Heidenau k60 Scouts

[coastie]

That cut on the that tire reminds me of a tractor tire.

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[Firefight911]

I wouldn't stress or worry over the cuts you made. All you have done is return the tire to the preceeding version of it before they "re-formulated" it. The 150 used to be just like the 140, et al. are now.

 

[snakebitten]

I wouldn't stress or worry over the cuts you made. All you have done is return the tire to the preceeding version of it before they "re-formulated" it. The 150 used to be just like the 140, et al. are now.

Update......
The new 140 is just like the 150. Solid center strip. Neither my parts guy, nor I, knew this until a new 140 arrived. He didn't make me honor the purchase.

Hey Dirt Dad, no kidding. That's probably very true for you. (And anyone else doing a fair share of off-road in tcs2 or tcs-off) On this big beast you definitely are putting on a considerable amount of "unregistered" mileage on the rear tire. I never considered that. I spent hours spooling the rear tire every day I spent on gravel, rock, etc. It's a hoot. But definitely takes a toll on the rear.

Good catch Sail2xxs (the mileage King)

 

[BUGKILLER]

Just pulled mine off at 13,000 miles. Lots of hard dirt and rock riding and all TC 2 or TC off. ::26::

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Hey Dirt Dad, no kidding. That's probably very true for you. (And anyone else doing a fair share of off-road in tcs2 or tcs-off) On this big beast you definitely are putting on a considerable amount of "unregistered" mileage on the rear tire.

I've gone to always turning off the TCS whenever off pavement. I find TCS2 too restrictive for my style of riding. It just makes it too difficult to grind a tire down to bald quickly enough using TCS2. >

 

[rush2112]

6600 miles on my set of K60's. I think the back has worn as expected from pictures on this site. I'm not impressed with the front tire. You talk about chopped up. It's really annoying in the curves. Center of tread looks to be about half gone, but the middle/sides every other lug is about gone while the other one is like the middle. I've kept these at 36psi, had a 2500 mile trip on Highway, then the rest of my riding is in the hills of North GA in the twisties and on dirt. I think I'll be replacing both at the same time...

 

[EricV]

6600 miles on my set of K60's. I think the back has worn as expected from pictures on this site. I'm not impressed with the front tire. You talk about chopped up. It's really annoying in the curves. Center of tread looks to be about half gone, but the middle/sides every other lug is about gone while the other one is like the middle. I've kept these at 36psi, had a 2500 mile trip on Highway, then the rest of my riding is in the hills of North GA in the twisties and on dirt. I think I'll be replacing both at the same time...

What do you weigh? many of us run 40-42 in the rear on the K60 for better tread life.

As to the front, I typically do run 36 psi, but it's a knobbie tire, it wears a little funky. At some points, the blocks on the right are more worn than those on the left. Some thousands of miles later, it's the opposite. Every tire cups, it's just a matter of when and how badly. My PR3 Trail is cupped now and makes a bunch of noise and vibration in the corners. I'm not taking it off though. I'd have to check the tire log, but I think I've got ~7-8k on the set. Back is still doing fine.

 

[BaldKnob]

Well... 5 months in and 8000+ miles later, wear on the rear K60 is down to the indicator bars. I'm sure there are a few more miles left in them but the feel when leaned over has become erratic and I worry about standing water and punctures. Not sure why I got such low mileage (rapid deterioration from 7000 to 8000 miles), I use TC1 on road and don't "gag" it everywhere offroad. The front tire has wore well showing only mild sloping on the front-side of grooves from aggressive braking and no cupping (DynaBeads). There was a persistant leak in the front tire and Slime helped to slow it to less than a few lbs a week. Time to move on. The first pic of rear tire is at 7000 miles, second is at 8000.

 

[thfraser]

BaldKnob, Wow, those are some really worn tires. I have 12k on mine, and mine are in better shape than your tires at 7k miles. As we all know, road conditions and riding style makes a huge difference on tire life. I commute on mine a lot, which, for some reason, seems to increase the life of a tire.

 

[BaldKnob]

BaldKnob, Wow, those are some really worn tires. I have 12k on mine, and mine are in better shape than your tires at 7k miles. As we all know, road conditions and riding style makes a huge difference on tire life. I commute on mine a lot, which, for some reason, seems to increase the life of a tire.

Yeah, it was a real shocker as I anticipated at least 10,000 miles out of the rear. Perhaps my right wrist was the culprit as I do give it the beans knowing TC is there to keep the rear end in line. Pressure was kept at 40psi throughout and most of the miles were on concrete. You live, you learn, then you get Huggies.

 

[dcstrom]

I've been a big proponent of K60's since my first one on my V-Strom. I'm on my second set on this trip to Sth America. First set was great, 11,000 miles on a fully loaded Tenere over some very iffy roads was impressive. Unfortunately the front was worn out at 11,000 as well, so my hopes of 2 rears to one front went out the window.

The current set was fitted in San Salvador, and have done about 6000 miles now. Recently I had my first puncture in 25,000 miles on K60s. These are really tough tires, or I've been VERY lucky.

