Tires-Opinions and Performance

Guys,
I've always been a Metzeler fan, and was about to do an adventure ride up in Western,N.C.
So,I ordered up a set of Karoos from Metzeler correct sizes for the Terra....Lots more aggressive than the Saharas, and lots better stick too....Had "funny" feel til the mold tits wore away...and even running up and down Hwy 181 felt pretty planted....Heard the other day there is a Karoo3 seen down at the AIM show in Orlando....for what its worth I like these tires...now if I can find a countershaft for the Terra I can trust.....

Hey, RockinRod. How far east are you in NC? We might be neighbors.

I had a pair of Heidenau K60 Scouts in the garage and had them spooned on this afternoon. About to go for an initial ride to start wearing them in. Hope they are OK. I am saving the front TR8 and rear D908RR for future use, maybe up in Idaho next summer.

What size K60 did you get? I was looking at these for my bike, but when I went to the shop and saw the K60 they had on the shelf (it was a 150/70/17) the tread pattern turned me off, and I bought Karoo 2T instead. A bit more research shows that they have different tread patterns for different sizes, and some are little more than road tyres with heavy grooves on the sides, while some are a bit more dirt biased, but probably not much more than the Saharas.
See in the image, the 140/80-17 (stock Strada size or ABS Terra in europe) have a slick section in the centre of the tread, with no breaks in the rubber, which would not offer any grip on a loose wet surface at all, whereas the 140/80-18 (stock non-ABS Terra size) do have that much chunkier pattern in the centre.

I have a 140 rear, without the solid center. That's plenty wide enough for the Terra. The 150 is for something larger like a BMW GS. I also have a wider rim than stock, at 3.5", which lets the rear assume it's designed profile. A narrower rim puts more curve into the tire so maybe less contact patch on pavement. A friend sez I should expect 8 to 9K miles, with the first 4K pretty good dual sport grip. Still, it's not a knobby. My short ride today tells me it's going to be similar to the stock Terra tires, but maybe longer lasting. The rear tread has appreciably wider grooves, for better grip. Expensive tires though.

K60's get my vote. I put 12,000 miles on a rear. Yes, it was flat by the end. But I was on a long trip with limited access to good tires. Instead of worrying about my tire situation, I spent my mental energy trying to decide between dos equis and corona as I surfed and hung out on the beach. The K60 rear was perfect for that-- the rubber compound is sticky enough (for me) and tougher than nails. I'm pretty sure you could flat a tube and keep riding on the strength of the sidewall (which means bring real spoons if you have to wrestle it off by hand). I suggest something else for the front.

I run the 140/80/17 rear and it works great. I really love the K60 as a pusher. However, the front leaves a little to be desired in the loose stuff. I run a lot of loose sand, and the K60 front will definitely increase your pucker factor in this stuff. However, the K60s are great on the road. It is a tradeoff that comes with any dual-sport tire.

I wonder how the K60 would work with the stock front tire on the street. I love the stock tires handling on the blacktop, but I would like to move a little more real estate with the rear.

I've got the shinko 700's on my bike right now. With almost 6,000 miles on them, the rear tread is starting to get shallow, but not yet to the wear bar. While not the most amazing tire in the dirt, they do the job well enough for me. And the price of course...! A pair for less than a rear Heidenau!

I am totally digging the Karoo 3 for the street...Decent price too

http://www.cafehusky.com/attachments/105_4005-jpg.28928/

I'll get you fresh pictures tomorrow!

I dont know about the rest of you but this bike does ask ( gently) for 2 sets of tyres to project the dual purpose of the bike..

Off road...and the stickiest road rubber you can get.

This bike wants to lean. I am not sure if all the other 650 singles urge the rider to do like wise but this bike is a hoot.

Just came back from first serious 100 km variable rpm ,variable velocity , variable engine braking... (vis a vis ..hooning ) started laughing in my helmet. OK maybe I pushed a little but is it just my inexperience with all the 650's out there.
KLR 650 isnt even ffffn close ..I know that.

you can push this bike hard, ive been on this bike for 8mo. and have 8k miles on it. the hardest ive pushed it was 105mph out of a turn full lean shoes and peg scrapping. no joke this bike will handle.

Sorry for the delay. Current mileage is 5,246 and these cheapo tires have been on since I got it home from the dealer (2 miles maybe?) They aren't a heidenau, but they're wearing better than I expected. Maybe 90% slab, 10% dirt.

Thought I stuffed up tyre choice with my new Terra. Put a Starcross HP4 on the front pre-delivery. Tried getting a mitas EO7 rear but the dealer got the wrong size (17") and even tried to get a d606 (no stock, wtf?) so still have the sahara rear.
My very first ride- what have I done wrong? It got the death wobbles real bad at just over 100km/hr, demo bike was perfectly fine
Checked air pressure hmmmmm 21psi- not enough so shoved 28psi in. Guess what- no better. So bought a D606 21f to try as thats what I'm using on my r1200gs.

Had a yarn with the Safari Tanks owner (Robin) and he also confirmed the flighty nature of the Terra's with his being fitted with mitas EO9's. They found this out on their Tank testing run that they improved stability by dropping the front fork legs down (top of caps level with the top surface of the upper triple clamp).
Yep tried it before swapping tyres and cool it worked thanks Robin. Still feels a tiny little shakey at times, but manageable and has fantastic dirt road grip.

So I ended up getting the Mitas E-09 rear tire and the C-17 Stoneater for Baja. Now the E-09 I'll keep on the rear. But I'll most likely change out the front C-17. It was an awesome tire for Baja in my opinion, but not for the majority of my riding. Wore well after 2300km of mostly pavement, but was awesome in the dirt, sand, silt, rocks, and ruts. Wasn't super stable at speed, but after it wore in I made it up to 130km fully loaded and it still felt fine. Definitely no death wobbles. Lots of tread left as well. The E-09 also very good at everything I threw at it. Still has lots of life left and I will most likely get another one. Maybe with the front to match. Also the actual measurement of the rear E-09 140 is 150 if you measure from outer lug to outer lug, so I got the 130. But after install you have more clearance then when your just eye balling it.

What size Shinko 700 did you put on the rear of the Terra? I can't seem to find one listed anywhere at 140/80-18.