Aussie tyre options

Cloud09

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Dec 27, 2012
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Whats our tyre options in aus?
Is there a 80/20 option (80 road)
Don't have many twisties up here but plenty of wet for a couple of months (apparently) rain is a bit late this year!
Your suggestions would be appreciated

I have been reading the best tyre thread but not always relevant to Aussie market I find

Thanks
 

RIVA

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Cloyne Co.Cork Eire
Tyres are probably one of the most controversial subjects on most forums. What one finds ideal for their riding, someone else will find most unsuitable. Here in Eire we get a lot of wet weather. what my ST is shod with are Metzler Tourance (not Tourance Exp). I find them ideal wet weather tyres and even though I very rarely do any off-roading, they do the job if I venture. Here is a comprehensive guide to an Enduro tyre / Road tyre test.

http://www.motorcyclerider.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/adventurebike_tyres_test.pdf
 

GrahamD

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I have only ever run, Anakee II, Battlewings or K60.

I would say I prefer the Anakee II slightly over the Battlewings.

For SOME grip in muddy conditions I decided to try the K60. Not a sports tire but probably far enough to the dirt side for me for now.

As far as I am concerned the K60's are about right for me. BUT The Anakees Don't make 4WD drive sounds when you are riding so that's a plus. ::024::

I did a fair amount of gravel on the Anakee's on the Strom and they coped fine, They are still a bit slippery but nothing you couldn't cope with. They had lots' of problems on wet clay though. (Like most non knobby tires)
 

Camel

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My bike came fitted standard with the battlewing. They Seemed great for the time I had them, but I never used them in the rain. I fitted K60s and thats all I will fit from now on. They are great in the dry, and seemed good in the wet on a night ride home from a camping trip. It wasnt heavy rain but it was probably what you would call moderate, with the roads wet and the occasional pool of water. I could feel no diferance in the handeling of the bike, and it was heavily loaded. I also must add that I wasnt riding the bike aggresivly as it being night, wet and loaded, so Im not sure how they are in wet weather if you ride aggresivly. Best part about them is when the black top ends they still feel great on dirt.
 

Hoges1974

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Don't like digging up old threads but I will

What tyres did you end up going with

I purchased my bike second hand from qld. It had the original tourance exp on it but they were just about shagged. I road the bike back with my son and really could fault these tyres. We done some off road (gravel road only)

We done the Oxley Hwy buckets and thunderbolts all at a good pace.

When I returned home I decided to replace the tyres as they only had a couple of thousand ks
Left and I was about to head off on a 3000k trip so I decided I would put the same tyres on.. The EXP were not available and have been replaced with the tourance Next.

I took the bike for a run with some mates on their sports bikes with not boxes ect just me and these tyres performed unbelievably. I had no problems chasing my mates on their sports bikes and found myself further up the pack then I would normally be when riding my GSXR1000. The Tehere is a machine all my mates still talk about how fast I can ride it. I was running the tyres at 38rear 34front

Anyway

So last week me and my son head off on our trip fully loaded. Once we got to the first lot of twisters after about 3 or 4 corners I pulled over thinking I had a flat tyre the bike was all over the place. Checked teh tyres they seemed fine. I set them at 42 rear 36front before we left.

I rode until lunch where I could not stand riding the bike anymore at speed it was scaring me (yes a tad over the speed limit was where the main problems where)

I can't remember what the tyres where set at hot but I just added 4 psi to each. This made a huge difference.

The next day I checked the tyres cold and they were at 48r 44f I thought shit that high but it worked

This is pretty much how I let them the whole ride until the last couple of days where I returned them to 42 36. I had teh same issues the bike felt unsafe at speed a lot like I had a flat rear tyre.

I have also noticed there is a considerable flat spot in the centre of the rear tyre and they have only done app 3300ks

Anyone else running the Tourane next that could possibly help with what pressures to run.

I did notice that the rubber on the tyres feels really soft when warm so I'm guessing the tyres are just moving around a bit whene hot
 

Roge

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Camel said:
My bike came fitted standard with the battlewing. They Seemed great for the time I had them, but I never used them in the rain. I fitted K60s and thats all I will fit from now on. They are great in the dry, and seemed good in the wet on a night ride home from a camping trip. It wasnt heavy rain but it was probably what you would call moderate, with the roads wet and the occasional pool of water. I could feel no diferance in the handeling of the bike, and it was heavily loaded. I also must add that I wasnt riding the bike aggresivly as it being night, wet and loaded, so Im not sure how they are in wet weather if you ride aggresivly. Best part about them is when the black top ends they still feel great on dirt.
What he said ::026::
 

GrahamD

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For mainly road use, I will stick to my guns and say Anakee's (I have only used Anakee II).

If you do a bit of off road and expect some slime or slop or dust or sand., Go K60, but please don't expect them to perform like a top end racing tire, and don't do what I did and scrub them in the rain on the putty road. You won't know what the F is going on down there.
 

caveman

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Totally agree, I have run 2 sets of exp's, great road tyre but thats where they should stay. The K60s are great all rounders (1 set) but I just wont trust them on wet and twisty tar here in TAS in winter. The Anakee 2 (2 sets, + new on order) is the best allrounder I can find for my riding and is great on all roads and pretty decent on dirt roads. I actually do go looking for dirt and gravel roads and adventures most weekends but still reckon only 10% of my miles are off the tar, this suits the Anakee perfectly. If I was closer to 20 or 30% I would go with the K60.
 

Cloud09

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I went the k60 front n rear after about 4500km on odo I have 15k on bike now, front looks good for ages, rear though is being replaced in next 1k or so, I ride probably 60% road and 40% dirt/gravel tracks but some of those tracks have some nasty corro and sharp rocks imbeded into the tracks! Bastards!
I cannot fault them at this point! I run 32 in front and 35 in rear, last few rides off road I have been switching the abs off and can see bits of rubber leaving the tyre though (hehe) that being said if I was riding good tracks and on setting 1 or 2 I would have got more out of rear no probs
 

TenRider

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I have been using Mitas E07 tyres and find them OK. I take it easy in the wet though. In the dry gravel and dirt they are not too bad. I find the front tyre scallops a lot during tar riding though.
 

platty

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Got 22,000 kms out of the original Battlewings ... no I don't ride all that sedately and yes there wasn't much left tread left either ;)

Replaced over the Christmas break with a set of K60's ... seem relatively well planted through the twistes and also quite predicable during some light off road a couple of days ago (Warburton - Big River Road) however as expected they are definitely more noisy and vibrate more on tar ::)

For a more slab apprach I was considering a set of Tourance NEXT's but reports seem to inidcate low mileage ... obviously it's going to be a while before I have to worry too much :-\
 
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