MOTO Z TRACTIONATOR

[Bokerfork]

Okay, I admit it. I only did a quick search as well as reading every response from every thread that Ballistichris put up regarding tires. But in all that I haven't come across anything on the Moto Z Tactionator tire. Apparently it is the talk of the town over at ADV. Who cares? Bunch of BMW Kool Aid drinkers. What I want to know is if anyone HERE has any experience with them. Pricey? Yeah. But worth it? This is what future(thisJune) Alaska riders of the S10 need to know.

So, anyone out here have any real life, real mileage, experience with these? In particular the GPS model. (Yes Chris, I know it's not a full knobby). Not even close. I just need it to get me from Southern Utah to the Arctic Circle and back, with a couple of muddy gravel ish roads in between. And Chris. As soon as I get back, I promise, I will put some full knobbies on this bitch. Just for the hell of it. JSNS.

 

[EricV]

It's a good tire. Great wet traction, good longevity. Decent in the mud/sand, though no big block. Yes, it will get you from St G to the Arctic Circle and back. I used Heidenau K60s for that trip thru the Yukon and beyond, but the GPS Tractionator is a better choice. Have been running them on the GSA for two sets now.

Aside, how long have you been in St G? I left about a year ago.

 

[LostDonkey]

The Motoz Tractionator has been my tyre of choice for some time now. The best tyre I have ridden. I find it performs well in very laden (multi day remote trips) conditions through to a day spent hooning in everything from pea gravel, to mud, sand and rock including off-track riding without any punctures. I like riding aggressively, getting sideways at any opportunity, here I find it very predictable, and I still achieve very good mileage. The Tractionator won’t be as grippy on wet tarmac as the GPS, but even here, I’ve never had the front washout unduly. I wont change brand anytime soon.

 

[navynuke]

No experience with the GPS, but the tractionator adventure on my Tenere was good for 5-6k miles and handled everything pretty well.

Also been running the tractionator H/T on my 701 and been happy with it. Going to slap an adventure on that bike soon for a 9 day copper canyon trip

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Bokerfork]

Thanks for the responses so far. Exactly what I was looking for.

And Eric, about 2 years now. I thought that was you I saw heading East.

 

[EricV]

Just to clarify, there are three street-ish "Tractionator" varieties and three more dirt oriented versions. The 70/30 Adventure, which I think is what LostDonkey and NaveNuke are running, The 50/50 GPS, which is what I've been using, (rear can be mounted reverse direction for more off pavement use, per sidewall markings), and the 80/20 RallZ that is similar to the Adventure, but even more off pavement biased.

I believe either the Adventure or the GPS would do the trip you mention. The GPS would have plenty of wear left afterwards from my experience, depending on how much roosting you do on the Dempster or Haul Roads. I'd probably mount the GPS backwards and go, unless I was planning a lot of off pavement on the way up from UT.

The Enduro S/T, (soft terrain), Enduro I/T (Intermediate Terrain) & Desert H/T (Hard Terrain) are all in sizes for lighter bikes.

LINK

 

[ballisticexchris]

Hi there Bokerfort, I was at a Mojave Preserve Rally a few years back and they had a MotoZ rep out there spooning on tires to some of the big KTM,s. One of the guys (Eric Hall) was tearing it up on his 990. There was a lot of super deep sand and rocks. The big 990 handled it all. I'm not sure which one was on Eric's 990.

I would take EricV's suggestion and get the reversible 50/50 GPS tire for peeling off the miles. There is no denying that some of the Super Tenere community members are putting mega miles on some of these tires.

Here is a really solid review by Eric Hall XLADV:
https://xladv.com/topic/413-motoz-tires/

And a "comparison review by one of the local guys near me:

 

[Mak10]

Best place to get one from? Do they ever go on sale?

 

[RonH]

Quite a few reports of big cracks forming on the Motoz GPS over at ADVRider kind of got me leary of them, but they sound like a good tire. Probably just a few isolated cases I hope.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Quite a few reports of big cracks forming on the Motoz GPS over at ADVRider kind of got me leary of them, but they sound like a good tire. Probably just a few isolated cases I hope.

I'm not sure what happened here. A lot of speculation but according to the gentleman who was running them and the shop he purchased them from, it was a defective tire. Even at low pressures I have never seen a knobby fail like this:



FWIW, this tire tire (Tractionator Desert H/T) has a load speed rating of 70Q = 739lb @ 99mph. His 2+ hours of sustained 90+ mph @40psi, this tire should not have failed.

 

[KYwoodsrider]

I have been running the Tractionator GPS since last year. I bought the tire specifically for the MABDR.
Here is a pic of my tire currently:

This tire has right at 5000 miles on it.
The tread depth when new was 11 mm
It is currently at 6 mm at the wear bar in the center of the tire.
The performance for me was consistent with what others described above.
The tire has numerous cracks in the carcus as you can see in the left center of the pic however I have never had any issues.
I plan to use this tire for the upcoming Tenere Rally which will be about a 2000 mile trip for me.

 

[EricV]

Quite a few reports of big cracks forming on the Motoz GPS over at ADVRider kind of got me leary of them, but they sound like a good tire. Probably just a few isolated cases I hope.

We had some cracking on the 170 width GPS on the GSA. I contacted the importer and manufacturer about it with pictures. They felt that the 170 tire was too wide for the GSA's wheel, despite that being the BMW spec size. We ran that tire to the wear bars with no failure, no tossed knobs or chunking at all. The 150 on now has no cracks with about 5k on it.

Maybe just a run of tires, or maybe they are on to something about the 170 being spread too much for a bias ply on that wheel? Regardless, I never saw any real issue.

K60s went thru a period of people having cracks, but I ran 10 sets of them w/o every having one do that.

 

[LostDonkey]

Thanks for the pickup EricV, correct, I’m running the Adventure series. Not to start a debate but I do believe running the right tyre pressure in consideration of weight, medium and style is a critical determinant for the health and longevity of a tyre.

 

[navynuke]

My Adventure versions held up great, minor crack on the sides of the knobs From roosting in sand/rocks.

The front tire did wear the backside of the center knobs heavily as others on advrider have commented, but was still ok when the rear was shot.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[jeckyll]

I had on one for my trip to the Arctic (Yukon / AK) last year. It did fine. Except for one spot where nothing would have helped (except for maybe a WR250R instead of a SuperT)
https://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?threads/glaciers-and-deserts-and-meeting-great-people.26881/

If I do a lot of offroad touring this year, I may get another.

 

[Don T]

I have some experience with the GPS tires:
https://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?threads/motoz-tractionator-gps-review.25746/

 

[jeckyll]

DonT my experience is similar to yours. Id also pick it again for offroad focused trips. I tried 42 psi wasn't a good choice, 38 or 39 psi was good fully loaded.

 

[Rhyano27]

Curious if it is possible to hand mount the Tractionator GPS tires using tire irons? If anyone has done this, any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. I have a set in the garage waiting to be mounted up.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Any tire can be mounted with tire irons. Super easy once you get one side of the bead into the drop center of the rim. The good news is Super Tenere rims have a deep drop center.

 

[Rhyano27]

Excellent news!
I do not have the Motion Pro Beadbreaker irons that I have seen folks using.

Are there any tricks or tips for breaking the bead?

All my experience in changing tires has been with dirt bike tires which have proven to be very easy. I am anticipating these being quite a bit more difficult due to the stiff side wall of the Tractionator GPS tire.