I got to Quito and this is what the front tire looks like at 6000 miles, with the rear only half worn.

It's starting to look like I'll need 2 fronts for every rear! This one is wearing much faster than the previous one. Here's my theory - it's partly to do with the way I ride, trail-braking into corners and loading the front. The other factor is simply, a large number of curves! The first one was installed in Sacramento (thanks Phil!) and from there to Baja to Arizona was a lot of straight roads. Only after getting a bit south in Mexico did I start riding a lot of corners (after corner after corner). Since fitting the second one in San Salvador, the riding has been virtually ALL curves. Fabulous, but takes a toll on the front tire. So maybe the life of a front K60 should be measured in the number of corners, rather than miles? For instance, Jaxon, in Texas, can get 20,000 miles out of one. Few corners, right?

Now about the rear...

When I got to Quito I noticed this split/cut. No idea where it came from, but it's trashed the tire. It seems like it goes to the cords, and I'm not prepared to take a risk on it. Tire has about 5000 miles left in it otherwise. I wonder if this could have been caused by stress and overheating when I had the puncture about 250 miles ago? I rode it for about 10 miles with the pressure low - I was on a slippery, rough, curvy road at the time and it took a while for me to realise that it was a flat tire that was causing the vague handling, and not the bad road surface.

My tire options are limited in Quito, but my next possibility for tires is Lima, Peru, where tires are (I'm told) readily available and cheaper than here. But I won't make it there, so I've settled on a Conti Trail Attack. It was either that, or a TKC80, or a Pirelli Scorpion. I would have gone for the Scorpion as it's a bit more dirt-oriented, but I got a deal on the Conti - $170 vs $235. Odd thing is, FRONT tires of any description in our size are hard to come by, so may have to push the current one on to Lima. I have one more place to check this morning.

Fitting the Conti today.

 

[~TABASCO~]

DC,

What tire pressures are (where) you running in the K60's ? I've seen customers fronts look like that when they where running to low of pressure....

 

[dcstrom]

Jaxon,

the previous front I'd been running around 34psi, they wore too quick so this time around I've been running 36-37. Didn't seem to help!

 

[terryth]

I like these tires, but 10,000 miles is a stretch, my rear will be gone around 7-8k. After one weekend of dirt FS and county roads in Arkansas followed by 400 miles of riding the best twisties Wisconsin has to offer with 500 miles one way to get to each destination, I am happy with them. The tires are much better in the dirt than the stock bridgestones or the Shinko 705's I had before the K60's. The riding on marbles lack of front end directional control and feel from the stockers and shinko's in gravel is gone and you can actually have some fun with the bike in the dirt and they are adequate on the street and in the twisties, at least in the dry.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Update on the modified K60.





Currently have 4,487 miles. My cutouts have been gone for a while now. Overall I would not bother to do that mod again. It did improve grip marginally, but I don't feel it was enough to justify the time spent cutting. Even if I had the right tool, I just don't think there was enough of a benefit.

There was no real downside to the mod as far as handling goes. It rode just as smooth and was no more squirrelly than any of my other two K60s. At the rate this one is disappearing I doubt it will make it to 5,500. Time to start thinking about what to try next.

 

[True Grip]

Here is a pic of my modified K60 before i mounted it for the trip to Ouray

Here it is about 4600 miles post trip

It has 4.5mm left in the center. I thought i had better grip but not enough to want to cut another one.
It is a messy job. So i bought one of these to play with next. I expect it to be a short term fling ::26::

 

[KENAROO]

True Grip.. I had about the same mileage and performance out of my K60.. thought I think I'm more around 4000K.. one trip to Big Bend and one to Gunnison.. Big Bend was evil to the tires with the sharp rocks. the trip through NM and Co were easier on the tires for sure.. No way is this a 10K mile tire for me..

 

[True Grip]

I'm pretty sure most of the high mileage K60s are kept on pavement, inflated to proper spec and not spun up often. They maybe using every bit of rubber too, to get the high mileage. Sometimes i'll toss a tire before it gets to the wear bars if it won't grip. I've seen cord showing on some peoples tires. NOT ME! I still like the K60 and right now it would be my choice for a long road trip (Alaska).

 

[snakebitten]

I'm pretty sure most of the high mileage K60s are kept on pavement, inflated to proper spec and not spun up often. They maybe using every bit of rubber too, to get the high mileage. Sometimes i'll toss a tire before it gets to the wear bars if it won't grip. I've seen cord showing on some peoples tires. NOT ME! I still like the K60 and right now it would be my choice for a long road trip (Alaska).

Exactly!

I don't get the huge mileage that others get from the K60. But then I DO get more out of it than anything else out there.

I also don't normally wear tires to the end of their life. Thus, the self proclaimed tire slut. Use, abuse, and then discard.

I have 2 sets of 1/2 used scouts on the back porch now. I love em. But there's been a few new tires in town lately.
Gotta take em for a spin and see how they feel.

Anakee "Wilds" are supposed to show up soon?

 

[True Grip]

U have an addiction. The first step is admission ::025::