XT600E Tyres - recommendations?
 

Hi guys, just bought a 2003 XT600E for trip to North Africa. Any opinions on best tyres to fit for the trip would be appreciated, as they will need to cope with long tarmac section to get down there and desert terrain when there. Michelin T63s maybe? Good Choice?
Many thanks for any help.

Avon Distanzas seem quite popular here in the UK.

I run Heidenau K60's, which have a similar pattern to Metz Enduro 3's.Great value and they last well on tarmac - sand is an unknown quantity for me on these.

XT600E Tyres - recommendations?
 

Cheers guys, thanks for your input. I run Avon Distanzas on my 1987 XT600Z 1VJ Tenere and whilst they are good road based tyres, from my expereince, I don't think they will cope well with desert terrain. My research also seems to show the Michelin T63 has been superceded by the Michelin Sirac. Does anybody have any experience of the new Siracs on an XT600E please?
Many thanks guys.

Sirac is >80% road biased. I love mine on the twisties, but I couldn't imagine going into the desert with them. I've got another set of wheels with Michelin Deserts for that :-)

XT600E Tyres - recommendations?
 

Thanks XT Frog for the observation on the Michelin Siracs. From what I know Michelin Deserts won't really cope with the long tarmac section down to the desert and I am trying to avoid carrying spare tyres. Somebody else has suggested Trail Wing 42s would be a good choice??
Anybody have any experience of these on tarmac and in desert terrain please??
Many thanks.

I met plenty of folk in Kenya who had ridden down from Germany etc on one pair of Deserts, still with some tread left - they are a pretty hard compound, to cope with rock attack etc.

I suppose it depends on your priorities - Deserts will be OK on dry tarmac but distinctly squirrely on wet roads, and don't even talk about their behaviour on white paint :helpsmilie:, but, boy, will you love them when you get off road.

Plus they are virtually unpuncturable - after repairing the fifth acacia-thorn-induced flat in a day, this is a big plus, believe me.

Personally, I wouldn't go to Africa with anything else

This sort of repeats what is said above, but here goes anyway.

I have Trailwings on the XT600E. Great on the road. Useless in mud or anything slippery. The treads clog and become slicks in the blink of an eye. Had Siracs on my XT660R - same. I regard both as road tyres with semi-trail styling, not as trail tyres. I'm not sure that the compromise you are looking for exists, but in your position I would go for a decent mud/sand tyre and put up with it on the tarmac. Poor tarmac performance is a nuisance; poor performance in the sand could ruin your trip.

T63
 

I liked the rear T63 that i used in West Africa. Ok it won't as long as the likes of the Avon Distanzia, but it grips in dirt.

I met a couple of germans in Cape Town who come down through East Africa (from Europe) on one set of T63s! Quite how i don't know. I went through 3 tyres down west coast. I am quite lazy though as adding air when i get back on to the black top :)

Can you do the chris scott trick of riding down there on an old set and then putting the knoblies on when you hit southern Morocco.

Go for the T63's.

They would be my choice. Good off road, and very good on road, wether it's dry or wet. (for a knobbly)

Make sure you add pressure for the road miles, as they do wear a little quick. Not only will this minimise the wear, but it will improve the handling no end.

I must admit I don't change my pressures, and she's stable enough up to 70mph without being too hard for the trails. (Mostly rocky, Peak district, but also muddy, 'cos it's the UK.)

I never thought a tyre could be so versatile.

XT600E Tyres - Recommendations??
 

Cheers hurcomb and Angus To You, I have taken the plunge and ordered a set of Michelin T63s. There's no going back now and thanks for the advice re tyre pressures. T63s seem the best all round choice. Many thanks to all who contributed to this thread. Cheers guys.

Very good choice, my favourite tyre! Do not thing that Siracs are good offroad tyre,
Siracs are usable but only if you are riding calm, traction of front wheel on higher
speeds is terrible with Siracs, especialy on loose terrains. T63s are still avaliable,
information that Siracs replaced T63 is wrong !

XT600E Tyres - Recommendations??
 

Hi guys, just fitted the Michelin T63s to my new XT600E and I am currently running the standard manufacturers pressure of 22psi front and 33psi rear. I have to say they are awful on tarmac, the bike feels like I am riding on oil and is weaving all over the place at anything over 55mph. The bike is mechanically sound i.e. shock, wheel bearings, head bearings etc are all OK. I will experiment with tyre pressures, but does anyone have any thoughts on this issue please, as these tyres seem to come highly recommend for use on tarmac. I took off a part worn set of TCK80s which were poor on tarmac, but the T63s are even worse! I have yet to use them off road and whilst I don't envisage any problems on the dirt, I have a long way to ride on tarmac to get to the desert!
Any help, clues or observations as to the possible problem would be much appreciated. Many thanks.
Cheers.

I use an 18" rear and get good grip on and off road with my TKC80s.

I have a Michelin Desert for the next trip.

