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Route Planning Where to go, when, what are the interesting places to see
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Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #1  
Old 2 Feb 2009
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France Spain Africa tyre choice please

Advice would help please, we are organising a 3 week trip from uk through spain and into North Africa and return through France, after reading some of the other threads with excellent advice I wondererd if anybody could give me some idea of the best tyres for road and some off road use, we will be using transalps and maybe a gs's
Some of us have rather more experience of off road than others but any advice would be helpfull

Thanks everyone
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  #2  
Old 4 Feb 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Robinson View Post
Advice would help please, we are organising a 3 week trip from uk through spain and into North Africa and return through France, after reading some of the other threads with excellent advice I wondererd if anybody could give me some idea of the best tyres for road and some off road use, we will be using transalps and maybe a gs's
Some of us have rather more experience of off road than others but any advice would be helpfull

Thanks everyone
Hi Ian

Not personal advice but passing on advice that I've been given for a 5500 mile trip similar to yours, i.e. mostly on-road but some off-road. The advice is to use a Metzeler Tourance on the rear and a Continental TKC80 on the front of my 800GS. Apparently it provides a good balance between on and off-road performance and grip versus durability.
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Old 4 Feb 2009
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Hi Ian,
Don't know if this is an option for you, or whether you think it necessary for your planned route, but I did a trip very similar to what you are describing a month or two ago.
I took some Michelin Deserts (massive overkill, but suprisingly cheap) down to the south of Spain with me, then changed out of the tired old pair of road tyres I had on the bike, left these hidden in a tree near Algeciras, then returned to them on the way back.
I was using a light bike, lightly loaded. Two up, or big GS and I'd guess that the tyres have to be that bit tougher to last on Morocco's rocky terrain.

To be honest, the Deserts were a bit sketchy on wet road, but I was never really pushing it as the roads are frequently covered in mud, gravel etc.

I never got any punctures, which I think justified changing the tyres in Spain, as not having to change a tube mid-piste would be time consuming and annoying.

Basically what I'm saying is that for a small amount more effort, i.e. changing tyres in spain, you can have a very comfortable ride south and good off road control when you are in Morocco. Best of both worlds.

just another option to add to the pile!

p.s. Re-reading the original post, are you looking at a circular route i.e. Spain to Morocco, then direct from Morocco to France? If so ignore the above post as it requires you to collect the tyres on the way back... duh.
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Old 4 Feb 2009
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I would have used Michelin T63 or Pirelli MT21. They work well on the road and excellent offroad.
They don’t fit all the different GSes.
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Old 4 Feb 2009
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Tyre choice

Thanks everyone for those words of advice I will have a look at the choices

Cheers
Ian
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