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

[Oscar]

I was cleaning out the shed this morning and found an old side valve tube.
It must be off my Enduroised YZ250S from the eighties.
It had the first three gears of a Yamaha 250 Trike, lights, weighted flywheel and a hole punched in the sidewall of the rear tyre to accommodate the valve stem at right angles to the tyre.
No rim locks or pins required....

[10bikekid]

On my WR i run
20psi everywhere. I'm always worried about pinch flats. But when just trail riding i run 12psi front 14psi rear (with rim locks) can't run those pressures on road ( get to hot) not good. I also run heavy duty tubes. Personally i wouldn't go much below 20psi without rim locks. If running rim locks get wheels balanced for when on the road. Get plastic type rim locks they balance up easier
Gordon

22f/24r would be a good (high) start point.

If you're going to spend a day in the gravel, I'd drop them to 20f/18r and pump them back up when you get home.

(I run the DR in gravel/off road at 20f/18r seal at 22f/24r and get about 12-15,000km from a rear 705 and 22,000+ from the front).

Off road, 18f/16r, with rim locks in the rear.

Once I go below 18psi, then I run rim locks, except for the rear when I would always run them on smaller bikes.

I run a little higher pressure in the front than the rear for protection against rim strikes as the front is much lower volume.

On the MT43 trials tyres, I run 16f/12r.


If you've got rim locks in the rear and get stuck somewhere, don't hesitate to drop the rear pressure to 12psi to get you out.

Jeepers smaller bikes must be way different in regard to all this to get reasonable tire wear, I have to run 32-34F 36-37R on the road and 20-22F 25-28R in the gravel otherwise tires get ripped to shreds, As Nordie says Bit of pressure in the back is good to keep bike loose and steering on the rear without overcoming the front to easy

Have run 12F 12R in sand on DR though must check if it has rim locks

[10bikekid]

I was cleaning out the shed this morning and found an old side valve tube.
It must be off my Enduroised YZ250S from the eighties.
It had the first three gears of a Yamaha 250 Trike, lights, weighted flywheel and a hole punched in the sidewall of the rear tyre to accommodate the valve stem at right angles to the tyre.
No rim locks or pins required....

Those were the days aye, I still have my four stroke powered YZ250K and PE engined YZ125J around the place gathering dust

[10bikekid]

With all this pressure talk:

What should I be running front/rear on the wrr, ~70% seal; just a good compromise I dont change the preasures as I ride between surfaces. TKC80 front Shinko 700 rear.

Currently they are near 30psi both... Should I drop to say 25ish?

Also how low till rim locks are needed usually? I ask cause I plan on doing some trail rides soon ( with different knobblier tyres) suggested psi for this situation?

If it were my Wr, I think I'd run similar maybe drop front to 26-28 if I didn't want to change pressures on the run and was looking for a little more front in the gravel

[dino3310]

Those were the days aye, I still have my four stroke powered YZ250K and PE engined YZ125J around the place gathering dust

pretty sure that 125 could fit in the shed next to the XR

[george formby]

pretty sure that 125 could fit in the shed next to the XR

Gave me pause, too.

Seein as I need new knobs & road(ish) tires I may as well invest in a wee compressor & decent gauge. Plenty of places to experiment round here to find out what works.

[10bikekid]

pretty sure that 125 could fit in the shed next to the XR

Nay you wouldn't like as its a good old 2 stroke with an old fashion power band, no power then bam, am working on modernizing it for VMX racing, the new foot pegs are 3x as big as the originals as I found my feet felt like they were going to fall off all the time

Still has original rings and plenty of compression as recon its only done about 30hrs from when I built from new in 1982

To make that relevant to the thread it still has a Metzeler 51M famous block tread front tire on it which in the 80's was the tire to have.

[pete-blen]

[QUOTE=10bikekid;1130694131]

To make that relevant to the thread it still has a Metzeler 51M famous block tread front tire on it which in the 80's was the tire to have.
/QUOTE]

My 79 Montesa 125 H6 Enduro still has the Pirelli M25 Pentacross's on it from the factory...
they are still all but new looking but a wee tad on the hard side now....
I surspect the 77 348 Cota MRR had the factory Pirelli's on it also...

