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

  1. #31
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    27th January 2006 - 20:24
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    Smile

    Tyres are just one of those "never a right answer" questions. I ride a BMW F650GS (19" front wheel) for everyday commuting and weekend trail riding.
    Did 7k on Bridgestone trailwings (TW101 19" front, TW42 17" rear) OK on the seal but rubbish elsewhere, mostly due to the TW101 front having no bite whatsoever off road (including gravel roads) the rear seems to hook up OK on most surfaces suitable for this type of bike (ie keep it away from mud with no hard base).
    The TW101 front seems to generate constant small oscillations at highway speeds. I expect this could trash steering head beerings quite quickly.

    Replaced the TW101 front with a Continental TKC80 and the rear with a V-Rubber VR163. Feels like a completely different bike. The seal performance is much quicker with the bike "dropping" in to corners, doesn't appear to be significant difference in grip or braking performance, but its off road that the difference is remarkable, the TKC80 grips where as the TW101 just tried to washout whenever possible. The rear V-Rubber has a pattern very similiar to the TW42 it replaced, while there is no improvement in the rear grip in slush the fact that the front now goes where its pointed means the rear can look after itself much easier, as a fist full no longer sends the front sideways.

    May try something like the VRM251 on the rear if any more dirt traction is needed. The cost of the V Rubber tyres being half that of the name brand rubber trying out something different woun't break the bank. But will stick with the conti on the front I think.

  2. #32
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    1st June 2006 - 16:52
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    I've had good Tarmac and gravel performance from Pirelli MT90 - about 7000Km on a relatively heavy bike. Being a great big pig ( the bike, not me, I'm a 75Kg weakling) I don't go off the gravel much. the track off the north end of Baillies beach (Dargaville, Northland) is as nasty as I've had it and the tyres, bike and I coped no worries. The Pirellis work as good or better than either the Michelin Anakee or Metzlers that I've had on the same bike. The Metzlers get twice the mileage as the Pirellis but not quite as surefooted, pretty good though and the Michelin is mediocre dry or wet. Look at http://www.roadkill.com/~davet/moto/tire.review.html for a euro answer.
    Nil Carborundum Illegitimi

  3. #33
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    9th June 2005 - 13:22
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    Well, I fitted a Mitas E08 on the back today @ 42,000km on the T/A's clock.
    I will let you know how it goes.
    Doesn't feel much different to the Tourances when I went for a wee ride to scrub it in but haven't been too far, or over either, of course. John.

  4. #34
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    20th November 2005 - 22:24
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    You meen E07 i think?
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  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Transalper View Post
    You meen E07 i think?
    No Carl an E08! This is an interim fit because the E07's are still all at sea in the lost container!

    I have kept my order in for the E07's when they arrive, should be OK for next winter. Cheers John.

  6. #36
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    20th November 2005 - 22:24
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    Just looked at the E08 on the advrider forum. Looks much closer to the Tourance in pattern style. What they charge u for that? or was it some sort of sorry we are having problems with your original order so heres what we can do to say sorry.
    www.remotemoto.com - a serious site for serious ADV riders, the ultimate resource in the making.
    Check out my videos on Youtube including... the 2011 Dusty Butt 1K - Awakino Challenge and others.

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Transalper View Post
    Just looked at the E08 on the advrider forum. Looks much closer to the Tourance in pattern style. What they charge u for that? or was it some sort of sorry we are having problems with your original order so heres what we can do to say sorry.
    No, I just bought it off a retailer up North and had it sent down and fitted it here.

    Haven't got the bill yet but you guys will have all the prices there wouldn't you? I just needed a tyre!

    Yes it is just like the Tourance really but maybe a bit deeper cut and courser in the tread blocks, at least it is a Mitas and that is what I was wanting to try out.

    Next time it will be the E07's. Cheers John.

  8. #38
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    18th January 2005 - 11:04
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    Mitas E08

    Recently fitted an E08 to my bike, mainly because the E07 is out of stock. It seems to match the Metzler Tourance that I have on the front. While I haven't as yet tried the Mitas off road, I did give it a good thrashing @ Riding Course on Levels Raceway today.
    Have to say I am very impressed. No hint of looseness and I was cornering as hard & as fast as I could (for a novice) but I did scrape the foot pegs a few times.
    So for my type of bike, for the work it has done so far including a return trip on inland Kaikoura road, the E08 has been great.

  9. #39
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    21st August 2004 - 12:00
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    I will shortly be looking for another set of tyres for my Strom, and I am trying to decide between Trailwing, Tourance or Anakee. Despite all the bad things I've heard about the Trailwings I have found them to quite satisfactory on the seal, bloody good on gravel, OK on hard dirt or rock, difficult on mud or sand, and almost impossible on wet grass.

    I tend to ride about 80 - 90% sealed roads, 10% gravel and 5% off road. Some of the places I've been (not sealed roads) include my own driveway (1 km gravel), my own paddocks (grass), Tucker Hill (rocky), Lower Manorburn (mud track), Bendigo diggings (dirt track) etc.

