Best Knobby Tires for an Idaho Newbee?

smattison83

New Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2022
Messages
4
Location
Idaho
New here and new to adventure biking. I bought a used 2012 Super Tenere last year and have been only riding roads since. The current tires are Michelin Anakee III's, which in my newbie opinion seem to be more road-oriented. I want to get out this coming summer onto Idaho forest service roads into the backcountry. I'm thinking something more aggressive is warranted? Idaho dirt is pretty rocky / sandy. I have no idea where to begin, open to any and all thoughts. As a starting point, somehow I found the Shinko 804/805's, which seemed to fit my "vision" of what I'm after. But I really have no clue. Thanks for any advice.
 

flatgrind

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2020
Messages
52
Location
Northern Colorado
I just put Shinko 804/5s on mine, but too soon for comments. I’ve run TKC 80’s. They were surprisingly good on pavement but the rear didn’t last long with pavement miles. I’ve also run the TKC 70 Rocks on the rear.

I would just suggest that you do some searches on this forum and on other sites, maybe check out some YouTube reviews and then do some experimenting to see what you like and what fits your riding conditions. In the end I think it’s always a compromise for these big adventure bikes.
 

Mak10

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2018
Messages
2,567
Location
SE Idaho
Of the off road variations I have tried the Kenda big blocks have been my favorite off road. They wear pretty quickly. The Michelin look like a great tire.
 

SuckSqueezeBangBlow

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
370
Location
Whitby, Ontario
I used the 804/805 on a road trip of about 10,000km from Toronto to Colorado, obviously with long highway and a bunch of dirt through various passes. They were a good tire on the gravel and decent enough on the road although I hated them in the rain. Used them in mud and other terrain and they were a good tire, especially for the price. They lasted about 13,000km and were pretty much done at that point. I switched to the Dunlop TrailMax and much prefer them even though they are not knobbies. My riding friend had the Scorpians on and really liked them, got a few more miles out of them too.
 

Highwayman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2019
Messages
394
Location
Southern California
I used the 804/805 on a road trip of about 10,000km from Toronto to Colorado, obviously with long highway and a bunch of dirt through various passes. They were a good tire on the gravel and decent enough on the road although I hated them in the rain. Used them in mud and other terrain and they were a good tire, especially for the price. They lasted about 13,000km and were pretty much done at that point. I switched to the Dunlop TrailMax and much prefer them even though they are not knobbies. My riding friend had the Scorpians on and really liked them, got a few more miles out of them too.
Im really surprised your friend got good mileage out of the Scorpions. I would get 1k outta em. Mileage sucked for me, but I was doing alot of rocks here on westcoast which was hard on em. Theyre pretty aggressive, so I expected the low mileage outta em.
 

SuckSqueezeBangBlow

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
370
Location
Whitby, Ontario
Im really surprised your friend got good mileage out of the Scorpions. I would get 1k outta em. Mileage sucked for me, but I was doing alot of rocks here on westcoast which was hard on em. Theyre pretty aggressive, so I expected the low mileage outta em.
Yeah he got about 18,000km out of them but they were pretty dead at that point. His mileage was about the same as mine on the Shinkos.
 

bimota

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2017
Messages
6,524
Location
bridgend, Wales, UK
Running the Mitas E-07+ (Dakar, harder compound), seem to be very allround. Very happy with them. Good availability and reasonable cheap over here.
stefan,

those mitas dakar your using, can i ask are you mostly a road rider do you do any off road and thats why you bought them, reasonably priced in the UK but i do no off roading wondering if they,d be any good for me

rob
 

03A3KRH

Active Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
98
Location
Black Hills
I’ve become very partial to a combination setup. 804 on the front, E07 on the rear. Although I have to admit I’m starting to covet my riding buddiesTrailMax Missions, they seem to get great reviews.
 

StefanOnHisS10

Converting fuel into heat, noise and a bit motion
Staff member
Global Moderator
Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
2,159
Location
The Netherlands, Friesland.
stefan,

those mitas dakar your using, can i ask are you mostly a road rider do you do any off road and thats why you bought them, reasonably priced in the UK but i do no off roading wondering if they,d be any good for me

rob
Hi Rob!

The most miles are done on tarmac, that’s why I now have the Dakar because of the harder compound. And the E-07+ is a nice round tire, the normal E-07 is more flat. So this + corners really well! The off-roading I do is occasionally sand (bike is to heavy, but tire performs good). But mostly playing around the dike's which are steep and grass covered and some gravel roads. But I also did the Grossglockner hochalpenstrasse on them 2 up! Like a dream and smoking the racing bikes. But that is serious wear to the tire. The Austrian trip last summer cost me the rear.

Overall a good grippy tire for on and off-road. But wear is a bit more than a roadgoing tire.
Scraping pegs not a problem as well.

Stefan
 

bimota

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2017
Messages
6,524
Location
bridgend, Wales, UK
Hi Rob!

The most miles are done on tarmac, that’s why I now have the Dakar because of the harder compound. And the E-07+ is a nice round tire, the normal E-07 is more flat. So this + corners really well! The off-roading I do is occasionally sand (bike is to heavy, but tire performs good). But mostly playing around the dike's which are steep and grass covered and some gravel roads. But I also did the Grossglockner hochalpenstrasse on them 2 up! Like a dream and smoking the racing bikes. But that is serious wear to the tire. The Austrian trip last summer cost me the rear.

Overall a good grippy tire for on and off-road. But wear is a bit more than a roadgoing tire.
Scraping pegs not a problem as well.

Stefan
thanks stefan,

sounds like i could use the mitas dakar tyre for only road use then and get ok mileage out of them

rob
 

bimota

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2017
Messages
6,524
Location
bridgend, Wales, UK
Hi Rob!

The most miles are done on tarmac, that’s why I now have the Dakar because of the harder compound. And the E-07+ is a nice round tire, the normal E-07 is more flat. So this + corners really well! The off-roading I do is occasionally sand (bike is to heavy, but tire performs good). But mostly playing around the dike's which are steep and grass covered and some gravel roads. But I also did the Grossglockner hochalpenstrasse on them 2 up! Like a dream and smoking the racing bikes. But that is serious wear to the tire. The Austrian trip last summer cost me the rear.

Overall a good grippy tire for on and off-road. But wear is a bit more than a roadgoing tire.
Scraping pegs not a problem as well.

Stefan
stefan,
what mileage did you get out of the standard E07 rear then can you remember thinking if i get the dakar i,ll get more again

cheers, over here a set of dakar are £172

rob
 

StefanOnHisS10

Converting fuel into heat, noise and a bit motion
Staff member
Global Moderator
Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
2,159
Location
The Netherlands, Friesland.
thanks stefan,

sounds like i could use the mitas dakar tyre for only road use then and get ok mileage out of them

rob
You sure could but I think you could better go for a more road oriented (mitas) tire if you don’t take it off-road now and then. It is a block pattern so wear on the centre line is excessive and it does start the inevitable cupping (one block higher then the next) when wearing the tire. I’ll post a picture.

It looks amazing on the bike though!
 

StefanOnHisS10

Converting fuel into heat, noise and a bit motion
Staff member
Global Moderator
Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
2,159
Location
The Netherlands, Friesland.
stefan,
what mileage did you get out of the standard E07 rear then can you remember thinking if i get the dakar i,ll get more again

cheers, over here a set of dakar are £172

rob
Same prices here including mounting and balancing. I bring the wheels.
Got around 9000km on the rear, front is still on.
 
Top