Tyre selection in Istambul Turkey?
 

I will be riding my R1200GS and been thinking to replace my tires in Istanbul, before heading east to Stans.
Any knowledge if there is good tyre selection for such a big bike?
Or would it be better to send tires to someone in Turkey?

I am looking mainly Heidenau K60 Scout tires.

Br,
Marko

Hi Marko,

There is a BMW dealer in Istanbul so you will have choices there and other places, just don't know if they would have K60s.

AtaMoto?
 

When I was in Istanbul two years ago, I went to Atamoto looking for "dirt tires" tires for my R60. The owner, Ahmet Demirtas was a great guy, spoke excellent English and had several tire catalogs to pick from. Got what I wanted in the next day. He also let me pull my bike into his shop for two days to do some work out of the heat. (Thank you Ahmet!).

Ahmet is interesting to talk to. Guess he used to be a mechanic for the Turkish Paris-Dakar team back in the day. Maybe drop him a line with your request? I didn't find prices there any higher than what they would be in Canada.

I wouldn't ship tires myself without seriously investigating the duty charges.

there are motorbike tyre shops in Istanbul. However, I am not sure if you could fine the specific tyre that you want.

One of them is Buzmotor. Here is the contact link:
http://www.buzmotor.com/contact.html

there is also one in Bursa. I'll let you know as soon as I have the contact details.

Istanbul BMW dealer is quite busy, better call them and agree how to do the swap. That does not work either all the time as happened to me on 2010 trip.

Or then just buy tyres from them and get them changed on another place, any tyre workshop will do just fine.

They will not show any effort to find Heidenaus as they will be already very busy for other customers which they will earn more. So no need to loose time there.
Though I am not sure if you can find Heidies in Turkiye quite easily. I made a search three years ago and couldn't organize. Who knows may be something has been changed.
Atamoto Ahmet is a good and true guy. He can spend effort to organise effort but not sure. There is a good dealer in Bandirma whose information could be found here too. A good guy and showed some effort to organise tyres for me. Not sure for him too if he has or can find Heidies.

Looks better for you to go for TKCs or some other well known brands.

If its is very important wait some more for some other biker from Istanbul help you...

better to ask him. He may be of help
 

+1 for Samy's recommendation. Bora sorted me out with Continental TKC80's. First class service.

Cheers,

Dicky