I spoke with Javier at Trail Tricks in California. He has vast knowledge with tires and can reference personal experiences. The Pirelli MT-21 front and Mefo Super Explorer rear is a very popular tire combo he recommends. I personally have used MT-21's front and rear and can't really complain other than a limited life with the rear tire. Once I put on the new Mefo rear tire I'll know if it was a good move to make. To be perfectly honest, If I didn't read this thread I would already have a brand new Pirelli MT-21 rear (140/80-18) sitting in my garage ready to go. They are a great tire with an inexpensive price tag.
LRPct, a properly modded TE630 can easily handle a 140/80-18 rear tire. In fact it will throw dirt and rocks 30' with a brand new knobby tire. Three other riding friends of mine use Pirelli MT-21's in a 140/80-18 size on their bikes. A 2011 KTM 530 EXC, 2009 Husqvarna TE610, ATD1 (member here with a TE630) and my TE630. Zero complaints with the size being too large or heavy. Personal preference I guess.
Has nothing to do with "throwing rocks".. They proballly all could do that with a 200 tire. They'll all also turn like a dump truck with the 140 on compared to most 120's. Some people like their bikes to turn as well as roost..
then you really need to make sure you select the proper front tire too. I've found that the front has more impact on how easily the bike will roll into a turn unless the back is squared off from pavement use.
Of course fronts have an effect as well..Im just saying, theres no reason to be STUCK on a 140. And the SAME tire will always turn quicker in a 120 than a 140. Thats all
Is it cool to run a 160/60/17 on the rear of my SM610? I know it calls for a 150/60/17, but the rear tire I want doesn't come in that size.
LRPct, You missed my point. I was commenting on your remark that read; "I’ve only used another 140 ONCE on my 610. Its way to big and heavy and overkill for the 610 IMHO." All the bikes I mentioned, TE610, TE630 and KTM 530EXC, come from the factory fitted with a 140 size rear tire. All have no problem spinning that size tire off road. The contact patch (area the tire meets the ground) will get smaller if the tire is narrower. My concern with the Mefo tire was that it may not be aggressive enough for off road riding. I can't see any reason to go with a smaller tire for how and where I ride. We will have to agree to disagree here. Personal preference is all I can say to anyone reading this post.
Okay, got my Michelin T63, 130/80/18. It's a great looking tire. LRPct will be happy 'cause it's skinnier than the 140 Karoo Traveler. Here's my balancing process because at 75mph on the hiway I didn't want my wheels out 3-4oz by adding rim locks. Definitely wanted a rim lock so I can run 15lbs offroad, and if I get a flat it's a lot less likely to pull the valve stem out of the tube. Worst case we've ridden them back to camp a handful of miles with a flat. Hard to believe the $150 Karoo tire has 750 miles on it. Sheesh. For $63 if the T63 only lasts that long I'm still twice as far ahead. The new tire unmounted: I would love to have one of those fancy balance stands to do my wheels. For cripes sakes I've got another streetbike too. But alas, the cheap bastid that I am, here's my makeshift static balancer. Couple of crates, leveled up, with aluminum strips to set the axle on. It does actually work. I removed the plug and rim strip, inserted the super liteweight Motion Pro rim lock (2.5oz) and taped weights on to check the balance. 2.5oz of tape weights will get me close enough to mount the tire for final balancing. Unfortunately you can't buy lead tire weights anymore in CA. F'ing nanny state that it is. So the steel ones are a giant PITA to work with, but got them curved enough with a large flat punch and a 4lb balpene hammer on the vice. Now the'll stick onto the valley in the rim between the spoke nipples: With about 4-5 times around with duct tape I have secured, protected weights and spoke nipples. The weights don't stick up much higher than the spoke nipples. Nice smooth surface for the tube to ride on. Used an exacto and cut out the holes for the rim lock and valve stem. Both of these tires were the most difficult to mount and dismount of any set I've ever done...and I've done a TON of them over the years. The Karoo just would not come off the rim once I had one bead off and the tube out. I finally got it bent over to the outside of the rim and beat on it with a rubber mallet. It finally came off, I wasn't gonna give up. I was dripping with sweat. I got one of those Bridgeston Ultra HD tubes, the 4mm job, and it's quite a bit more difficult to feed into a stiff new tire. Helluva time getting the valve stem through. The new tire was also very difficult to mount, extremely tight. I use windex for lube, standard tire irons. Finally got everything mounted up and the final balance took a half oz. I bent the tape weights the other way and applied them between the spokes. Secure and works awesome. Here's the two tires again. Now the Karoo looks like a beef tire and the Michelin looks like a normal knobby. I'm ready for Death Valley.
