tires in south morocco?
 

hi!

staying in essaourira, morocco, i just decided not to go home, i will continue down to dakhar instead. my biggest problem now is, that i do not have tires good for sand. does anybody knows, if it is possible to buy these tires down the way do dakhla (agadir, layoune)?
any help is appreciated!

thans in advance

thomas

Unless you have tractor or really worn out tyres in my experience any tyres will work in sand at 1 bar/14 psi. Just remember to take it easy in the rocks and pump them up again (see the long comprssor thread...).
And the Mori route is not that sandy, anyway

Chris S

Chris
I am going to Ghana in March via Morocco, Mauretania, Mali, Cote D'Ivoire ending up in Ghana in April/May and will be travelling in a 101. I am not sure what tyres to use. I have a set of Michelin Xl's which are new but have been advised against them in the derert although they would be good in Ghana in the rainy season. I can probably get a set of XS's at a reasonable price but do not want spendmoney unnecessarily. What would you advise?

Hi Malcolm, in my day the 101 choice was either military crossbars (or whatever they call them) or expensive XSs (which I used) but I'm sure there is more choice these days. Basically if you can go for an ordinary AT or even MT (for later usefulness), you will be fine across the desert.
I'm sure current 101-ers have more to add...

enjoy the trip

Chris S

Thanks Chris. The XL's are fairly aggressive mud and snow tyres. The worst possible tyre for deserts according to Tom Sheppard's book. Hence my concern. However, they have the advantage that I do have a complete new set. There is not a lot of choice in 9.00 x 16. Bar grips or NATO type bar grips in crossply, ex army XL's or XS's or XZL's from Michelin at 2 or 3 times the price. If you think that the XL's are ok I will go with them. I do have an onboard compressor so running them at low pressure is no problem.

Malcolm

Are you sure they are not called XCLs, popular with NATO and particularly unsuited to dunes. I recall they are relatively narrow (certainly in 750 size) but up to a point a new M&S tyre is better than a knackered XS (plenty of those out there), especially if you have and use a compressor.

Chris S

Hi Chris.

You are right they are XCL's.

Malcolm

chris,

i forgot to write that i am driving a motorcycle! but i hope, that your advice that you can drive with almost any tyres with lowered pressure, fits also for motorbikes http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif does it?

thanks
thomas

Oo-er, 'anything at low psi' does not go so well on a [motor?] bike! If it's a road bike with road tyres you're going to have a hell of a time from the Mori border south to NKT or Atar. On a trail bike I am a big beliver in knobblies in the sand (or even Yukon mud come to that...), but of course they wear fast on the highway. I doubt if you can get anytthing decent in Maroc but an MT21, Mich T63 or Conti TKC whatever are all very good near-knobbly compromises.
But as long as you have enough rubber on what you have and they are good tyres, I would get some spare tubes and patches and carry on with fingers crossed. Expect to loose a lot of weight in the near future...

Ch

my tyres work fine on a normal pist, i'm driving an old africa twin. the rear tire is almost new, for the front i should get a used michelin from a german guy we're meeting in dakhla. what i've learned for the next time: i will bring my tyres to morocco or whereelse from home. i spent almost 2 days looking for them (they were all phoning to casablanca without success, though) in agadir. all you'll find there are (really) used tyres. i still have a little hope to find a michelin desert or so in dakhla, we'll see.
btw. i am not exactly fat, but a little loss of weight would be very appreciated, anyway http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

thomas

[This message has been edited by tkuhn (edited 25 September 2001).]