Unfortunately not a good idea - customs will skin you. And, you won't make the dealer happy - he has lots of tires he wants to sell. He's not in the business of being a post office.

Do contact the dealers ahead and see what they have, and try to order what you want so it's waiting for you. Expect to pay in advance. Work with them and you'll find they're great people.

You sound like a road rider. No disrespect there. I'm an 80% road rider. I come from Sportsbikes and I love fast road riding. I do love off-roading too though.

You can ride pretty much all over South America on tar. The gravel roads are disappearing fast. And you can still ride gravel roads on road tyres. Just not as fast. That's true for pretty much all over-landing all over the world. Your life is mostly on tarmac. You just want to be able to cope if the tar runs out one day.

You're going to be on a V-strom 650. That is NOT an off-road bike. It's heavy and it has street/touring suspension. I had one for years. It's a good bike.

For me, there is little point putting aggressive off-road biased tyres on a bike that isn't going to go off-road. They will wear really quickly, feel sketchy in the wet, they're noisy and stop a fast road rider enjoying amazing tar roads. ESPECIALLY on a very heavy touring bike.

For my first trip in South America I took an XT600E. And I had Michelin Anakee tyres. They were fine for everything but sand.


TKC80's are really over-rated. They get so much press because they're been around a long time and BMW fit them to their bikes to make them look aggressive outside of Starbucks. Everyone just says "TKC80, TKC80,TKC80 because everyone else says it. Most don't even know why they're saying it. They're not a bad tyre but there are lots of other choices.


I really suggest you pick a 70/30 tyre. 70% Tarmac.

Look at TKC70. Mitas E07 etc. Heindenau K60 (Not the Scouts as they're horrible in the wet)

If you don't like them. Just change them. Or just ride what you've got. You will be fine.

Is the v-Strom a tubed tyre, if so I’d give the K60s a miss. For me they are the best tyre but the walls are so hard I don’t think you’d be able to change a tube on the road - they’re even hard with machines. If you’re tubeless though......
I think Ted is right about TKC80s - they wear out too quickly
TKC70s are a great long lasting tyre and good enough for dry rocky trails, farm tracks etc.. My wife uses them and we hit snow and landslides going over the high atlas and they were fine.
Motoz are a newish tyre in the UK (Australian) with great reviews - wear very well, they’re a tire I’d like to try.
As for the wee strom - We were on a big bike off road event in Spain and a guy turned up on one With upgraded suspension, knobby tires, bash plate etc.... and it went everywhere the KTMs, GSs ATs etc went - obviously he was a very capable rider.
Enjoy the trip.

Tyres involve a lot of personal preference
 

I tried the TKC 70s on a BMW Adventure mostly sealed road. The rear was good but the front terrible. One set went out of balance and they all "cupped" badly. Still got me up the Dempster highway and back in wet weather. Tried the Motoz Tracionator on a Husky 701 . Poor mans TKC 80. Aussie design made in Thailand. Again the rear good but the front wore out in under 2000 km. Might be Ok on 100% off-road. The TKC 80 are excellent tyres if you are wanting a mix of on and off road. The K 60s I found were good and they are readily available in the south of Chile and they seem to wear well. People say they are slippery but I never noticed. Often comes down to what you can get.

That's pretty much what I expected, just wondering if anyone had first hand info.

The K60 tubeless are super stiff. The ones for tubes are fine though. I had them on my DRZ400 in Africa and they were super easy to get on and off the rim.

TBH, most tubeless tyres are really stiff. They have to be. Why people put tubeless tyres on tubes rims is still beyond me.


I think your TKC70 front tyre issue is probably due to tyre pressure or another factor.

I've fitted HUNDREDS of TKC70 tyres to BMW's. (I used to work at a BMW dealer) and I've never seen that before.

I'm guessing your dropped your pressures because you were on the Dempster ? That will do weird things to road tyres. Which is what the 70's really are.

Not a pressure issue
 

Well no I am particularly careful with tire pressures and I never let air out. Even if I did on the Dalton it was all mud and they only cup on sealed surfaces. I used up 3 fronts and they all cupped to a greater or lesser extent. So not for me but the rear was excellent Cheers