second set on couple months ago. First set took me 8K miles to Ak. and back with 3K left on the rear and at least another 7K on the front left to ride.

Talked with Heidenau rep before leaving. r1200gs loaded with 80# of gear plus my weight [ 180#'s ]. He told me to run the rear at 41 and front and 34 at all times, even on the Dalton Hwy to arctic. Not to deflate the tires on dirt, and only 2-3#'s if I did, the tires would last at least 10K [ they did as I worked with his recommendations throughout the trip ].

When I mentioned others like this thread starter had reported cracking issues he stated it's due to running their tires underinflated.

I never get that sort of mileage from any tyre!
 

Hi,
I've been using K60 Scouts for a while now but I can honestly say that I have never...ever...got the sort of mileage (on a rear tyre) being talked about here! What's the secret? I'm not light but not huge (95Kg) and ride mainly on the road at the moment, I take about 7Kgs of weight in my top box each day (including the weight of the top box). I was trying the scouts in preparation for my RTW next year and only managed to get 5K miles on the rear before I thought the tyre really needed replacing (I'm noting down the exact mileage when items are swapped out or changed just to know exactly what my maintenance costs and intervals might be). I'm not one to shy away from a low(ish) tread, usually waiting until just before the wear blobs are reached. I must say that this happens on all my tyres on all three bikes I use. I don't ride like a loon. I keep the pressures up to the manufacture's specification so could someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks :-)
Phil

No idea but I'm barely touching my tread at over 5k on the rear.

I love them tbh. Did 2 weeks round Spain 2 up fully loaded including high speed blasts and a brutal downpour run back to Scotland and had nothing but faith in them the whole trip.

All you write sounds rather reasonable, the only unknown is the value of the tyre pressure. So I got to ask; how many bar, psi, atü or whatever do you put in there?

When talking about how long your tires last - or not - it's VERY important to be able to compare properly - so please give:

1: Tire Pressure F and R
2: Bike model so we have a rough idea of power
3: Bike model so we know the weight!
4: Your weight and load weight

5: Average speed, and whether you're getting great gas mileage or lousy mileage! Then we know how heavy your right wrist is ;)
It all matters...

I’ve been using Heindau tires since the stock tires on my V Strom expired. My rear one was replaced after 25,000 km, my front one is still going at 33,700 km. The third replacement rear tire has 7.5 mm of tread life, the front tire has 5 mm of tread life. As I understand, the rear tire comes from the factory with 10 mm, the front 7 mm. The front tire has been to the Northwest Territories and Alaska both dirt and paved roads . It has also been down to The Gap where it performed unbelievably well on twisty roads.

Tire pressure front-36
Tire pressure rear-41
I believe these are stock recommendations.

So, maybe I’m lucky, but these tires have been absolutely fantastic for me!


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