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

[cooneyr]

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

Following up re this front tyre. Seems to handle cornering as good as gold on the seal, doesn't mind deep loose gravel but can get interesting on good gravel roads and will find every grove/longitudinal depression on a road. Cornering on grooved hotmix where the groves go around the corner rather than transverse across the road is fun.

I suspect it is the XTZ compared to the DR but I can definitely get the front to wash out much more now on good gravel roads. It is predictable and controllable washing (more throttle helps) but a little "exciting" none the less. I suspect it is cause the XTZ has lots of weight on the front end.

Will probably try a D606 front next time as I an use to them on the DR just for comparison purposes.

Cheers R

[warewolf]

Be real interested in your comparison thoughts re: the D606 on the two bikes, partly to see what you think of the handling of the two bikes given the common tyre.

When I saw the advertisement for that Pirelli 486, one look at the tread pattern and I thought, that's the ticket!! Didn't make the association when you first mentioned them. Not surprising it grabs longitudinal troughs, the tread looks very linear - the two go hand in hand. Now I wonder if it will show favourable characteristics as in Motu's pick (K190?) which also looks somewhat linear.

[talbertnz]

Hi all,
I'm currently running pure street tires pirelli mt75 front and sport demon rear on my DR 650.
Being in auckland the only gravel riding i do would be over xmas in coromandel etc. and the odd weekend outing.
The street pirellis are awsome and give a LOT of confidence peg scraping trough the coromandel twisties. Thats the way i like riding...
As I dont have a lot of gravel road/off road experience How fast do you ride with your favorite gravel tyres??
I can only just outrun a FAST local 4x4 ute on the gravel roads with these tyres.. Is that slow???
I just read this thread from back to front and it seems that most people like the Mitas E07 as the best compromise tyre..
pretty sure i had some mt21 on before i swapped to road tyres i HATED the tractor tyre noise and vibrations they made.
The COMPROMISE!! tyre I want:
1.Verry Road capable, I like my extreme lean angles! but am willing to give up some lean ability if need be...
2. better in gravel and dry off road, dry grass, beach? then my street combo.
3. Dont think i'll be doing a lot of muddy stuff.
4. 21 Mt75 front looks to gay to be true!!!! esp. with the purple frame thats why i've painted it silver now! ;D
5. Is the E07 realy all that noisey compared to street tyre or ??????
6. I like the milage you guys are getting out of the E07!!! And also seems good price.
7.Dont want and dont have!!! mega bucks to pay for a pair of tyres (read wear item) :P
Previous tyres i've had where:
Pirelli mt83s.

on cagiva canyon 500 (back in holland). didnt like it much didn't stick on the seal much at all verry slippery in corners. never really used it off road but in the (wet) grass/paddock it didnt seem to grip anymore then the BT45.
and they started to wear quick and weirdly wich made the bike wobble under hard braking.

Brigestone BT45. on cagiva canyon 500. Loved it. On road only. Has hard compound middle and soft outer for cornering. could easily keep up with cbr 600's etc in corners. On the 19 front of the canyon it looked about as girly as I could handle.. never took them off road.

Mt21s (I Think) on the DR. I did like them on the gravel back roads and trough the paddocks back in the waikato. they where ok on road to quite predictable in corners. they did lock up once and ended up crashing because of a bit off loose grit on a seal backroad intersection... was only doing 15kmh, deciding if id go left or right and sllllliiiip there i was kissing the seal!
they wore terribly fast! (90%road riding)
once i moved to f***n auckland they drove me nuts on the motorway vibs and tractor tyre noise. reminded me of a john deere i used to drive on the road at 60kmh.. so then i changed them to the road combo i got now.

MT75 front and sportdemon rear




Are the Mitas E07 what i want?


What size should i look for on the dr 90/90-21 front and 120/90-17 rear right?
or 130/19-17???

Wat about the Pirelli mt90 a/t??? seems reasonable price dont like the price tag of the mt90 s/t

OOps this became a bit of a big post.. sorry..

[Motu]

Dunlop K70 - 4.00x18.....front and rear.The tyre and the bike they are going on might stretch the thinking of some here - but it's just me doing what I have always done....riding on gravel.Man,it's fat on the front....the guard has to go,and the fork brace will need lifting.