For sale I have a new Pirelli MT21, if anyone's in Surrey? I wanted to take two spare rears through Africa but now the girlfriend's on the back of the XT, I've a lot less carrying capacity. She ain't big, so no big butt jokes guys:taz:

Tck80
 

I love the TCK80's, excellent off road and good on tarmac (there are better tarmac tyres). it depends how much offroading you plan to do. TCK's do feel terrible on the road until they are scrubbed in. Andy

Hey Brad, I may be quite a bit lighter than you - 10.5 stone - and on standard pressures they are good for me up to about 70. I can't recall Yamaha's advice on how hard to go with the pressures, but it's quite a jump. (Their idea of high speed riding is over 60 I reckon). Go with Michelin's advice in any case. They are just guidelines too, if you're, erm, a bit on the large side, you may have to go up a bit?

Allways measure pressures on stone cold tyres, as air expands quite a bit as the tyres warm up. (so no riding to the petrol station if you want a true reading. Cold outside doesn't mean cold inside either!).

I wouldn't want to go much over 70 on them, but I'm close to the pegs pretty regular.

T63 awful on Tarmac? Well, after 6-7 pairs I can say that T63 are very, very good on
tarmac. Front 1.6-1.8 bar, rear 1.7-2.0 bar. If go on very soft terrains, slightly lower
pressures. Feelings you have now are usual, you will get used on T63 in time.

Yeah, knobblies don't feel like road tyres, like a trail bike doesn't feel like a road bike, so maybe it's a confidence thing? ("Feels like I'm riding on oil"??)

You'll find the grip is definately there - just keep lapping a quiet roundabout faster and faster, keep a foot out if you need to, but the angle of dangle will impress you. Personaly, I've bottled it before sliding. (I guess I'm at the age were the number of years has become greater than the number of degrees I'll lean to!)

I've found myself going into wet roundabouts or bends a bit hot, and putting a foot out in preperation for the slide, only to find I get through just fine. And that includes riding past road bikes.

Are you sure that the suspension / bushes etc are all OK?

XT600E Tyres - Recommendations??
 

Many thanks AngusTo You and Antek for your further contributions. To cover the points you have mentioned guys, I am a "trim" 12.5 stone and I like to think it's not a "bottle problem". I am essentially talking about the effect of straight line performance on tarmac. With the TCK80s fitted the bike was happy at 80mph plus on tarmac. I work in PSI me self so up to 1.8bar is 26psi front and up to 2.0bar is 29 rear, so will try upping front tyre pressure and reducing rear pressure and see how I go. Yamaha recommendations are 1.50 bar front (22 psi) and 2.25 bar rear (33psi). Not sure what Michelin recommend but will check their website and see if I can get some info on recommended pressures. Suspension/bushes etc seem fine, but I will take the bike to my local friendly dealer and get him to give it the once over to make 100% sure. Other possible option is to get the wheels balanced if altering the tyre pressures doesn't bring about any improvement???
Thanks again guys, I am sure I will crack the problem in the end.

Michelin SIRAC's are the dogs....
 

I put a set of Michelin Sirac's on my 1999 (5,000 miles) XT600E at the start of last Summer. I must tell you how hugely impressed I am with them compared to Trail Wings. I would describe them as a road biased tyre but with an agricultural tyre pattern (70% road, 30% light trails). I have used them for light green laning and they were Okay. As an all round adventure type tyre you can't beat em. They look quite good on a big trailee as the rear tyre is quite agricultural looking...

You can give that a go, but you would normaly get wobble rather than a weave with out of balance tyres. A weave is usualy indicative of something soft, be it tyres or suspension.

You'll probably have to take the the wheels off, but spin them, when they stop, mark the bottom and spin them again, and again, and again, and see if they stop spinning in the same position. (Heavy spot down).

Just shuffling the tyres round the rims might help.

They are on concentricaly aren't they? There should be a fitting line, all around the tyres on each side, which is high enough above the bead of the tyre to be seen by the rim. This should show an even amount above the rim all the way round, and on both sides.

Even professionals make a pigs ear of fitting some times!

Hi Brad,

I think you might be running too high a pressure.

I suggest 20psi in the rear max and 15psi front. Just make sure you have good tyre anchors fitted fron and rear.

Try them out carefully and see how you get on. Quite often a mannual is for road biased tyres. you will want to drop them even lower when you hit the sand of the oh so wonderfull Sahara.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

Regards Sam.

XT600E Tyres - Recommendations??
 

Hi there guys and Scottish Sam. I have checked the bike over thoroughly and all is OK other than a couple of loose spokes in the front wheel which I have tightened. Next stage was to experiment with tyre pressures, so tried 26psi front and 29 psi rear. Again terrible! Ok lets go for it! 30psi front and 36psi rear and see what happens. Wow, what a transformation! I am riding a different motorsickle! I have clearly been running far too low tyre pressures for tarmac riding, despite what seems to be the recommended pressures for T63s. I will continue experimenting with pressures to get the optimum figures for tarmac, but I ain't far out with 30/36. Then I will follow the same process of experimentation for off road using lower pressures. Never had this problem before with tyres pressures! Ain't life strange sometimes!
Cheers to all!

Glad things are sorted out. :thumbup1:

I just want to add that when I switched from road tires to trail ones (Pirelli MT21) I had the same strange feeling on road, that I was riding on oil :) But then I got used to it and now I am pretty confident when leaning (boot touches pavement) . Grip when going offroad is excelent! However, they seem to run out pretty fast if you also ride on road (2500 km from the rear).

I think I'll try the T63 next.


Take care,
Adrian