If the Karoo deal falls through I'd be interested. I think the Karoo's are good for what they are meant to be, they do great on the road and will do fine enough on gravel and hardpacked dirt. I'd say their biggest downfall is the life span, I about 800 miles on one and it's nearly toast.
Rode on the Scorpion's last weekend. Worked great. 100 miles. Worn the edges off, but handling was awesome. Only problem is I didn't fit rim locks so ended up with 3 punctures in 100 miles! (2 rear and 1 front). Terrain was everything from hard pack to boulders to loamy soil.
Thanks to CJBROWN and Javier at Trail Tricks I bought the Mefo Super Explorer (140/80-18) rear tire. As CJBROWN pointed out, being an Adventure Rider forum member I was given a discounted price. The tire was $168.00 total shipped to my door in Connecticut. I'll post results after some multi-surface use. Oh, yea...my current Pirelli MT-21 has only 300 miles on it so it may be a while before I mount the new tire! The tire looks massive!! The picture on Mefo's web site of the tire doesn't look nearly as aggressive as in does in person. I like it!! See the MT-21 on the left and the Mefo on the right. BTW, the Mefo does not have raised white letters on it.
Well, hurry up and burn the old one so we can hear how you like the new one. Good deal on that tire! I think they charge more than that plus shipping from TT. Found a couple more threads on the Mefo's where the knobs were cracking and seperating after a lot of hiway running on the 950/990's. At least a comple of them completely delaminated, all the knobs peeled right off. I guess it's really important to keep those things aired up, like probably 30lbs for the husky. They were saying 36 for the KTM's, even for offroad. Javi says he's sold at least a couple of hundred of them and never had that before. They are making a warranty claim. I decided to go the cheap route this time and try out the Michelin T63. They are $63 shipped from MCSS. Will post a report on how it goes, pics etc. The new Karoo I had I shipped off to Fast1, he likes 'em and burns thru a lot of tires.
The Mefo Super Explorer from Trail Tricks cost breakdown; Tire was $149.99 plus $2.00 California tire fee and $18.00 shipping. Grand total was $169.99. Time will tell if it is worth the premium cost. I'll do my best to ride the snot out of the Pirelli MT-21 so I can mount the new Mefo tire .
I have had a lot of luck with Southwest Moto Tires, too. Free, super-quick shipping. If you need tubes, you can shoot him an email about what you need, too. http://www.swmototires.com/index.ph...rt&page=shop.browse&category_id=290&Itemid=53
I have about 1500 KM on my Mefo so far. It seems to be wearing well. I just purchaced a second one for my wifes bike. I have not had it in the mud but it is much better then the stock tire on gravel roads and dirt trails. FWIW i run the Continental on the front.
Look at a Heidenau K-60.........it's the same tire as the MEFO but with a wider dealer market. They were hard to find a few years ago but have caught themselves up. As for the cracking issues, speaking from experiance (14,000 miles of it from a 1200GS) the K-60's are a hard tire and need to be aired up on-road (36psi MAX). That being said, you don't air them down as low as most other dirt bike tires (25lbs max). Lower than that and you can expect the tire to crack A LOT easier. Again this is due to the hard compound and the resistance to flexing.
This is exactly what I've found on the big orange bike threads as well. Frankly turned me off some from the tire. Offroad I like to run 15lbs or so, cush, traction, tractibility, etc. Air back up to 22 for road. I'm anxious to try the T63. The front scorpion rally is just fantastic. Good grip on road, like velcro off, and a hundred miles on it and the tits aren't even worn off yet. The T63 in 130/80 will be here Friday. Adding a rim lock and balance internally. If I can get a couple of thousand out of it I'll be more than happy.
It's a never ending series of trial and error it seems with tires. I'm thinking of trying the Dunlop 606's next for the Husky. I saw a set today........they look cool!
I have my bike booked in for a service & I asked the dealer to order some D606s. He called to say he couldn't get them so got some Pirelli MT90s instead. I haven't heard much about these but they look to be too road oriented to me. Does anybody have any experience with these, particularly in the dirt? http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/tire-tyre-guide/Pirelli-ScorpionMT90AT.htm
Russ- That's the stock tire for the KTM 950/990 lineup. They are ok for dirt roads but that's it. The rear on a heavy bike like the big KTMs will hook up ok but I would think on a smaller Husky it might just spin up. The front it ok on road but has not much edge to it. Pretty much all knobby tires kick it's butt off road (dirt road/single track/etc). If the dealer swapped a 10/90 tire for a 90/10 tire I'd be pissed. They should of swapped to something similar atleast like a mt-21.
Thanks mate, pretty much as I suspected. I will call the dealer tomorrow to get alternatives. Regards, Russ
Even TKC's would be better than the MT90's. +1 on the MT21. No.2 choice for dualsports. Comes stock on the 690r, and can get in 140 size now.
They are the no. 1 choice for dualsports. The major downside is wear - a thousand miles for our bikes, maybe. A DRZ or KLR maybe 1200-1500. Not the end of the world, but they're not the cheapest either. Dunlop makes a good tire, the old D756 was my favorite for years for dirt. They just keep raising their prices. The minor downside is some have said they're really noisy. I dunno, I think any knobby would be, and so what, eh? The Kenda trackmaster has a lot of loyal followers that need a dot knobby.
I ran the Trakmaster II on an XR400 I rode to Copper Canyon from El Paso....and back. They held up well on that bike, but I've seen them chunk knobs on more powerful thumpers. But that's on rough offroad rocky surfaces - for pavement use and some trail riding they'd be a great economical choice. A rear D606 is half gone after a week in Baja.
