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  #1  
Old 4 Mar 2014
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Post tires for morrocan adventure
hello me and a friend are planning a trip to morocco this summer
now my question is wich tires would be good for my yamaha xt600e

we are gonna do aprox. between 7000 - 9000 kilometers
so i would like a tire that will do the trip and still be good offroad
also worst case i dont mind strapping a spare rear tire to the back of the bike

thx in advance
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  #2  
Old 4 Mar 2014
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I just used the search function at the top of this page and found these results: Search | Horizons Unlimited
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  #3  
Old 4 Mar 2014
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still doesnt help me much

what good are good tires for morroco on a 1200 gsa gonna do on my xt600?
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  #4  
Old 4 Mar 2014
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Originally Posted by SnakeAroundTheWorld View Post
still doesnt help me much

what good are good tires for morroco on a 1200 gsa gonna do on my xt600?
The search criteria "tyres morocco" produces 1490 relevant hits on the HUBB. No, they're not all related to the R1200gsa BMW.

Even if all 1490 hits were 12gsa related, the replies would still all be very relevant: A tyre is a tyre: Conti TKC80, Metzler Tourance, Heidenau K60 or whatever other round black rubbery thing you strap on has the same/ very similar treadpattern/ behaviour characteristics on a xt600 with 21 inch front and 130/17 rear or on a bmw with 19inch front and 150/17 rear.
Last edited by markharf; 4 Mar 2014 at 23:34.
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  #5  
Old 4 Mar 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chris View Post
The search criteria "tyres morocco" produces 1490 relevant hits on the HUBB. No, they're not all related to the R1200gsa BMW.

Even if all 1490 hits were 12gsa related, the replies would still all be very relevant: A tyre is a tyre: Conti TKC80, Metzler Tourance, Heidenau K60 or whatever other round black rubbery thing you strap on has the same/ very similar treadpattern/ behaviour characteristics on a xt600 with 21 inch front and 130/17 rear or on a bmw with 19inch front and 150/17 rear.

have you even considered that i know next to nothing about offroad tires?
all i know is that once we get in morroco the metzler tourance tires wont cut it
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Old 4 Mar 2014
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I took the very minor liberty of stripping out sarcasm and insulting language from the last two posts, including the quoted sections. Hope everyone's ok with that.
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Old 4 Mar 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeAroundTheWorld View Post
all i know is that once we get in morroco the metzler tourance tires wont cut it
Why? Perfectly good tyre for most occasions. Granted a full knobbly will be better in mud and sand, but the Tourance is OK.

My personal preference is the Continental TKC80 which I've used on a variety of bikes, large and small, including 1200 GS, 1200 GS Adventure, Honda XR400R, Yamaha XT660Z, BMW F650 GS twin, and KTM 690 Enduro.
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Old 16 Mar 2014
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TCK80's are for many people one of the worst tyre ever made, but then again it's personal preference.

Look at Mitas E-07, or E-09 both are silly cheap, but really good and lasting. Or if you can live with 3000-6000km lifetime something like Pirelli MT21's, or more street oriented, but still capable MT60 or MT90.

It really depends on which kind of driving you want to do. Knobbies will help you in the desert, but not really needed if you're only going to do dirt tracks or pistes.


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  #9  
Old 16 Mar 2014
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I went from Norway to Magadan on a set of Mefo Super Explorer in 2012. Highly recomended. Lasts an awful lots of k's.


Don't look back, you are not going in that direction :-)
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Old 16 Mar 2014
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Originally Posted by casperghst42 View Post
TCK80's are for many people one of the worst tyre ever made, but then again it's personal preference.
I'm always interested in others' opinions, but you don't explain why you think they are one of the worst tyres ever made. Do you want to say why, rather than leaving it hanging?
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Old 16 Mar 2014
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Originally Posted by Tim Cullis View Post
I'm always interested in others' opinions, but you don't explain why you think they are one of the worst tyres ever made. Do you want to say why, rather than leaving it hanging?
Maybe it's me, but for a tyre which is so raved by lots of people it is really scary to use on tarmac, I had it on my 12GSA, and it's behaviour in corners was anything but pleasant - they were all over the place, mostly far far away where I expected to be. Next after the Tourance it's the only tyre which actually have scare me..... (on these kind of bikes)

I also know that the way a tyre performs also have to do with the way a driver drives. So the TCK might be working for some people, and not for other people (like me).

But for the price there are other options available, which are better and cheaper.

As long as you don't expect to do deep sand, have a look at tyres like Mefo Super Explorer, Heidenau K60, Mitas E-07, all of them 50/50 tyres. They are not fast in deep sand, but they are great all round tyres (my favorite is the Mitas - which some people hate with a vengeance).


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Old 17 Mar 2014
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Maybe you ride harder than me. I had TKC80s on my 1200 Adventure when I did London to Senegal and back again. At one time I counted that I'd done over 200,000 miles on TKC80s.

There are better tyres for sand and deep mud, but then road behaviour takes a dive.

.
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Old 18 Mar 2014
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Originally Posted by Tim Cullis View Post
Maybe you ride harder than me. I had TKC80s on my 1200 Adventure when I did London to Senegal and back again. At one time I counted that I'd done over 200,000 miles on TKC80s.

There are better tyres for sand and deep mud, but then road behaviour takes a dive.

.
I don't know, I did 23-24.000 km. on a set of tourance, so I don't know if I'm a hard driver - I find that some tyres work for some people and some for other people.

Also one big issue with tyre wear and behaviour is tyre pressure, some people get it absolutely right, and for me it never worked out with the TCK80. But one thing I know is that there are similar or better tyres than the TCK80 which cost a lot less.

And I guess that one of the reasons why TCK80 is so popular on the big boxers is that it's German, and they were one of the first manufactures which could provide a 19" front tyre... but the 150..170 rear will still give problems for most manufacturers...

I am crazy about the Mitas E-07 - it simply just works for me, but fair amount of people have strong "dislikes" for that tyre... so very very personal.


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  #14  
Old 18 Mar 2014
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TKC80's ain't that bad. I've had my Africa Twin over on the edges of these with no issues on tarmac.
Pressures are critical, and they do get very hot running at speed too.
The real down side is wear rate. 3000mls and they are showing lots of wear.

In the loose stuff, no problems. Brilliant tyre!

Rob

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