Heidenau k60 Scouts

[Twisties]

At 5800 miles I have 5 mm tread remaining on the rear and a bit proud of 4 mm on the front. Considering that I typically wear through a set of sport touring tires in 6k miles (I had one set go 8k when I slabbed round trip to the east coast), this is very cool. The only other dual sport tire I have had were the oem set, which could have gone longer, so no direct experience. But most folk say 4 k miles from TKC 80's. Because of the upcoming Whitehorse/AK trip these tires will come off prematurely as well, and I won't get a full mileage report. However, I am now confident of doing the entire YT/AK trip on a single new set. That means a lot.

 

[jozmoto]

One thing I learned while watching tires get mounted at a tire shop. Pour the Dyna beads in the tire after the forst tire bead is on the rim. Not difficult and the tire is at angle already so they are not going to spill out on the floor. Then simply finish mounting the tire , seat the bead and go.
Worked for me on my last tire and did not spill one bead.
Hope this helps
Scoop

Maybe someone already said this (our you know this already), just drop the pre-measured Dyna Bead packet in the wheel when mounting tire. It will disintegrate in a ride or two and the beads will be free to do their job. I've done this for years and seems to work good without fusing with loose beads during install.

 

[AndyCBR]

Best of luck to you, Andy! I am envious. Have a safe & enjoyable adventure.

Thanks! I may start a thread and post some mobile updates.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Just removed my rear K60. Replaced it with...

...wait for it...

...

another K60.

Only had 3,831 miles on this first one. But I am preparing for an anticipated more than 5K mile trip and leaving on a tire that would have more than 4K miles on it just seemed too much a leap of faith for me. So I removed it and will put it on my wife's bike when she wears out her new Anakee II tire.

Here's how the tire has performed so far. Numbers are plus/minus .5mm.

Tread at center of tire when new: 10.3mm
Tread at center with 3,831 miles: 5.9mm

I'll guess 85% pavement of all types (often very rough stuff), 15% off pavement.

Best wearing tire I've experienced on any Wee, Vee or Tenere. But I'm not yet confident I'll see the extraordinarily high mileage others are reporting. To be fair I am very hard on tires. Smooth riding has never made it to my 10 ten list of goals when I ride. Abrupt throttle changes are common for me and it's not unheard of for the TCS(2) light to be blinking when I'm on pavement. So I'm not all that surprised that others get better tire life than me. Overall very happy with the K60.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Update...just got back from the trip I mentioned. Can you guess which tire has 3,831 miles and which on has 4,550 miles?

The one on the left has 4,550. I was pretty surprised to see this. The 4550 mile tire had a heavier load (full cases and bags for a 15 day trip). It has also done less than 100 miles off pavement. It ran is some very hot weather (over 100 degrees F). It did not see my normal style of riding of hammering the throttle, wheelies and twisty roads. Instead it did a ton on highway and basic transportation riding. Clearly riding style and composition of road makes a huge difference in tire life.

I thought the difference was interesting.

 

[sfc67]

Thats because the one on the right was on the much faster and more powerful BLUE bike ;D
Just shows that the black is under powered. ::015::
Just ask mommy dirt I seen her wanting to pass you the other day but she wouldn't

Sean

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Thats because the one on the right was on the much faster and more powerful BLUE bike ;D
Just shows that the black is under powered. ::015::
Just ask mommy dirt I seen her wanting to pass you the other day but she wouldn't

Sean

Actually they were both on my bike. But to be completely honest, I've always felt the blue bike was quicker than the black. And yes, Dirt Mom is very quick.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Here's how the tire has performed so far. Numbers are plus/minus .5mm.

Tread at center of tire when new: 10.3mm
Tread at center with 3,831 miles: 5.9mm

I'll guess 85% pavement of all types (often very rough stuff), 15% off pavement.

Best wearing tire I've experienced on any Wee, Vee or Tenere. But I'm not yet confident I'll see the extraordinarily high mileage others are reporting. To be fair I am very hard on tires. Smooth riding has never made it to my 10 ten list of goals when I ride. Abrupt throttle changes are common for me and it's not unheard of for the TCS(2) light to be blinking when I'm on pavement. So I'm not all that surprised that others get better tire life than me. Overall very happy with the K60.

Welcome home and sounds like an awesome trip. Thanks for the teaser pix.


The K60s now have a bit more than 10,000 miles on my Tenere and I just measured a shade less than 4 mm next to the center rib of the rear. We're looking forward to a Maine trip, then joining the FJR NERDS group next month and the K60 will easily make that additional 1,500 miles.

 

[MurphCO]

What kind of riding/ terrain are you guys getting these numbers on?


I commute on the highway about 100 miles a day, I suspect that the numbers you guys are putting up are not at highway speeds?

