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

**Motu** · 2nd July 2008, 23:06

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

Favorite front so far is the IRC GP21F.

The GP21/22 is OE on the DT230,and wish I could find some more.Excellent grip everywhere...and the GP22 rear had more hook up totally bald in gravel than the K760 I replaced it with.Still using the GP21F with 6mm on the DT230,excellent on seal and gravel,and damn good off road on the 2 stroke,but maybe a bit slippery with a thumper with more load on the front tyre.

**NordieBoy** · 3rd July 2008, 08:44

Originally Posted by Motu

Still using the GP21F with 6mm on the DT230,excellent on seal and gravel,and damn good off road on the 2 stroke,but maybe a bit slippery with a thumper with more load on the front tyre.

I loved the front. It never seemed to mis-behave at all. Just seemed to be the right knob size to allow the compound to grip as well as the edges of the knobs when needed.
CycleTreads got me my one.
I didn't have all that much confidence in it on my first ride though. I'd just come from using a 3/4 worn E-07 which was fantastic on the road to a knobblie and a ride from Nelson to Christchurch was my introduction. Once I realised it was a very neutral feeling tyre I just rode without thinking anymore about it.

I'd like to try some more road biased tyres now but keep feeling winter isn't the time of the year to do this.
Although I'd have no hesitations going through the Maungatapu with my current almost bald TW-42 rear I wouldn't on a roadie tyre with probably more grip

**G-spot** · 27th July 2008, 09:57

I'm running a Mitas 20% enduro and 80% road on the back of my TT500,
See my album for pictures.

**NordieBoy** · 27th July 2008, 13:20

I think I'd like the Mitas E-08 as a road biased tyre.

I was quite happy with the IRC GP110 on the rear yesterday except in the snow.
Ran it at 25psi and gravel was no problem and it churned up through the rocks and grit on the Porika no issues as well as being quite nice on the seal.

The R100GS with E-09's on fared slightly better grip-wise in the snow.

As for my "Golden Boy SR244" it doesn't instill confidence but it doesn't really do anything wrong.

**_Shrek_** · 27th July 2008, 20:33

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

I think I'd like the Mitas E-08 as a road biased tyre.

I was quite happy with the IRC GP110 on the rear yesterday except in the snow.
Ran it at 25psi and gravel was no problem and it churned up through the rocks and grit on the Porika no issues as well as being quite nice on the seal.

The R100GS with E-09's on fared slightly better grip-wise in the snow.

As for my "Golden Boy SR244" it doesn't instill confidence but it doesn't really do anything wrong.

I found that the Eo8 let go under heavy cornering in the front on the seal & was ok on the metal if you didnt push it to hard & kept it up right

the Eo9's i'm runing at 30 & 25 make it a awsome bike to ride on the metal & in the snow not sure what sort of k's i'm going to get but will let you know

i will be putting Eo7's back on for the summer as i get 16 ks out of them (just road legal)

**CrazyFrog** · 2nd August 2008, 20:32

Anyone tried the Metzeler 6 Days Extreme on a dual purpose bike...they are road legal, but what's tarseal grip like. They are a reasonably meaty hard compound knobbly, so should ride accordingly- noisy as hell with vibration to boot. Treat 'em with respect on the seal I'd say, esp if wet, and I'd imagine they'd be a treat on the gravel/hardpack. Any comments on tyre life with these bad boys?

**cooneyr** · 4th August 2008, 21:34

For those who like their front tyre aggressive this tyre may be worth checking out - Pirelli Scorpion MX Hard 486. It is DOT (even though the rears appear not to be). Cost $99 (probably closer to $110 normally - Don at Pit Lane was being nice this arvo) each for a front.

We came across these in Alex over Q's Bday after El Scooto cut a nice big hole in his newish D606 front. Not a lot of experiance with them yet but both El Scooto and I have new 486's ready to go on the XTZ750's (along with the Michy Desert's when they come). We are hoping because of the single row of blocks around the centre they will wear better than the D606/MT21 and expect they will be better of the seal.

Will report back in a couple of months with how they are going.

Cheers R

**NordieBoy** · 4th August 2008, 22:21

I've got that front pattern on my mountain bike

**OV Lander** · 9th August 2008, 08:29

Ok, so I am now preparing for the Xmas hols. Planning 800 kms to Northland from Wellywood and back, and a couple of weeks beach and gravel riding whilst up there.

Seesm this could be right on the limit for (range wise) for a set of TKC's but reading peoples reviews, I 'd be well advised to go with a set of E-09's.

What say you?

