Karoo 3

[snakebitten]

Everybody thinks the front Karoo3 is mounted backwards. Even a GIRL said so. Lol

Hey escapefjr, thanks for the info. That nomar classic in the video looks easy enough. Think I'm gonna give it a try.

DD, I think I'm gonna have to agree with you on no tire is gonna just lift this pigs front with pure traction. But I'll never give up on trying.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Hi all,
Reading the is thread, I am not clear now whether or not the K3 is a good 50/50 tire. I need a tire that will do all as best as possible. I ride even in Motocross tracks, for the sake to training. Some can be clear cut a say if yes or if no?

Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.

 

[snakebitten]

So tempting. But I admit to giving outside the norm advice.

I liked the Karoo 3's. Especially when they were new and I was rock crawling in Colorado.
Never found any negatives on tarmac either.
So no reason to disqualify them.
But they didn't get their hooks in me. Not quite, as you put it, MX enough for me. Lol

 

[terryth]

I liked the 705's I had but only got about 3800 miles out of the rear. A set of K60's went on next, same with them, no way was the K60 rear going to make even 10K let alone the 12-20K+ that many people report. I liked the K60's in the dirt and they weren't too horrible on pavement, but since I was looking a a lot of commuting and only pavement trips for a while, ::006:: ::006:: I went pilot road 3 road trail's. Probably look at the Karroo's to try next time I am looking at dong some dirt for a while

Ordered a new set of 705s yesterday. 132.00 dollars for front and rear. Going to pull the wheels Thursday and swap them out. At that price difference and the fact I got 7000 miles on a rear. Just seems to be a good tire at a great price

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Hi all,
Reading the is thread, I am not clear now whether or not the K3 is a good 50/50 tire. I need a tire that will do all as best as possible. I ride even in Motocross tracks, for the sake to training. Some can be clear cut a say if yes or if no?

Yes, no...yes. I don't know how to answer, but that has never stopped me from trying.

Mud: Pretty good from my limited experience. Bites in nicely.
Hard pack: Good in a straight line. Gives up a lot of traction in aggressive cornering.
Sand: Very limited experience both with tire and rider in sand. Can't give intelligent answer.
Dry Street: Never felt it slip on a paved road. I'm a fairly heavy handed throttle user (some might call aggressive).
Wet Street: Not experienced yet.
High Speed: No rumble at all (high or low speed). Loud as hell over 70 MPH.
Tire life: All depends on your throttle habits. Doesn't look too good for me, I'm guessing 3K miles or less.

So is it a good 50/50 tire...I don't know, you decide.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Cherrs thanks

Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Went today and got a set of K3s. I was going to do the whole mounting my self but I could not get the bloody beds down, so I took a cab and went back to the shop with all the wheels and the tires to be mounted. Tubeless tires are very hard on their lips, I forgot that fact.

So the guys on the shop mounted them with the machines, and they filled them up with nitrogen. Went back home, balanced them myself and mounted them on the bike.

I will be reporting on these tires. Bike has 1300 kmts now.

Will save the OEM battlewing for a on road trip, or perhaps I sell them. I am not sure.



Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Juan
Do you have more info on them K3 tires?
Thanks.

The K3 so far I have tested them on tarmac, have them for a week, about some 150 kmts but I had hit the crop out of them in my Andean curly roads.

First I will explain why I choose K3. For one, to me going at 130 km/h is enough, and roads and conditions here in Colombia and South America do not call for more speed. Two, we do plenty of off road for fun with my buddies. Three, I do still have to deal with tarmac, and four, the look fucking cool.

So far I'm tarmac their grip is about, so to speak, 70% as good as the OEM battlewing. On normal, low speed steering they "drop" as they bite the ground, and a bit faster on counter steering one feels that they do not grab as much as the Batlewings. Eventually al higher speeds, like to say 60 to 80 km/h their grip is not bad al all. As I said I feel they are about 70% of OEM.

Now on wet surface, that's another story. I had tested, me without intention, the traction control several times because the tires are not very grippy. However we know that in rain is best not to ride, tires loose a lot with rain and K3.

All of the above are normal for blocky tires on tarmac, so one just have to get used to it.

Tomorrow friends and I will go for a 340 kmts ride on off road including desert and Andean, unpaved, third world class country roads. It's rainy season here and I suppose we will find mud. I will let you know.

Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Hola nuevamente.

Today we rode about some 300 kmts of dirt, off road, scramble and some mud with the K3s. We also drove on heavy rain on tarmac. I have the tires on XT1200Z SUPER TÉNÉRÉ.

The tires on off road performed as expected for a knoby tire, excelent grip on unpaved roads, ruble and mud. For ruble the grabbing was excelent, they climb very well. On for mud, the tires held pretty well. Front tire has perfect control for turns, even in mud. I felt pretty safe and they allowed good control.