Or ? Please tell me I am wrong?

 

[Dirt_Dad]

What kind of riding/ terrain are you guys getting these numbers on?


I commute on the highway about 100 miles a day, I suspect that the numbers you guys are putting up are not at highway speeds?

The 4550 mile tire I showed is mostly highway travel. Probably more than 3,500 mile of that were speeds between 50 and 95 MPH.

 

[toompine]

What kind of riding/ terrain are you guys getting these numbers on?


I commute on the highway about 100 miles a day, I suspect that the numbers you guys are putting up are not at highway speeds?

Or ? Please tell me I am wrong?
[/quote

OK your wrong ::025:: Actually almost all of my 10,500 miles on the first set of K60's were at highway (freeway) speeds. The second set did 9,000 miles up to Prudhoe Bay and back in June. That was dirt, gravel, chipseal, and regular pavment. Speeds varied from slow to 85. The roads up north were a lot harder on tires but there was still at least 2,000 miles left on my rear K60. I suspect that the rougher roads wore the tire about 20% faster. The fronts will go twice the mileage of the rears

 

[Checkswrecks]

What kind of riding/ terrain are you guys getting these numbers on?


I commute on the highway about 100 miles a day, I suspect that the numbers you guys are putting up are not at highway speeds?

Or ? Please tell me I am wrong?

OK, You're wrong.

This is our second or third thread about these tires and on an earlier page of this thread, Sail2XXS from Annapolis mentions having more than 20,000 miles on his current set. Chris commutes highway into DC daily and has probably one of the highest mileage Teneres in the US at this point.


My 10,000 miles was from DC to Alaska, to SFO, and home.


Unless you are doing lots of track days or canyon carving and stay on pavement, these tires seem to be the ideal set of strengths for this bike.

 

[dcstrom]

Hey Dirt Dad,

welcome back! sounds like a great trip, except for the long hot drag north. By far the worst part of a Newfoundland trip in summer...

I have 10,700 on my rear K60, I can't wear the bloody thing out! It has about 3mm left. I'm going to have to do something unheard of - take off a perfectly good tire and toss it... Have a fresh set of Bridgestones (just because I have them laying around...) for the trip across country. When they are gone a set of K60's will go on again.

 

[thfraser]

Sail2XXS just changed out his tires this weekend. He put over 25k on them. I was with him when they changed them out and I they still had a lot of tread left. The back was pretty squared off, but it still had a lot of life left in it.

Now I want an S10 as I test drove one this last weekend while Sail2XXS was getting his serviced. I was honestly surprised at how low maintenance these bikes are.

 

[sail2xxs]

Pics and use description are in the "best tyre" thread at:

http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=2812.msg91226#msg91226

25,397 mostly highway miles, runnning 75-80 MPH indicated.

Chris

 

[Tremor38]

Hi all.

I noticed that Twisted Throttle lists 2 different sizes of K60 for the rear of this bike.

140/80/17 and a 150/70/17.

Me being an offroad tire bozo, what size would be better?

Thanks.

 

[3putt]

I think we are all using the 150/70/17, the 140/80 would be bigger in circumference and smaller print most likely. Due to the tread down the middle, it feels like a street tire offroad till you get on the edges. When in WhiteHorse, Yukon, we could have made a commercial for K60s as I think nearly everyone had them mounted and the dealership had a stack of them 15 feet high of fronts and rears side by side.

 

[snakebitten]

I think we are all using the 150/70/17, the 140/80 would be bigger in circumference and smaller print most likely. Due to the tread down the middle, it feels like a street tire offroad till you get on the edges. When in WhiteHorse, Yukon, we could have made a commercial for K60s as I think nearly everyone had them mounted and the dealership had a stack of them 15 feet high of fronts and rears side by side.

Yea, a couple of those Whitehorse trip photos of S10's lined up in front of the Yamaha shop WERE K60 statements! Amazing shots!

Has to be the best combo going for an adventure like that. S10 with K60's is the current Adventure King.

 

[sallydog]

rideonadv K60 with 6500 miles

im happy with them... i ride hard on the street

 

[RockyDS]

I think we are all using the 150/70/17, the 140/80 would be bigger in circumference and smaller print most likely. Due to the tread down the middle, it feels like a street tire offroad till you get on the edges. When in WhiteHorse, Yukon, we could have made a commercial for K60s as I think nearly everyone had them mounted and the dealership had a stack of them 15 feet high of fronts and rears side by side.

Yes, there were two bikes on OEM Battlewings and the rest were on K60's that I saw. My rear Battlewing is just about done now at coming up on 8,000 kms and I'll be on K60's by the time I run the BC big Adventure Trail ride in September.

::008::