1993 BMW K75s....
Front Metzeler ME 880 23,000miles
Rear Metzeler ME 88 12,000miles(due to split from overinflation)
Rear Michelin Anakess 12,000miles

The ME88 was a solid tire and due to its reinforced sidewalls that are 5 ply...it held a load of 375kg at low pressures without issues. I accidentally overinfalted it in the beginning in Morocco and ended up replacing it when I got to Turkey...
It took the sharp Sahara rocks without an issue and behaved very confortably in all types of sand, when pressure was lowered.
The Michelin Anakee, although it couldn't hold as heavy of a load at low pressures as the ME 88, it performed extremely well BUT wore out very quickly when it reached the last 25% of its tread.
Both tires were extremely resistant to punctures of sharp rocks, etc.

60% on road 40% off road(sand, gravel ,mud)

No punctures whatsoever in 35,000 miles...I replaced tires again in North America...ME880 front and ME88 rear.

HTH

Heidenau K60's
 

Chris,

I'm on my 4th set of Heidenau K60's now. 2-up on a '95 BM R1100GS throughout the Australian outback and South America. For me they're the best comprimise for off-road / on-road and durability. A great travel tyre.

For the BM size at least, the front (100/90-19) is actually a rear, therefore you have to turn it around. I get around 17,000kms to a rear and well over 20,000kms from a front. Well recommended.

Hamish

Pirelli Scorpians
 

I'm on my third set of Pirelli Scorpians on a KTM 950 Adventure. This is a great choice for this bike if you like to ride canyons with sport-bikes and go explore forest roads and two tracks. Good choice KTM. That's what this bike was designed for. I get about 5000 miles out of a set. Not a tire I'd use for long Xcountry pavement though.
I'm going to the Sierra Madre, Mexico and will start with fresh Dunlop D908RR rear and D606 front. We're trying to stay on dirt/sand/mud/rock all the way down and then slab it back when the tires are toast. I'll update in May.
:mchappy: GrayWolf

TKC80 tyres in winter with metal studs
 

R100GS. I've put some car type metal winter studs in the inner rows of knobs (every other knobbly so not too many studs), not the outer rows. Improves performance in packed snow, ice & frost. Studs are short enough not to affect performance on bare tarmac, still good in wet & dry conditions. The tyre rubber is soft enough to let the metal studs project enough when needed. Cheers, ekr43

pirelli scorpion
 

18 000 km, great mileage imho from pirelli scorpion two-up on r1100gs, starting in italy it got us to spain then ushuaia and back up to salta. lots of dirt riding. this is the rear. front still about half way to go.

08 DR650 IRC GP110 70% road 30% off. Excellent tire for most anything except heavy mud. A little noisy, but not rude. Works well on the tarmac. Traveling across America in September, going to switch to IRC GP-1 due to more road miles than off road miles.

I have just fitted Michelin SIRAC's (front and rear) to my XT600E. I liked the look of em compared to ANAKEE's. I was wondering if anyone else has ever used them? They seem a good all round tyre. I use them 70% tarmac and 30% rough dirt/stone tracks. On tarmac they are superb.

I fitted standard sizes - 90/90 21 / 120/90 17 (Rated to about 100 MPH).

Got them from Sidcup Tyres Kent. Cost £115 ($230) for both.

I've used TKC80s for the last 90,000 miles on 1200GS then 1200GSA. Tyre wear is supposed to be about 5500 rear, 7000+ front but at slower speeds it's much better than that and on a recent trip to Sénégal I did 9100 miles on one set and the rear was just at the legal limit on my return.

I can't really compare them to other tyres as it's such a long time since I used anything else.

Tim

7500 miles around Argentina and Chile. Plenty of open road and some off-road (which could be pretty nasty on rocks etc). Two rear TKC 80s and one front. However this was a 1150GS, two up and burdenedwith the regular array of necessary and unecessary stuff!

Had the bike not been wrecked by West London traffic, I would have tried Heidenau K60s next. No evidence to suggest they would last longer but at half the price and comparable performace, they seemed like a good bet.

I do hope to fit Heidenau K37 to the 19 inch wheels on my Ural outfit. This brand does seem very good value for money IMO.

poor performance from bridgestone
 

scandalised at the very ordinary 7500km offered by a Bridgestone Trailwing 150/70 R17, used two-up on an R11GS.
the previous tyre, a pirelli scorpion, gave 18000 and was still going with precisely the same type of use.
cheers,
andy.

riding a KLR

TKC 80 great tire, easy to change out on the side of the road.

Good traction on dirt, wet and dry, wear a little fast but they feel safe.

My bike Triumph thunderbird.

Best tires so far:- Avon Azaros, good wet grip and superb stability.6000 mls. rear tyre!.Called azaro storm for front,superb tyres ,can`t fault em.:clap:

Conti TKC 80s on a new Tenere: √√√
 

Conti TKC 80s on a new Tenere.
4200 miles after a trip to Morocco (15% mostly dry, rocky piste).

Tried all the rest over the years: MT21, Mich T63, Deserts but never these. The OE Metz Tourances would of course would have been crap on the piste.

On dry roads they feel so normal (compared to the above knobblies) you forget you have them on. On half a day of wet roads they where pretty steady too. You can see why the big GS brigade like them.

On the dirt they are good enough within the limitations of my loaded bike's abilities and in loose stuff give the bite that a trail tyre would not have.

I bought tubeless TKCs, Slimed them and converted the rims which is fine on the back but leaked on the 21" front and eventually lost pressure when things got very rough (put a tube back in).

I also ran my TKCs at road pressures all the time to avoid puncture risks in rocky Morocco, but they still gripped fine, even in wet, muddy ruts (with feet dangling).

After 4200 miles the back has about 5mm of block left (originally about 15 - see pic) which is better than I expected. Front is half worn.

For mixed dirt and slow road I'd use them again - not sure there is anything comparable: the relatively dense and shallow blocks give road manners with some teeth to bite in the loose stuff.

Chris S

Hi Chris, sorry a little off topic question; but how did you convert your spoked wheels to tubless, you had a leak on your front I guess that is from the pistes, as my next ride down to Oz I expect 90% Tar would you recomend it?


Now for my input:

TTR600 trans africa.
MT21 Rear 15'000km
MT21 Front 21'000km

I really loved them the whole way, In deep sand never got stuck, lots of dirt, a little skatty-but thats gravel for you! On Tar I loved them I found that I could really push them and fly into the corners as hard as I wanted.

Avon Distanzers: hated them
Did't give enought life to justify their crap handling. I felt more confidedent in my MT21's! I think about 18'000km on the rear.

George

Hi George, pretty good going on those MTs, they have bigger knobs I do recall so I guess last longer.

My tubeless conv was a bit of an experiment. We discussed it here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ess-rims-37278

And then I did this:
Adventure Motorcycling - spoke motorcycle wheel tubeless conversion (XTZ 660)

Only just got back so I havent had a chance to write the results yet but as expected the regular front rim was the weak point - it lost pressure out the sides on moderate hits but also was leaking slowly somewhere. Never got a chance to find out where before it was too late.

I would have gone for a Tubliss liner but could not get one in the UK in time.

I still plan to go TL on my next trip which is mostly a road ride too.

Ch