**topher** · 10th August 2008, 08:41

I've done a few trips around Northland including baylys beach from dargaville to the nothern end - there's a 4wd track from the end of the beach up to the road (we got a R1100RT up OK with a bit of pushing), ninety mile beach and pretty much all the gravel roads between Awanui and Cape Reinga. The bikes i've used have been Triumph tigers and my current R1150GS with big fat touring tank; all with touring luggage. So these bikes aren't your svelte dual-purpose machinery at all. But I've never used aggressive tyres and haven't had any real issues. I'm currently running Michelin Anakee but will go back to pirelli Scorpian (can't remember the code but are 90-10 on-offroad). The pirellis are better on wet tar but get 4k - 6k rather than the 6k-8k on the michelins. I had metzler tourance on one of the Tigers. And my Scottish heritage loved them - over 20k BUT not good at all on wet tar and not as good as Michies or Pirelli in the dry. All three brands were fine on the beach and better than road tyres on gravel in that the stronger carcass doesn't get punctured by stones and rocks like road tyres can. the only issue I've had is forgetting to turn the ABS off on gravel. An arse puckering experience - no matter how hard you push the brake pedal it won't lock and bite - so with nearly 450Kg of Bike, luggage and rider srcreaming downhill towards a corner it pays to have brakes that work.

After you get back from Cape Reinga you can wash the salt off your bike with hoses which pump out heaps of water at the Kauri Tourist rip-off shop north of Aweanui. for a couple of dollars.

Enjoy your ride, Northland's got miles of low volume traffic roads to explore and fantastic scenery.

**hondav2** · 10th August 2008, 22:55

Originally Posted by OV Lander

Ok, so I am now preparing for the Xmas hols. Planning 800 kms to Northland from Wellywood and back, and a couple of weeks beach and gravel riding whilst up there.

Seesm this could be right on the limit for (range wise) for a set of TKC's but reading peoples reviews, I 'd be well advised to go with a set of E-09's.

What say you?

I got 10,000 miles out of a rear TKC80 rear and 16,000 miles out of front one in Nth America, same tyre here rear would go 10,000km first half wears quick then last bit goes forever. Cheers Toddy

**warewolf** · 11th August 2008, 09:45

Originally Posted by OV Lander

Ok, so I am now preparing for the Xmas hols. Planning 800 kms to Northland from Wellywood and back, and a couple of weeks beach and gravel riding whilst up there.

Seesm this could be right on the limit for (range wise) for a set of TKC's but reading peoples reviews, I 'd be well advised to go with a set of E-09's.

What say you?

Have a fresh set of chunky adventure tyres waiting for you in AKL. Ride up on long-life road-oriented tyres, swap to the knobbies, enjoy Northland.

Afterwards, you could leave the knobbies there for the next time you are adventuring up that way, ride them home, or put the other tyres back on and ship the knobbies home.

But the F650 won't destroy a TKC80 or E-09 in the 2000km you are planning. And if it did, I'd like to watch!!

**cooneyr** · 11th August 2008, 10:00

Originally Posted by warewolf

......But the F650 won't destroy a TKC80 or E-09 in the 2000km you are planning. And if it did, I'd like to watch!!

I agree - with decent pressures (30ish) when running on the seal and not spinning up around corners the E09 or D606 will give pretty reasonable life. I did the CCA from chch and back i.e. around 1000kms with the D606 on the DR650 and there was minimal tyre wear (about 1/4). In the next 1000kms around Sth Canty and Central over the the brass weekend I managed to wear about about 2/3rd of the tyre cause of spinning up on gravel, snow and muck. It's all about riding style or lack there off.

Cheers R

**Eddieb** · 15th August 2008, 14:18

Originally Posted by Eddieb

I've just put a set of Vee Rubber VRM163 on the Massey Ferguson G/S so will see how they go.

Mileage when they went on was 5990 miles.

The VRM163's are an adv style tyre, I wanted something a bit more road biased from what I had as I don't tend to get anywhere worse than gravel or hard packed dirt. Cost was $200 even for the pair.

I've now done 1000miles (1600km) on these and no issues so far. They allow fairly serious angles of lean with no feeling of instability on dry roads.

I'm a wuss when it comes to wet roads and the round profile and the lean that that causes I find somewhat disconcerting in the wet but they have never slipped or felt like they were about to, I've not pushed them though.

I've done a bit of deep gravel and a few stream crossings on the South Wairarapa coast and around and was pleased with how the tyres performed, good grip and tracking in the gravel and I was a lot more confident and stable than with the worn combination I had previously.

Mud, as expected with such a tread design was crap and the treads clogged fairly instantly.

As to wear, the front has only just worn the new sheen off the knobs, the rear wouldn't have more than 1mm of wear I think. Most of that 1000miles has been highway commuting though (>90%).