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**Xander** · #1 23 Aug 2007

2000 Africa twin

TKC 80s front and back.. great on road wet or dry, good on dry dirt, fine on soft deep dirt/sand, passable in deep mud (but then the AT is only passable in deep mud, so is it the tyres?)

Avon distenzia.. worst tyre on the market.. should be

or at least

xtz600

Pirelli MT21's good on road wet or dry, fine on dry dirt, fine on soft deep dirt, not come across deep mud with them on... drought and all that

Michelin baja ... not good on road
(not grippy and will vibrate your teeth out), dangerous on wet roads, great on dry dirt, bloody excellent on soft deep dirt/sand, good in deep mud..
they claim to be dual sport.. they are more accurately a dirt tyre that you can ride on the road to the dirt tracks....

**fuggie** · #2 26 Aug 2007

ive used heidenau k60 enduros so far, they stick like glue to dry roads (had my pillions foot scraping around a round about lol) its a job to loose them in the wet and off road there a fairly competent trail tyre! shame the rears only last about 3-4000km!

**BDG** · #3 17 Jan 2008

Can't comment on RTW stuff, but the best combination of tyres i've used for a couple of weeks in Morocco on road, off road, everything from rocks to playing in the big dunes on an XR650R is a Dunlop D908RR rear, with a Pirelli MT21 front.

Works well on and off road and lasts. Good all round compromise for me.

Michelin Deserts dodgy on road, especially if wet, though great off road.

The Dunlop D908RR front is horrible on the road, makes the bike very unstable at speed.

Pirelli MT21 rear wears faster off road than the Dunlop D908RR.

(Michelin T63 on mates bike work pretty good but front not as good as the MT21).

Because the riding is more of 'a mad thrash for a couple of weeks' rather than RTW, off road performance has been higher than ultimate longevity.

Also used TKC80's on a KTM 950 on and off road in Europe and very pleased with them.

**Martynbiker** · #4 17 Jan 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuggie

ive used heidenau k60 enduros so far, they stick like glue to dry roads (had my pillions foot scraping around a round about lol) its a job to loose them in the wet and off road there a fairly competent trail tyre! shame the rears only last about 3-4000km!

Like you I LOVE the Heidenau in the DRY....... sticks like Snot to a Hanky!
in the wet, on my XT600 and me weighing 140Kg and not an inexperienced loony, I find them a little, well, 'uneasy', they aren't what I call dangerous, but I wouldn't want to push em too far.....

Off Road, Rocks, gravel, Dry Tracks Excellent 10/10

Off Road, Mud, grass, slippy stuff 7/10

Off Road,Dry, Plowed field, sandy about a foot deep ( Don't ask) 4/10

On Road, Dry 11/10

On Road, Wet, 6/10

Martyn

**Em and Hame** · #5 18 Jan 2008

Chris,

I'm on my 4th set of Heidenau K60's now. 2-up on a '95 BM R1100GS throughout the Australian outback and South America. For me they're the best comprimise for off-road / on-road and durability. A great travel tyre.

For the BM size at least, the front (100/90-19) is actually a rear, therefore you have to turn it around. I get around 17,000kms to a rear and well over 20,000kms from a front. Well recommended.

Hamish

**ekr43** · #6 10 Mar 2008

R100GS. I've put some car type metal winter studs in the inner rows of knobs (every other knobbly so not too many studs), not the outer rows. Improves performance in packed snow, ice & frost. Studs are short enough not to affect performance on bare tarmac, still good in wet & dry conditions. The tyre rubber is soft enough to let the metal studs project enough when needed. Cheers, ekr43

**Petrol** · #7 26 May 2008

My bike Triumph thunderbird.

Best tires so far:- Avon Azaros, good wet grip and superb stability.6000 mls. rear tyre!.Called azaro storm for front,superb tyres ,can`t fault em.

**Chris Scott** · #8 21 Nov 2008

Conti TKC 80s on a new Tenere.
4200 miles after a trip to Morocco (15% mostly dry, rocky piste).

Tried all the rest over the years: MT21, Mich T63, Deserts but never these. The OE Metz Tourances would of course would have been crap on the piste.

On dry roads they feel so normal (compared to the above knobblies) you forget you have them on. On half a day of wet roads they where pretty steady too. You can see why the big GS brigade like them.

On the dirt they are good enough within the limitations of my loaded bike's abilities and in loose stuff give the bite that a trail tyre would not have.