I've had plenty of experience with the K70....the XS1 with flattrack bars and a 3.50x 19 on the front handled better than a lot of dirt bikes with knobs.Gene Romero seemed to do ok with them on his Triumph.

[Ixion]

Interesting concept (that wheel's pretty distinctive) . Even with street tyres the BMW is quite decent on gravel. And they didn't change much for the GS.

[Motu]

Yes,it's manners on gravel cinched it for me that it was a bike I could bend to my ways.I didn't want to lose too much road handling by going to an adventure tyre,and as the K180 was not available (but listed,grrrr) the K70 was next on the list.The profile allows it to get into the gravel,and the tread blocks give good traction and braking control.A BMW is a bike for a long term relationship,and there is plenty of time for us to grow together and enjoy some nice rides....we will be discussing who will need to change,and how we go about it....Big changes for both of us,but it will be worth it in the long run.

They had to use the K70 and Pirelli MT53 on the dirt tracks until the mid '70's as the later tyres were no good on the ovals,tyres like the K81 (TT100) had wider profiles and poor traction blocks.That's why the K180 was designed as a purpose built dirt track tyre - they needed a high speed DOT off road tyre.

[Paladin]

I'm new to adv riding and thought it would be a good idea to get my KLX out on the trails to learn what off road riding was all about. Met up with an experienced friend and took it out on the Totara Park Trail Ride on Nov 2nd.
At the start car park had several people tell me "those tyres are gonna be fun today"!
Holy smokes the stock Dunlops are scarily inadequate on deep, churned up or greasy mud, although they were fine on the gravel.

I was recommended to put some Kenda K760's on as a fairly good compromise for wear/grip/price, but still road legal - any advice on those or alternatives would be appreciated!

Cheers,
Dave

[PLUG]

K760's ... if thats the trackmaster ... use em' me self ... ticks all the boxes for me

[Paladin]

K760's ... if thats the trackmaster ... use em' me self ... ticks all the boxes for me

Cheers, yeah the Trackmasters, they look like they'd do the job on gravel and mud; how are they on the road though?

[PLUG]

how are they on the road though?

chicken strip half way down on the outside knob ... can tip it in pretty hard & be agressive in the dry ... smoothness is the key in the wet ... need to open up the braking distances a bit & blip the throttle on down changes in the wet

[clint640]

K760's ... if thats the trackmaster ... use em' me self ... ticks all the boxes for me

Yep, I gotta set of those for my trail ride tyres too, they're probably about as aggressive as you get in a road legal tyre. Anything worthy of a trail ride is gunna be short-lived arse on the tarseal though, it's best to just swap something on for the ride then swap back - keeps ya in practice at changing tyres too. Trail rides are sooo much more fun on decent knobs

On a different note, I'd like to report in on the performance of my Mitas E-07 rear, I've got around 2000km on it now & I like it. It's wearing well, grips nicely on tar & gravel & does better than expected in mud. I think it may become my new rear tyre of choice.

Cheers
Clint

[Paladin]

Thanks guys!

Dave

[talbertnz]

On a different note, I'd like to report in on the performance of my Mitas E-07 rear, I've got around 2000km on it now & I like it. It's wearing well, grips nicely on tar & gravel & does better than expected in mud. I think it may become my new rear tyre of choice.

Wohhoo now where do we get these mitas from???
i'm in Auckland...

[NordieBoy]

On a different note, I'd like to report in on the performance of my Mitas E-07 rear, I've got around 2000km on it now & I like it. It's wearing well, grips nicely on tar & gravel & does better than expected in mud. I think it may become my new rear tyre of choice.

With what on the front?

[clint640]

Wohhoo now where do we get these mitas from???
i'm in Auckland...

Just give LMS Imports in Palmy a call, number is on their website along with their product range & sizes etc: http://www.lmsimports.co.nz/

With what on the front?

Still got the trusty TKC80 on the front. The E0-7 front didn't look aggressive enough to me & I'm pretty happy with the way the TKC performs.

Cheers
Clint