Tyre choice for adventure riding? (Mixing road and off-road)

[Waipukbiker]

Cheers for that, I will be doing a mixture of seal and gravel so Suzuki are pretty much on the money with their 22/25 pressures.

Have read mixed reviews for the 605 but its got good tread so will keep it on and wear it down a bit more yet then prob a TKC80 will be gracing the front wheel.

[NordieBoy]

Cheers for that, I will be doing a mixture of seal and gravel so Suzuki are pretty much on the money with their 22/25 pressures.

A rear MT21 on gravel and I wasn't happy till it got down to around 18psi.
An Avon Gripster was comfortable at 26.

The Avon had a much softer, more compliant sidewall.

[warewolf]

Are road tires must be different to trail tires ??

Different demands on them.

You are correct, for on-road use you want more like road pressures to stop the flex (heat) which leads to wear. However, the caveat IME is that with too much pressure you can break all the knobs off at the base, because that becomes the weak point when the carcass won't flex. That's with a proper DOT enduro knobbly, not a cut slick, so perhaps a special case.


But the flipside to the high road pressures, is that with lower pressures you get a much bigger footprint (longer and wider) as the tyre flexes. This is fairly critical in mud and sand. Even with non-DOT MX knobblies on the DR-Z250 (say 115kg) in Woodhill I'd run 11.5/12.5 psi f/r. Any higher and it was a problem. At the weekend I was running 15/17 psi f/r on the 640 with DOT knobblies in the slick stuff; more tread and a little less pressure would have helped the rear, the front was fine and could have run another 5 psi higher easy. Away from Hira rock, in that sort of slick mud on the 200 I'd run 8 psi in the rear - because that's where the tyre flexes appropriately. Hira was pretty 'gloopy' in places:


One of the issues I have with the much lauded TKC80 front is that it simply won't work in the dirt on my bike above 16.5 psi. There is a noticeable difference in grip to 17 psi. However, as you note it can't be used on the seal at that pressure without getting chewed out. A DOT-rated MX front can be run at 25 psi everywhere for adventure use and works much better. A lot of the riding I do is swapping from dirt to seal and back again many times during the day. There's never a gas station at the transition, so it's hand pump time if you want to get fussy with pressures. I just set-and-forget for the day, usually - and don't buy tyres that are super fussy about pressure.

The other reason you want lower pressures is to make the tyre conform to the surface. Again, it's a footprint size issue in order to increase traction. A high-pressure unyielding tyre will not contact an uneven surface very much, seriously reducing traction.

Off-road, you are so desperate for every skerrick of traction that tyre wear is not really considered. On-road, traction is rarely a problem at tyre-preserving pressures.

[dino3310]

good little write up.

Hey colin is a 510x18 the same as a 130x 18

[Waipukbiker]

Good write up Colin, I cant be bothered looking through all the reviews for tyres much now as for every person that reckons a particular tyre is the best thing since canned beer, there is some else that reckons its a piece of crap. Its whatever works for each person on their particular bike.
Im very new to the DR650 itself let alone what tyres are on it. My riding will be about 80% seal and the rest mostly shingle, I havnt got too long to go to receive my gold card so Im not to keen on the technical stuff much now. Ive owned a whole range of chook chasers over the years and have done trials etc but new to riding big trailies on the road. Some of you will have seen me around on my old 81 KL250 on the likes of the "long way round" ride and that has a Shinko 700 on the back which has been an awesome tyre but how it would go on a heavier bike I have no idea. Would be interesting to try one of them on the front.

[NordieBoy]

Some of you will have seen me around on my old 81 KL250 on the likes of the "long way round" ride and that has a Shinko 700 on the back which has been an awesome tyre but how it would go on a heavier bike I have no idea. Would be interesting to try one of them on the front.

The 700 goes quite well on the front with a 705 on the rear.

I'd go with 705's front and rear though...

[Waipukbiker]

Yeah, considering the type of riding I do, I don't need really aggressive tyres.
Do you reverse the 705 on the front on yours Nordie or go with the arrow?

[NordieBoy]

Yeah, considering the type of riding I do, I don't need really aggressive tyres.
Do you reverse the 705 on the front on yours Nordie or go with the arrow?

I go with the arrow.