And as an extra, we got a bloody storm with hale, but on paved road. I was a bit worried about aquaplanning, but the tires worked just fine for a 60 km/h average speed on pouring rain. They grabbed just fine on the wet, flooded tarmac. I would like to point out that they are a bit noisy, nonetheless I does not really bothers me.

For me, the tires are a great 50/50 commitment.

The last thing I need to see is how much they will last. Will report about two things then: how long they will last until off road performance is not good anymore, and how long they will last until they need to be changed for general

Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.

 

[snakebitten]

Will be interested to hear your mileage report.
I got 4000 out of the rear. Which actually pleased me. It's the longest lasting knobby(ish) tire I have tried.
I got ~8000 from the front. And while it had rubber to spare, it was badly deformed. Cupping significantly.
Adding to the song!

I'd consider them again in a heartbeat if they were priced lower.
Good Luck. Have fun. Beat the heck out of them.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Now on wet surface, that's another story. I had tested, me without intention, the traction control several times because the tires are not very grippy. However we know that in rain is best not to ride, tires loose a lot with rain and K3.

Good feedback. Beyond some water crossings and few puddles I've not had the tire much wet stuff. Good to know what to expect in the rain on the pavement.

I'm already looking forward to my next tire. I don't even know what it's going to be, but I'm confident the K3 will be a one time experiment for me.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

New update from someone with k3s on a GS1200. It's seems that K3 have stress sings.

Mine does have stress sings now.

Check

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=888828
Anyone care to review Karoo 3's?



Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Again rode the K3 today for some 200 kmts. They have now 1000 kmts in total, I am sure that have been 50% on tarmac and 50% on dirt mud. Today we had plenty of mud. Great control, specially for the dawn black dirt mud.

We also had some very deteriorated dirt and debris.

We finished with a nice touch of tarmac.

See you guys.


Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

1,985 miles. I've never killed any tire in less than 2K miles. That's insane.

I took the bike to the shop on Saturday for valve check and some other stuff I don't want to do (swing arm...). Just got a call this morning from the shop asking if I wanted them to change the rear tire. Apparently one mechanic was looking at it said it was done. But it was such a strange looking tire to him, that he wanted a consensus. Apparently the consensus between all of them was it's done. Damn, I thought I'd get a little more out of it, but damn...

I'll admit, I hammered the hell out of that tire on the 80 95 ride to the shop, and I did see a lot of blink, blink...and it did slip on the pavement more than I experienced when it was new...but damn...1,985 miles.


Up next: Just told them to install a set of Anakee 3s. I'll be sure to sound off on those.

 

[True Grip]

Ouch! Whats next? My sportbike tires lasted longer than that. I'm still on K60s' got confidence in them. I don't get the mileage others do but seem to work for the way I ride. I do have some TKC 80s' for the ralley in Arkansas. DD is your bike Turbo Charged? Do you weigh 400lbs? Just Kidding! But you are not having fun unless the rear wheel is spinning right?

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Ouch! Whats next? My sportbike tires lasted longer than that. I'm still on K60s' got confidence in them. I don't get the mileage others do but seem to work for the way I ride. I do have some TKC 80s' for the ralley in Arkansas. DD is your bike Turbo Charged? Do you weigh 400lbs? Just Kidding! But you are not having fun unless the rear wheel is spinning right?

I used to like the Anakee IIs, I'm going to try the 3s. No turbo charger, or reflash, and weight is higher than I like but still under 200lbs. Apparently most of my weight is carried in my right wrist. ::26:: I considered going back to a K60, I used them for over 18K miles on the Tenere. They look great but I found the Anakee II hooked up better in most every situation than a K60. Although the K60 is hands down the "no flat tire" champion for me.

My bike is used 0% for commuting and transportation, 100% for mental therapy and general stress relief. Yes, it's pretty common for my rear wheel to be spinning off pavement. But I've never done a paved burn-out in my life. It is common for me to bring the front end off the ground as I ride down the back side of a hump in the road, and I do tend to exit twisty road corners with some gusto. Even with that profile, less than 2K miles is nuts.

 

[snakebitten]

Dead Karoo3 @ 2000 miles?
Tire murderer.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Tire murderer.

That's a bit harsh. Pretty sure I could get mantireslaughter, or maybe even show it was suicide. Poor things been stuck inside the barn not riding much for the last 4 months. Suicide seems plausible.

 

[trikepilot]

Apparently most of my weight is carried in my right wrist. ::26::

I'll say!!!

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Hola, keep reporting on K3s.

I measured my K3s knob depth last night. The tires have only 1000 kmts, of those about half on dirt, mud, off road.

When new, the knobs were 11 mm deep. Now after a 1k km they are in the rear about 7 mm in the center. On sides they are still at 10 mm. I have eaten half of the available central rubber. Front is at about 9 mm. They still ride fine on mud, but I doubt they will be good in it after 2 k kmts.

It's a pity, the K3s look awesome and in general I like them. But the do not last a penny.

Juan Valderrama
XT1200Z
Broadcasting from Bogotá - Colombia.