I've done a couple T63s on the 610 as well.. They were perfectly fat for me.. MY most fun tire on road probally so far due to it's profille, roundness, semi short knobs, and stiffness. I proballly got a USEFUL 700-800 miles out of them, and squeezed a couple hundred more. A great deal for $60-70. Of course not as good as say the 606 off road, but not horrible, except for the the roundness making hard to climb out of ruts with killing yourself.. But if you're used to the Karoos, you're used to that...lol..
Well, here's what I did today........ Unloaded a 18 wheeler full of Heidenau tires, and found a couple of gems!!! K-60's in a 140/80.......a few hundred of them!! Like I said, if you can't find a Mefo, try a Heidenau K-60 Scout (The Mefo Explorer is just a rebranded Heidenau anyway). IMHO, if you use the 630 for more than 60% road and want a tire that lasts your not going to do any better. I'd buy you a case of beer if you couldn't get 6,000 miles out of a rear! Just saying....... I'm going to try a D606 front and a K-60 rear. I'm talking to John to bring in the more aggressive K-74's for the next shipment. I'll keep you posted.
Nice post man. I'm not looking forward to mounting the rear Mefo tire. It's cold here in New England and the tire is very stiff. In the summer time I typically put the tires out in my driveway to warm up in the sun. It does help a bit with mounting. Good luck with the Michelin T63. It should ride nice and smooth with longer tread life than the oem Karoo for sure.
I have the Mefo mounted on my TE630. It wasn't nearly as bad to mount as I expected. I bought the Dirt Bike tire tool kit from Pit Posse. Real quality tools and some very innovative tools for holding the bead down and for fishing the valve stem through the rim. http://pitposse.com/pooffrotikit.html Good tools make all the difference! I also live in New England and the Mefo works well inthe woods, I haven't been in any deep mud, but I am very pleased with the performance of this tire.
Nice kit there. Rim savers too. I could'a used the stem fisher tool thingy. The rim is so narrow and the tire so stiff it's very difficult to get the stem over enough to drop thru its hole. Doesn't help that the tube feels like it's solid rubber and not a tube. Okay, I'm exaggerating.
John is the owner of Moto Amore, they are located in San Jose Ca, and are the exclusive USA Distributor of Heidenau tires. It's around the corner from my pad. He helped me out with a local MC swap meet so I help him unload tires from time to time. That's how I have some local knowledge about these tires........besides using them for the last 14,000 miles.
Probably went 100 miles more than I should have, but squeezed 1200 miles out of a 606 rear. 50/50 use estimated, but probably more dirt in actuality. Ran at 20-22 psi. I've had good luck on the brokeback beemer w/ these tires, but the recent price increases from Dunlop made me pick up a set of MT-21's. 130 for the rear. I haven't run these in quite a while. We'll see.
Dave @ Motohelp can get the Heidenau's for you. www.motohelp.com It's best to call and talk to Dave. He is responsive online, but he is super easy to deal with on the phone and won't jerk you around.
I'm not concerned too much with the DOT rating, I'll take off-road performance over street performance because 90% of my riding is off-road. I like the big knobbs. This is my most recent rear. IRC M5B 140/80/18
