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Fitting Michelin Desert on 34L Tenere? Fitting Michelin Desert on 34L Tenere?
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  #1  
Old 21 Aug 2001
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Fitting Michelin Desert on 34L Tenere?

Do they fit? Looks like they fit on front (90/90-21) but do they fit in back (140/90-18 is a bit wide...).
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  #2  
Old 9 Aug 2007
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Deserts
yes they do - I've got them on my 34L. The rear needs to sit back a bit (let the chain wear a bit first, or add a couple more links than normal), but is OK for width when this is done (clears the swingarm bracing)
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Old 23 Aug 2007
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well, be carefull, cause it doesn't fit on my 34L. The side nobbies hit the exhaust and oil tank when the rear wheel is pushed up.

Something else: as said before, your wheel should be placed as far backwards as possible. This could be a problem if you're traveling for quite some km's cause it's allmost impossible to adjust your chain.

best thing I guess is to take your wheel out and check first with only the tyre.
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Old 23 Aug 2007
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toobig
You might be right about the exhaust - I've got a non-standard exhaust on (a Micron something) so can't tell how the original would fare. The tyre certainly clears my oil tank OK - I checked on full travel before going out and jumping the thing with panniers etc in Africa ...

The point about reducing the adjustment on the chain is true enough, but if you're out for a long trip, you should be bright enough to fit an o-ring chain and Scottoiler: it takes a fair few km to wear out one of those.

Plus it looks great!
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  #5  
Old 31 Aug 2007
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Hello,
FWIW
I have an 86 xt600 I believe it is refered to as a 34L in europe.

I dont recommend fitting these tires:
Fitted a front no problem. The rear was a pain. size 140/80/18
As discussed wheel must be fitted way back in the swingarm. I did this by fitting a 14 tooth front sprocket on new standard length chain.
Exhaust rubbed so I shaved a tiny bit of rubber off the right side of the tire with an exacto knife.
Air filter cloged easily. You might think this is a bit of a stretch but hear me out. The tire is huge and fills the entire swingarm area. For the life of me I could not keep the filter clean with this tire fitted in dusty conditions. I have never had a similar problem before or since with any other 120/80/18 tires despite similary dusty conditions. Finally the bike handled in a very evil way above 95kph led to a speed woble despite proper balancing.
As soon as I got back from a long trip using the desert's I tore them off and spooned on an old and very knackerd Mitas e09 rear + mt21 front and the bike handeled perfectly(no balancing)
Desert's in N.America cost at least double what a number of similar yet admittedly lighter constructed tires are selling for.

Cheers,
Pawlie
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Old 31 Aug 2007
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Deserts
Hmmm, interesting experiences.

Can't say I ever had a dust/air filter problem, even crossing the Sahara with these, though the trip was 90% sand and mud, rather than the very fine dust (bulldust) that is such a pain.

The mainly great thing about the Deserts is that they don't puncture. I got thoroughly fed up lying the bike down 5 times a day, taking off the tyres and extracting acacia thorns from my inner tubes (using Metzler somethings and MT-50s) in Kenya. On with the Deserts - never had a puncture since. Which is just as well, since I'm not entirely sure I could actually get that rear tyre off the rim using just tyre levers ... its pretty tough.

Off-road, and loaded up, I'm usually only cruising at around 80kph, so a weave at 95kph is a foreign country to me. I would go out and try now, but I've got the spluttering carb syndrome at the moment and she won't pull more than 90! Gaaah.
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