[10bikekid]

[QUOTE=pete-blen;1130694447]

To make that relevant to the thread it still has a Metzeler 51M famous block tread front tire on it which in the 80's was the tire to have.
/QUOTE]

My 79 Montesa 125 H6 Enduro still has the Pirelli M25 Pentacross's on it from the factory...
they are still all but new looking but a wee tad on the hard side now....
I surspect the 77 348 Cota MRR had the factory Pirelli's on it also...

Nice At a guess I think the Metzeler is the second one fitted perhaps that was done in the early 90's ? so its still could be 20 years old but it looks new and even softish (still has reasonable grip judging from the last offroad test run)

[oneblackflag]

22f/24r would be a good (high) start point.

If you're going to spend a day in the gravel, I'd drop them to 20f/18r and pump them back up when you get home.

(I run the DR in gravel/off road at 20f/18r seal at 22f/24r and get about 12-15,000km from a rear 705 and 22,000+ from the front).

Off road, 18f/16r, with rim locks in the rear.

Once I go below 18psi, then I run rim locks, except for the rear when I would always run them on smaller bikes.

I run a little higher pressure in the front than the rear for protection against rim strikes as the front is much lower volume.

On the MT43 trials tyres, I run 16f/12r.


If you've got rim locks in the rear and get stuck somewhere, don't hesitate to drop the rear pressure to 12psi to get you out.

If it were my Wr, I think I'd run similar maybe drop front to 26-28 if I didn't want to change pressures on the run and was looking for a little more front in the gravel

Went for a ride today with the 22f/24r pressure setup. Definitely has more traction in the gravel, but I almost felt it was to much.... Alot harder to break the rear loose round corners, felt very different, my bike has shit all torque/ power down low... Felt less fun I guess. Not sure whether this is a good or bad thing.

Wasn't bad on road, but felt different... Would have to get used to that.

Think I'll try something more like 10bikekid's recommendation tomorrow, maybe a little lower. 26f/ 28r or 25f/ 27r, that might be the mid ground I'll like for my sort of riding. 30r just seemed a bit too much last time.

Thanks for the input

[NordieBoy]

Just go up a couple in the rear for more rear wheel steering action.

[dino3310]

Went for a ride today with the 22f/24r pressure setup. Definitely has more traction in the gravel, but I almost felt it was to much.... Alot harder to break the rear loose round corners, felt very different, my bike has shit all torque/ power down low... Felt less fun I guess. Not sure whether this is a good or bad thing.

Wasn't bad on road, but felt different... Would have to get used to that.

Think I'll try something more like 10bikekid's recommendation tomorrow, maybe a little lower. 26f/ 28r or 25f/ 27r, that might be the mid ground I'll like for my sort of riding. 30r just seemed a bit too much last time.

Thanks for the input

i always have more air in the front than rear at either 28-26 front and between 24-22 in the rear any higher and i slide to much any softer and to much grip.
off road stuff i chuck the rim lock back in the rear and drop the pressures anywhere between 18 and 10 depending on terrain,
take a pump and guage with you on a ride have a play with the pressures as you ride

[flashg]

I am "stoked" Today my new rear TKC80 arrived. Friday night at the DB1K my name was drawn as the winner of $200 dollar continental tyre product, after talking with Darbys they agreed to give me a $260 tyre for the 660 tenere. So now when the rear 606 wears out the TKC80 goes on. The new set of 606's in the garage will have to wait. I've never tried these but heard good about them. Someone said to run them @ correct pressure or they wear real fast. Any feedback welcome guys

[dino3310]

heard of the fronts turning to custard after forgetting to pressure back up for the seal

[10bikekid]

I am "stoked" Today my new rear TKC80 arrived. Friday night at the DB1K my name was drawn as the winner of $200 dollar continental tyre product, after talking with Darbys they agreed to give me a $260 tyre for the 660 tenere. So now when the rear 606 wears out the TKC80 goes on. The new set of 606's in the garage will have to wait. I've never tried these but heard good about them. Someone said to run them @ correct pressure or they wear real fast. Any feedback welcome guys

Congrates, I'm going to throw the dice at 32psi