I have been running the Kenda K270 for my last 2 tires. They are kinda squirelly on the road but you get used to them. I didn't buy my bike for the road. Offroad I like them. They are a soft compound that reminds me of a trails tire. Just put on 300 miles of dry dirt this last weekend when the rear was at 1500 miles, and it was still real grippy. I took it off at 1800 miles, could got another 200 miles or so out of it. First rear went 1650 miles. I got 3200 out of the front, but it was severely cupped. I might try one of these on the KTM 300 for trail riding. A very cheap option, and they go on easy compared to Heidenau.
K60's are backordered at revzilla now. I'm just about ready to throw a scorp rally on the back and try it out. I thought a Kenda would last a lot longer than that.
Chris, I just ordered a pair of Heidenau K60's from advmachines.com and evidently they are in stock. 'Got a 140 for the Husky and a 120 for the WRR. I think it's the tire for my summer trip. Mefo's are available at Twisted Throttle, but they are more dollars for some reason.
That's a good price on the Heidi's, but about the same as revzilla once they add shipping. They also don't say the have it in stock, but, "Usually ships in 1-2 business days." That means they're probably drop shipping them from Paul's buddy the amore place in nor-cal. Seems they have been able to keep up with demand this year. Would be nice if we could get a forum special buy setup with them (moto amore) they'd probably move some more tires directly. Paul??????
I would love to help but it's not going to happen. His policy makes sense to me, why undercut his vendors..... Not to say he wouldn't do it in the future but he's not doing that right now. At this point he's moving so many tires that by the time one sami comes in almost half the tires are sold!!
I was personally involved in testing the Heidi'd here in SA when they were initially imported - the compounds etc were tweaked for our riding conditions. I used them successfully for quite awhile and a good 50/50 tyre IMHO. BUT I must say that the Scout which has the central strip (I think developed to stabilize the central blocks) is not on my favourite list - WHY? because when the top few mm are worn away and the strip becomes part of the thread pattern it starts to lack grip and wants to 'spin out' due to lack of interspersed tread pattern on the centre of the tyre. Note this his central strip is not a wear tab and once reached there is still lots of life in the tyre ... but with reduced grip. The Mitas E07 is very similar to the original (non-Scout) K60 and much better as a 50/50 tyre IMHO.
I heard this is only on certain sizes - like maybe the 130 width didn't have it? Having switched to a 130 I see no need to ever go back to a 140 except that it looks good.
The 140 size does not have the solid center like the 150 size does. Most have said it makes no difference in the tire performance, actually improving it because it stabilizes the center knobs for hi-speed road on the bigger bikes. Bigdom is right though, the center reinforcing on the smaller tire is about half knob height, so it comes up flush once the tire gets worn down. Could always be ground out or cut out if it was really bothersome. This tire is really popular for the bigger adventure bikes that see 50% or less dirt. I think I'll try the scorp rally first and if it burns up in 1500 miles then try one of these. They are expensive for a tire with so many mixed reviews, and definitely not an offroad tire - check out the side knobs....yeah, what side knobs?! I love that michelin T63, just wished it came in 140 size and lasted a little longer. Even if it went half of a heidi it would be a better tire. 140 and 130 size: 150 size (courtesy moto amore)
Yes the K60 Scout large size comes with the centre blocks already joined and flush - not good IMHO. The regular K60 used to have no joins in the treads but now has them recessed slightly - see below.
Heidenaus are made just down the road from where I live. Used to be THE East German state run manufacturer, were about to close down after re-unification but were taken over to make experimental rubber for Porsche etc. I always use them. They stick to the surface, last longer and are even a bit less expensive than the large manufacturers. SM and cross riders here swear by them.
Yeah Yeah I believe they make the Continentals in the same factory under licence for local market (Heideneau is the town, right?)
In essence the different photos above are version A, B, C of the K60 and what they have gone thru in the last few years of transformation. The original K60 was just the blocks with no interconnecting center piece. The ver B tire came about more from the use with the larger ADV/Dual Sport bikes (1200GS, 990 etc). The story goes that with the big blocks on the larger bikes, the center blocks tended to wiggle (not sure if this was just street asphalt riding or what). Because the bigger bikes tended to carry heavier loads it caused this issue which wasn't really an issue until the next part -->. With the wiggling and another common problem mostly due to over inflation (Heidi have a max PSI of 36 on the rear) since most big bikes have tire inflation of 41-42psi people tended to over inflate the tires. In the end the wiggling and over inflated cause some blocks to separate from very high speed riding and heavy load carrying (constant deflating for off-road and then re-infalting for street riding made this problem worse). Heidi to solve this (only on the big bikes mind you) made a version B tire that has the interconnect. This tire is available in a 140/80 and I've used this while they redesigned the tread pattern to the Ver C tire (only on the 150/70 size) which they believe suits the BMW crowd. Although the Ver B tire, 140/80 (tubeless) isn't the correct size for a 1200GS I used it with great success (I actually think it's better for off-road traction then the 150/70), I wore a 140/80 tire down (lots of dirt riding mind you) to last almost 14,000miles!! I may go back to the 140/80 after I'm done with the current 150/70 I'm riding now. BTW, I have sport bike riders who have railed these K-60 on the street and never felt like they were loose.....good street traction IMHO. Today, you can see that Version A,B,C K-60 tires are still available. For our Husky the 140 size is still the original Ver A blocks with no interconnecting center piece. I'm still using the same rear I rode with Ken and CJbrown in Death Valley from earlier this year, about 2200miles so far on the rear with lots of street use.....tire is about half worn. All three tires have very good wear life and if you can live with the traction (everyone wants more or less) which for 90% of the riding I do works perfect. I've used all three tires between the 630 and the 1200Gs both on road and off, still very happy with them. That being said, they now have the K74 dirt bike tire that is a true off-road tire, very aggressive.....and DOT approved. Call John to inquire more.....
FYI, was on a ride this weekend and a KTM 640 Adventure in attendance that was shod with a 140/80-18 K60 Scout. He advised about 2,800 miles on the tire and it looked about half gone. He did say it was mostly street miles though. Said he paid only $120 for it in Tucson, I think this place http://www.zmwadventures.com/ _
More importantly, did he like the tire???? Didn't the 640 come with Sahara's? Looks like a nice site, ZMW ADV. That's a low price for the tire. They most likely would charge $25 to ship, so it gets pretty close to the others. Might be worth a call. I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a new Triumph, probably the 800 rodie. The dealer can get heidi's so I'll ask him about pricing. I keep thinking I should get the XC, but why? I have the husky. I think I just need a 90/10 - 80/20 road bike. I'd probaby still mount K60's on it.
Mefo Super explorers with about 2000 miles. 80 road 20 off These have that centre groove and once they get to this stage in life they do not bite well. Love these tyres on road , brilliant. Off road they are mostly superb but they hate mud. I will defiantly be putting another mefo on as an everyday tyre but need to get another set of wheels for the mud.
