Klx250 tyre question

[Stu999c]

Any of you lot that own a klx250 who ride road/gravel have an opinion on a good tyre to get.
Have cheap kenda copies I believe.
They seem OK. I'm finding I'm getting right to the edge of these tires and I feel like I could use something with a little more radius???
Any thoughts or advice appreciated
Bearing in mind that I commute on this wee bike as well. Need a 50/50 tire I reckon


Current tires

Sent from the swamphttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160822/11592d073af7f0ef77c1105696e9ffec.jpg

[Muzz67]

dirt tyres aint good on road, road tyres rubbish in mud etc etc.
those Kenda and the equivalent seem as good as any other trade-off for usefulness/price.

[bart]

I've used these type of tyre on a few bikes.

The fronts are great. The rear are good for grip on gravel but once worn they can become a little dangerous on wet seal. The central knobs wear but you're still left with the chunky side knobs. Lean over on wet seal, the contact area is very narrow, and the soft compound knobs let go real quick.

I'm not sure of your exact tyre but I've used Shinko and Kenda variants. I've found the wider the tyre the worse they are (the opposite to road bikes), so wouldn't recommend going wider than a 110 or 120 rear.

[Stu999c]

I hear ya. These are 100 wides I think.
They are cheap copies with a shifty sounding name on them. Il use em over summer and re evaluate after a few ks


Sent from the swamp

[400sm]

Any of you lot that own a klx250 who ride road/gravel have an opinion on a good tyre to get.
Have cheap kenda copies I believe.
They seem OK. I'm finding I'm getting right to the edge of these tires and I feel like I could use something with a little more radius???
Any thoughts or advice appreciated
Bearing in mind that I commute on this wee bike as well. Need a 50/50 tire I ]

We have used full MX knobblies front and rear, since1975.
They are great on all surfaces, wet or dry.

Most people are Scared to use them, hence we get them free, 2nd hand.
(Don't tell anyone.)

[pete-blen]

Shinko 700

[george formby]

I'm exceedingly impressed with the grip and wear of the Shinko 705's on my G/F's DT 230. Similar weight but possibly a bit pokier than the KLX. The rear is a 4.10, a tad skinny looking but it grips well, wet or dry, on tarmac. She has 5mm chicken strips which is pretty epic in my book! It's a decent profile.
The big revelation is how well they grip on gravel, being narrow they cut through the loose quickly and grip very well indeed. My CRM 250 has a road legal Kenda knobby rear and it can't keep up with the DT on tarmac or gravel when the pace increases. Breaks out much sooner.

Any hoo, just my 10c.

[Stu999c]

Hmmmm. Thanks for all the different options. I think I have a 700 front in the garage. So that's only 1 tire I need to buy.
I like the look of the 705s tho.


Sent from the swamp

[pete-blen]

Along the same lines as the Shinko 705 is the Kenda 761...

Remomoto has a lot of tire reviews by the guys that use them...
http://www.remotemoto.com/






...

[Stu999c]

Hey that's a pretty sweet website. Shame it only covers the south.
Picked up a few good tops on there


Sent from the swamp

[pete-blen]

Hey that's a pretty sweet website. Shame it only covers the south.
Picked up a few good tops on there


Sent from the swamp

well try Eddie's site then for you northeners
http://www.adventureridingnz.co.nz/



..

[Stu999c]

Seen that one cheers mate.


Sent from the swamp

[Stu999c]

What about Bridgestone trail wings?


Sent from the swamp

[Scubbo]

tw302 are great

[Stu999c]

That's the ones I was looking at.
The look pretty solid compared to the cheapys I'm running now


Sent from the swamp

[Scubbo]

yep, I started using them on my DRZ400 after doing a lot more road riding than single track --- great in the gravel and on the road/wet etc --- not great in mud or slick clay but you'll never get a tire which is road worthy which works well in those conditions anyway!

they look like they wear REALLY fast the first few 100km but then it stops? must be the top compound or something -- last a good long time -- rears have a stiff as hell carcass so pretty hard to mount if you do it yourself though even an novice(me) was able to do it in the end... they're a well balanced tire too, made in Japan!

[Scubbo]

I see motOZ have introduced new more road biased tires to their range (Tractionator Adventure/GPS) which would be well worth looking into -- http://motoz.co.nz/tyre-range.html

I used their Tractionator ST which is a 70/30 tire and they worked very well in the soft stuff, but only lasted about 2000KM before the front was munted and the rear flattened off so a more road based one would be ideal as the compound they use is really nice and made in Ozzy so we don't get stung for huge import price

[Stu999c]

Bloody ass
I just missed out on a set of new ones in the correct size for a hundred bucks.
F$%king procrastinated


Sent from the swamp

[Stu999c]

I'm torn between Shinko 700s or 800s.
Being a daily I'm leaning to 7s but the 8s look like better fun on dirt


Sent from the swamp

[Stu999c]

705s fitted last night. Little bit cheaper than the rest.
Gravel run on Sunday to test them out.
They are pretty nice on the road compared to my other tyres I just removed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[george formby]

705s fitted last night. Little bit cheaper than the rest.
Gravel run on Sunday to test them out.
They are pretty nice on the road compared to my other tyres I just removed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What size on the back?

I was recently pondering what to replaced the 705's on the DT 230 with and after much head scratching I decided on........ 705's.

I'm running a 4.10 rear and it has a nice profile, not as flat as a few other tires I have looked at. The profile is such that I doubt I will ever remove the chicken strips, it's a loooong way over.... I've found on gravel corners that getting my weight back and loading the outside peg can achieve a surprising amount of grip once the tire spins through the loose stuff. Not a lot I can do about off camber, though, so I just slow down a tad.

[Stu999c]

Stock is 100/100
I went with 120/80 and 90/90 on the front. The extra mass has made if feel less twitchy in turn in. Much more stable and nicer to ride in general.
Tire pressures is my next thing to work out.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[george formby]

Stock is 100/100
I went with 120/80 and 90/90 on the front. The extra mass has made if feel less twitchy in turn in. Much more stable and nicer to ride in general.
Tire pressures is my next thing to work out.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good luck. I run about 24 / 26 psi front and 26 / 28psi rear, sometimes softer. On the DT a little softer on the rear seems to help when it's hot, bizarrely, I've spun it up out of tar seal corners at 28 - 30 psi. Softer is definitely better on gravel. The 705's seem to last forever.
Caveat. My opinion is based on typical Northland twisties and gravel, not so much highway riding. A bit more psi would probably be an advantage on big roads.

[Hads]

I used AC10's on my daily commuter, but my tolerance for low grip the wet might be higher than most. They were great offroad though and lasted quite a while on my klx250.