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Best Dual Purpose Tire ?

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CRF_Simon

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hi

Any useful feedback / experience on acceptable dual purpose tires ?

The IRC GP stock tires on my 250L were a great compromise of on / off road performance. Of course it will always be a compromise but the stock AT Dunlops are too much road biased.

TCK 80's or ..........

Thanks.
 
African Twin Mofo

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#4 ·
Ummm......good luck with "best" when talking tires, oil, and gas....It's a passionate topic. Anyways, all depends on what you want. What do you mean when you say "Best"? Are you talking grip, traction in corners, over hard packed, sand, long milage, don't hum while at 70mph.....you catching my drift?

Tires I like (I'm NOT a pro) are K-60's, MotoZ, TKC80's. I would even use a combination of these depending on what I think I'll be riding. My personal view is I prefer a balance of milage vs traction. Personally I hate changing tires every 3000miles even if they are considered "the best". A TKC80 front and K-60 rear is what I've used on other big bikes and it's been great.....for me. Others will disagree and thats fine. I think its a personal choice and one you might have to explore yourself.

Not sure how the AT will use tires as some bikes just chew tires up while others seem to be a bit easier on them. Good luck with your choice.
 
CRF_Simon

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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
The stock tires on the 250L perform well on road and dirt. The stock Dunlops on the AT are clearly road biased. Just putting feelers out for anyone that's found a good compromise. Just want to leave road hit the dirt and back onto road. Probably will try TCK 80's first. Anybody tried TCK 70's?
 
Wildcat92

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#6 · (Edited)
TKC 80's are really the benchmark when it comes to performance off road. Unfortunately, they wear INCREDIBLY quickly if you spend any real time on pavement (ya know, like, touring, or whatever! :wink2:). I've heard good things about Heidenau regarding decent dirt performance and about twice the tread life of the Conti's. Definitely waiting to see what the jury has to say about the new Michelin Anakee Wild. Thus far, the off road performance is on the TKC 80 par (according to reviews), and Michelin has stated they were after that level of performance but with a goal of up to triple the Conti's tread life. :surprise: If they've actually pulled that off, those will be my choice.
 
Hub Architecture

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#7 ·
even though TKC 80's are crap on tarmac compared to Karoo 3's etc, they dont wear as quick as people seem to be saying.
I did 6000 miles on mine on a 1150GS in africa and spain (tarmac miles mainly) and they lasted every inch of that distance with a fully loaded bike in high temps.
 
Mike

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#8 ·
Karoo 3

The Metzler Karoo 3 gets my vote. I did a couple of thousand miles on the stock Dunlops but wanted something a bit more off road capable. I went on the 2 day off road riding course at The Honda Adventure Centre in Wales, all the Africa Twins are equipped with Karoo 3s, we spent 2 days in mud, rocks, ditches up and down hill as well as roughly 30 miles on road. The Karoo 3s performed much better than I'd expected so I've now got them on my bike. Obviously you need to be careful in the wet but I've found they are a good match particularly when you factor in the excellent Honda traction control.
I'm off down to the Alps in 2 weeks and plan to take in plenty of off road tracks (Assietta etc). I think as a 50/50 tyre they are as good as you'll get for the Africa Twin.

 
M

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AT DCT XADV CT125
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#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
I had the TK 80S on mine which are a great tyre.. i think personally that the tread from new is a little shallow, I managed to get 1000 miles before they were rubbish off road,I suppose i was treating it like a enduro bike which it coped with superbly. but the TK 's wont last if you open it up!
Having said that it was such an awesome bike off road.
 
6986

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#13 ·
One aspect of replacement tyres to be considered is whether a "Tube type" tyre is available in the make selected.


I understand that it is not recommended to fit tubeless tyres to a tube type rim, even with a tube inserted. This is because the bead on tubeless tyres can differ to tube types. I also understand that there could be an overheating aspect to fitting a tube inside a tubeless tyre.


I recently enquired with my Tyre suppliers as to what tyres they recommend. They mention Pirelli MT90A/T and the Pirelli Scorpion Trail. I have asked them if these tyres are tube types and await a response. I will report back in due course. I previously used the MT90 on my KTM and it was an excellent tyre.
 
R

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#16 ·
Griff said:
One aspect of replacement tyres to be considered is whether a "Tube type" tyre is available in the make selected.


I understand that it is not recommended to fit tubeless tyres to a tube type rim, even with a tube inserted. This is because the bead on tubeless tyres can differ to tube types. I also understand that there could be an overheating aspect to fitting a tube inside a tubeless tyre.


I recently enquired with my Tyre suppliers as to what tyres they recommend. They mention Pirelli MT90A/T and the Pirelli Scorpion Trail. I have asked them if these tyres are tube types and await a response. I will report back in due course. I previously used the MT90 on my KTM and it was an excellent tyre.
Click to expand...
i have never had any problem with tubes in tubeless tire. run heidenau on f800gs with zero issue .
 
F

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#17 ·
I had Mitas E-10s (60% offroad and 40% on road) on mine and they wore down fast on the pavement but were good offroad. I got 3K out of the rear on my last trip with a lot of highway miles and maybe only 500 of that was off road.

I am waiting on my rear Mitas E-07s (50/50) now. My friend with a Super Tenere has got almost 10K on his rear and thinks he will get another 1-2K, but his front started cupping bad so he replaced it around 7K. I think the E-07 is the closest thing to the Heidenau K60 Scout (50/50) with good mileage, but better off road. The E-07 doesn't have the center rib until you are 50% down into the tread and then they last a long time the remaining 50%.

Mitas E-07


Mitas E-10


Heidenau K60 Scout
 
H

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#19 ·
Switched out the stock tires for Mitas E07 Enduros, then put 1500 kms on them in the mountains, both paved and then onto fireroads and powerline roads/trails, some quite rough. I ran 26 psi front, 33 psi rear.
I am very impressed with the E07's.
On pavement, they were at least as good, perhaps better, then the stock Dunlops.
Off road, they added incredible performance, as compared to the stock, a significant change, and confidence builder.
I also tweaked the suspension, after reading threads on setting suspension in this forum and another. This also made a significant improvement in performance and capability.
 
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