Quote:
Originally Posted by mollydog
My current TKC80 front is doing OK. I posted a pic of it on another thread asking about uneven TKC wear. My tire below has 2000 miles on it ... about 600 miles off road, rest on road.
It's wearing evenly on my light DR650, but is ridden hard on twisty paved roads but moderately off road, mostly dirt roads, two track, some rocky stuff in Baja. I'm impressed with the even wear and good tire life. It performs really well on pavement ... not bad off road, but needs low pressure to work
on my bike. Cost is the main obstacle. The T63 is half the price here in US.

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I find that to get tyre life out of a knobblie I have to inflate the tyre hard on tar. The recommendation for the rear is 2.5-2,6 bar but I run at 2.9 bar on tar. The manufacturers recommendations are also based on averages for raod and off road, and assume a weight of about a 65 or 70 kg rider. Im 95 kg so require a bit higher pressure.
I reduced it down to 2 on sand. It means carrying a small compressor around. Normal gravel road I don't bother dropping the pressure although the tyre will behave better at lower pressure. Just cant be bothered to re-inflate.
The TKC and T63 are ok on wet tar (as far as any knobblie is good on tar). The Mitas has very poor grip on wet tar and requires a more sensitive wrist. That is one reason I never put one on the front.
I think what kills a knobblie on tar is heat, from running too soft and high speed, and hard braking. I once was in a rush to get home after a week on the road and ran a TKC rear at 2.5 bar after coming of soft dirt, with a loaded bike at 160 kmh on a hot day. That tyre was toast aster 3500 km. I could see the difference after that 1 day.
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