    I might add that the Trailwings are not too bad on icy roads, but only average in snow. Now I consider that to be a pretty good general purpose tyre, but as someone else has already commented, there is no tyre that will do everything well.
    Time to ride

  10. #40
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    Pretty sure there is an E07 rear sitting on the shelf at Cycletreads Nelson (Bullion Motorcycles).

    It looks very similar to the IRC GP-110; also in stock at Bullion. Might be worth a look when the E07 is hard to find. Has anyone run both and can compare them? Motu commented above that he didn't rate them.
    Last edited by warewolf; 28th October 2006 at 19:11. Reason: Motu's comments
    Cheers,
    Colin

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  11. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jantar View Post
    I will shortly be looking for another set of tyres for my Strom, and I am trying to decide between Trailwing, Tourance or Anakee. Despite all the bad things I've heard about the Trailwings I have found them to quite satisfactory on the seal, bloody good on gravel, OK on hard dirt or rock, difficult on mud or sand, and almost impossible on wet grass.

    .
    I've replaced a rear Tourance with an Anakee. I won't do that again - seriously considering not wearing the thing out, just biting the bullet and going back to the Tourance. The Anakee isn't nearly as precise in the dry and is plain slippery on wet tar. The Tourance gave fantastic mileage (on a heavy bike) and worked well in most conditions. The Pirelli MT80/90 combination gave me best wet road performance but didn't last well.
    Nil Carborundum Illegitimi

  12. #42
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    25th January 2006 - 19:13
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    very interesting thread, motu asked about the Michelin T 63. I have a Xt 600 which came out with Dunlop Trail Max Tyres, did'nt find them much good all round , (smaller block pattern than the Trailwings) might be all right for commuting thats all, front very skittery in the gravel usless in the soft. Went and bought a set of T63 s totaly different all round,with confidence i can attack gravel,mud and seal,in any condition wet or dry,giving most sports bike riders the hurry up through the corners, i do most klms on the seal and i'am getting around 5000klms out of the rear and more out of the front,find them noisy on really smooth tarmac ie hotmix surfaces. Prices for these tyres are very reasonable $130 rear $110 front.Taking the Xt down South Island for a couple weeks two up at Xmas, and have just fitted a set Bridgestone T41 front and T42 rear,traveling easy going back country gravel roads,and about 1800 klms on seal, hope i've made the right choice ?

  13. #43
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    21st November 2004 - 23:26
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    Novice off roader question:

    This is a bit off the wall but what I am about to do is hook a light trailer behind a ttr600 and do Dial a Driver for hoytie toyt Range Rovers. A lot of them live up dodgy gravel drives on the tops of hills. Speed going down isn't too important but safety is. Also tyre economy. 99% of the running is high speed on seal. Best choice to order in?

    For reference gravel on road bike really puts the shits up me.
    Insert witticism.

  14. #44
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    28th November 2006 - 01:02
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    tryes

    having just gone on a trip in the weekend up to the snow and fram tracks and mud rivers soft stones and bog and soft clay to which i came off but tryes were on my mind before i went i brougt a bridgestone trailwing for the frount and a tkc 80 for the back they were great both tryes the tkc 80 was on the back and didnt let me down it has good grip on road and really great off road

  15. #45
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    13th October 2006 - 10:32
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    MITAS E-07 - probably the answer...?

    On the strength of this thread, and Farqueue's recommendation of Mitas, i fitted MITAS E-07 to the Africa Twin, after also finding the Bridgestones to be poor performers in the larger gravel and anything worse.

    The E-09 model is really knobbley, and not surprisingly Farqueue reports they are good in all conditions. Of course they probably won't last too long on the tarmac. A good compromise seemed to be the E-07s which are a herringbone pattern with deep knobs yet a good proportion of rubber contacts the road.

    I have run the (top heavy 2 wheeled Honda tank) in all kinds of gravel and shale and even mud (see the report and video of the Lees Valley ride by Transalper). The bike was far more stable than I hoped for. Reduction in psi made a significant difference. For Lees Valley I was down to 10psi (by guessing) on the rear for the mud. About 18psi on the front.

    On the sealed roads, they are great, cruising through sweeping bends at 100 -120 km/h no problem. Even in the wet, through tighter twisties, they feel good.

    Wear rate: Only done 2000kms on them. They are showing some wear obviously. The guys at Cycletreads (? not sure if that is the name- off Tuam St- Saxon St?) supplied the pair for $130 rear, $110 front. (small fee fitting per wheel, not loose). They have a worn pair of E-07s from an F650 which does 1100kms a week and the guy reckons he got 14,000km out of them, running under-inflated. Hmmm. Remains to be seen. But for the price, and for my needs (highway touring with a few 4x4 tracks thrown in) they seem the perfect compromise.

    Even if you only do 1% of your riding on the rougher roads, it is those moments you will be cursing not having big enough knobs (so to speak). And with these tyres being as good as they seem on the road, I reckon they are the answer for most adventure riders with only one bike which needs to go everywhere.

    Cheers
    Dan
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