I bought tubeless TKCs, Slimed them and converted the rims which is fine on the back but leaked on the 21" front and eventually lost pressure when things got very rough (put a tube back in).

I also ran my TKCs at road pressures all the time to avoid puncture risks in rocky Morocco, but they still gripped fine, even in wet, muddy ruts (with feet dangling).

After 4200 miles the back has about 5mm of block left (originally about 15 - see pic) which is better than I expected. Front is half worn.

For mixed dirt and slow road I'd use them again - not sure there is anything comparable: the relatively dense and shallow blocks give road manners with some teeth to bite in the loose stuff.

Chris S

**bikerfromsark** · #9 21 Nov 2008

Hi Chris, sorry a little off topic question; but how did you convert your spoked wheels to tubless, you had a leak on your front I guess that is from the pistes, as my next ride down to Oz I expect 90% Tar would you recomend it?

Now for my input:

TTR600 trans africa.
MT21 Rear 15'000km
MT21 Front 21'000km

I really loved them the whole way, In deep sand never got stuck, lots of dirt, a little skatty-but thats gravel for you! On Tar I loved them I found that I could really push them and fly into the corners as hard as I wanted.

Avon Distanzers: hated them
Did't give enought life to justify their crap handling. I felt more confidedent in my MT21's! I think about 18'000km on the rear.

George

**Chris Scott** · #10 21 Nov 2008

Hi George, pretty good going on those MTs, they have bigger knobs I do recall so I guess last longer.

My tubeless conv was a bit of an experiment. We discussed it here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ess-rims-37278

And then I did this:
Adventure Motorcycling - spoke motorcycle wheel tubeless conversion (XTZ 660)

Only just got back so I havent had a chance to write the results yet but as expected the regular front rim was the weak point - it lost pressure out the sides on moderate hits but also was leaking slowly somewhere. Never got a chance to find out where before it was too late.

I would have gone for a Tubliss liner but could not get one in the UK in time.

I still plan to go TL on my next trip which is mostly a road ride too.

Ch

**liberec** · #11 14 Dec 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

Conti TKC 80s on a new Tenere.
........I also ran my TKCs at road pressures all the time to avoid puncture risks in rocky Morocco, but they still gripped fine, even in wet, muddy ruts (with feet dangling).
........

Chris S

I use "dirt" pressures [front and rear] always on my TKC or KarooT [on- or off- road]. Both are similar things, KarooT is cheaper with logically less mileage. Few compromises comparatively with "onroad" tyres. Extremelly good adhesion on dry tarmac [knob!], good on wet [some fear of course..] and good enough in average dirt. For heavy dirt Karro [without "T"] but with many compromises on tarmac.
Tourance - good milleage but off-road nothing more than light gravel
1200GSA

**David L** · #12 2 Nov 2009

Continental TKC 80 on a loaded XT600, mainly tarmac but some off-road/bad road:
Front - 12,000 miles
Rear - 8,500 miles

David

**Russ McDermid** · #13 2 Jun 2015

On my 2014 Suzuki V-Strom 650, I got 14500 km (9,000 miles) from a set of the original Bridgestone Trail Wing tyres. Its was almost all rough tarmac roads and fully laden.
Both front & rear wore at a similar rate, and arguably they would have gone another 1-2k !

The state when they were removed.

Tyre Survey - please contribute-bridgestones.jpg

**Chris Scott** · #14 2 Apr 2017

Old but unused Heidenau K60 on the front
Golden Tyre GT201 150/70 R17 TL 69V on the back.
Both on BarTubeless converted TL rims

No complaints as expected, though the stiff and huge 201 recommended by Rally Raid felt like overkill for the little, 47-hp Honda. Five thousand miles in, the rear GT looks less than half worn and the front K60 less than that. Much of this must be down to tubeless at high pressures as well as the engine’s velcro-like traction rather than arm-stretching torque.

Would use both again.

**Chris Scott** · #15 2 Apr 2017

Mitas MC23 Rockriders (formerly Sava) are dead cheap but I was a bit disappointed how quickly the rear wore on a light, 28-hp 250.
Maybe I've become used to K60 type 'do-it-all' adventure tyres.
Great grip on road, trail, rain, rock and sand.

Did I mention this?
• Adventure Motorcycling Tyres - Do-it-all
• Adventure Motorcycling Tyres – Road
• Adventure Motorcycling Tyres – Off-Road