Ruta 40 Tires
 

For a trip following Ruta 40. And doing trips to nice places in the area around Ruta 40. (Gravel roads) Plus do Carreta Austral:

What would be your choice of tyres ?
TKC70 or TKC80 ?

We (wife and I) have had TKC70’s the entire trip south from California to (currently) Ushuaia with a lot of ripio in the past month in particular, between 200-300 miles worth. Very happy with them. We have been fortunate to not have any mud to speak of; if we had I’m sure I’d wish we had TKC80’s. But the riding is mostly asphalt and the 70’s handle that so well, and have never left me feeling less than confident on 5he dirt we’ve done down here.

That said, we took the bypass around the infamous section of ripio profunda on RT 40 south of Gobernador Gregores. Ironically that detour involves a much longer section of ripio (on 288) than doing the more direct RT 40 path, but it is all hard pack.

Jim


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.
Did you mean Rt3? I don't see a route 43.


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Ruta 40 tyres
 

My plan is to travel Nov-Feb next winter.

I am not worried about gravel roads.
The opposite actually.
I plan for a lot of small torus on gravel road out from RN 40. To visit interesting places.

I was more thinking if it is worth to drive around with tyres like TKC 80 on the paved parts. With love mileage and other drawbacks. Just to have them when really needed. Or take the extra hazel to drive with TKC 70 on bad roads. As long as I do not end up in a situation were there are nice places I can't reach. Because limitations in tyres.

Main alternative is TKC 70.


(Picture added of Nepal road)

I did both Careterra Austral down to Villa O’Higgins, backtracked to Cochrane and crossed Chile to Argentina at Paso Roballos (all gravel) and down R40 and I also rode the stretch Gdor Gregores on a loaded up Tenere660 with TKC70s. It wasnt any problem at all, one just have to take it easy. In hindsight I would have taken both a lighter bike and some more rugged tires. But one cant have it all I guess...

I wonder if TKCs 70 and 80 actually are available at all in south America? In Brasil maybe, but the rest...?

FWIW; We replaced our TKC70’s in Colombia, and then again in Chile, no problem.




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Tkc 70
 

Thanks
That was what I expected.

I will ship my own bike to Valparaiso.
And put new tires on it before shipping.
So at least I will run TKC 70 as long as they are OK.

Than... what ever is available.

Thats the right attitude man!

Yes down in Patagonia there are not many places to get decent tyres and the selection is quite limited. I know you can get some decent tires in Osorno and then in Punta Arenas, at a price that is. I would also have started out with fresh rubber from Valparaiso or Santiago if it was me. To start from Santiago or Buenos Aires etc towards Ushuaia with half worn tires is not very wise and when you get down to the rough stuff your tires are going bald (and prone to puncture) and grip is bad and you suddenly need new tires in the middle of nowhere....

Ruta 40
 

I have just finished (Jan 2020) riding a part of Ruta 40 which included a 55km unpaved section between Lago Cardiel and Tres Lagos. There are stretches here with deep ungraded gravel which makes it very difficult to ride in strong crosswinds as you are blown all over the road and can't navigate in the ruts. I took a heavy fall here in about 30 kn of wind along with many other riders. My advice is to download the WINDY app which will give you an accurate wind forecast and do not ride this section if it's blowing more than 15 kn (which it often is).

Not a travel story
 

But 7 reasons to drive Ruta 40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3EP9ObwpQ

Place where to tank between Tres Lagos and Perito Moreno is Bajo Caracoles,
but they don t always have gas. Refill tank passed there every 3 days. If you arrive there and want to say overnight, tank first, maybe won t there be any gas in the morning when you want to left.
Seems the 40 is much better now than when i did it.
Else that you can also cross to chile just before Perito Moreno city by taking a boat (scenic road following water) just before the city at left that will bring you on the carretera austral which is much more beautifull with Cochrane and Cohaique (marmol catedrals).

PS not only can the road be tricky, wind blowing at 120-160km/h in such conditions is hard.

So we've covered about half of Ruta 40 off and on at different times since 1989. Ruta 40 gives full information on the route. It's the best I've found.

https://suramericacontraelreloj.blog...st-photos.html and a lot of the subsequent posts cover the longest trip which included bits of Ruta 40 (on this trip we wove back and forth between Argentina and Chile several times). Tthey were "upgrading" (a matter of opinion) to asphalt for much of the southern section.

We were last there more recently to visit some sites we had been unable to previously - https://alanymarcemoreexploration.bl...-weekends.html .

Not exactly what you're looking for but may be of some help.