[brp]

I noticed this some years ago that by adding 5-10 psi to my sloppy 25 psi pressures, Tire wear on the road reduced considerable over the life the tire.
I run these rear pressure now on road DRBIG 32-34psi, KTM950 37-38 and reduce front by 2-4 psi getting very good tire life, even with spirited riding at times

Means more fiddling at gas stations and with tire gauges on the trail but better for the pocket

35 and up what I run my trail tyres at on seal , torque big factor, mate got 20,000 km out of an e07 rear on his dr650 - I got 6000km out of my e07 rear and that was down to the center band.

[dino3310]

35 and up what I run my trail tyres at on seal , torque big factor, mate got 20,000 km out of an e07 rear on his dr650 - I got 6000km out of my e07 rear and that was down to the center band.

6k on a BRP

just ordered me a shinko244 a mate who chews tyres is having a good run out of his so it should last me a while...... hopefully

[Waipukbiker]

I see Harley Davidson are marketing a little electric tyre pump for bikes, jeez imagine the price (don't even want to know) but i might have a look around to see whats out there now, Ive just brought a small digital tyre gauge from Jaycar and its neat, you don't have to hold it on the stem to read it, It holds the pressure in memory.

I also brought a right angled adapter for valve stems which works a treat on the rear tyre cos the bloody brake disc gets in the way of the inflator.

[pete376403]

Supercheap have small 12v compressors for not too much $. How small are the H-D pumps?

[Gremlin]

I see Harley Davidson are marketing a little electric tyre pump for bikes, jeez imagine the price (don't even want to know) but i might have a look around to see whats out there now,

Compact compressors aren't new... I got one from AdvDesigns in the USA, which supposed to be one of the best...

The H-D badge on it will probably cost the most, but when did those riders check their bikes that much?

[Waipukbiker]

Cant copy and paste the link for some reason but google Harley Davidson tyre pumps and it will come up.

[10bikekid]

Different demands on them.

You are correct, for on-road use you want more like road pressures to stop the flex (heat) which leads to wear. However, the caveat IME is that with too much pressure you can break all the knobs off at the base, because that becomes the weak point when the carcass won't flex. That's with a proper DOT enduro knobbly, not a cut slick, so perhaps a special case.

But the flipside to the high road pressures, is that with lower pressures you get a much bigger footprint (longer and wider) as the tyre flexes. This is fairly critical in mud and sand. Even with non-DOT MX knobblies on the DR-Z250 (say 115kg) in Woodhill I'd run 11.5/12.5 psi f/r. Any higher and it was a problem. At the weekend I was running 15/17 psi f/r on the 640 with DOT knobblies in the slick stuff; more tread and a little less pressure would have helped the rear, the front was fine and could have run another 5 psi higher easy. Away from Hira rock, in that sort of slick mud on the 200 I'd run 8 psi in the rear - because that's where the tyre flexes appropriately. Hira was pretty 'gloopy' in places:


One of the issues I have with the much lauded TKC80 front is that it simply won't work in the dirt on my bike above 16.5 psi. There is a noticeable difference in grip to 17 psi. However, as you note it can't be used on the seal at that pressure without getting chewed out. A DOT-rated MX front can be run at 25 psi everywhere for adventure use and works much better. A lot of the riding I do is swapping from dirt to seal and back again many times during the day. There's never a gas station at the transition, so it's hand pump time if you want to get fussy with pressures. I just set-and-forget for the day, usually - and don't buy tyres that are super fussy about pressure.

The other reason you want lower pressures is to make the tyre conform to the surface. Again, it's a footprint size issue in order to increase traction. A high-pressure unyielding tyre will not contact an uneven surface very much, seriously reducing traction.

Off-road, you are so desperate for every skerrick of traction that tyre wear is not really considered. On-road, traction is rarely a problem at tyre-preserving pressures.

Yer pretty much the presures I found work for me offroad, use my 290 as a base at 8-10f 10-12r in the sand and just try to factor in extra weight so DR in sand goes to 12-14f 14-16r and KTM 20f 25r gravel (for puncture resistance not to mention the 230kg of weight by the time you count add ons and fuel)
might try ktm at 18f 20r in sand tmorrow no lower as have to do some seal to get back to gas station (just put hand pump in top box as back up)

as you surgest I also find higher pressures turn a bike into a pig offroad (no such issue on road though)

A freind of mine mistakenly ran 40psi in the front tire of his KX250f when he first bought it and a test ride revealed what seemed like the worst suspension and front end peformance ever, once discovered and pressure drop to 10psi she was a dream boat by comparison



Cheers for that Colin