► Tyre choices and emergency repairs

[Tim Cullis]

The 'B' rating is to do with the ability of the tyre to withstand heat. The bigger the knobblies, the worst they are. Front tyres tend to be more knobbled.

The R1200GS/GSA use the 110/80 x 19 tyre on the front and the 150/70 x 17 on the rear.

 

[twisticles]

TKC80 tyre pressure

So, just wanted feedback on the collective wisdom of the boards.

I had been running TKC80s on BMW pressures (32/36 or up to 36/42) but on my last tyre change the dealer went lower.

I think I like these puppies with a bit less pressure in them on tarmac now.

I saw one guy on ADV running very low pressures on tarmac, somewhere in the low-mid 20s.

So what do you run? Have you experimented?

Feedback please

 

[Klanky]

TKC80 rating question.

I ordered the first set of TKC80's for me 800 yesterday through my local (the only) bikeshop.

The 800gs handbook gives the following ratings for the tyres.:

front 54Q
rear69Q

What turned up today was:

front 54S
rear 65S

I queried this as I had asked my local guys to specify what bike the TK's were for.
The supplier came back with the answer that the Q's were meant to be imported for the GS800 but it never happened and the tyres I received are the ones recommended (and queried by more than a few GS owners, he said).

Am I being bullpooped by the tyre supplier?

OK, the speed rating is Higher with the S's - so no real problem there I would assume...but what about the weight rating?

The front is correct at 54 but the back one is rated at 290kg (54) as opposed to 325kg (69)..whill this cause squirm or undue flexing?

Or will I not even spot the difference?

Does anybody other than me really care about this?

 

[Malcolm Leick]

TCK 80 solution for F650GS twin

After days of pulling what's left of my hair out I finally have a solution for TCK 80 tyres on the 650 twin.

My fitter initially put on a 110/80 B19 59Q TL on the front and 140/80 17 69Q TT as used by others here, but as he wrote out the invoice he spotted that one was a bi-ply and the other not. He pointed out that this was illegal and would invalidate the insurance.

After phone calls to BMW and emails to Continental (no response) a call to Round and Black finally came up with a solution. One option was to go with a 150/70 B17 69Q TL on the rear to match the B on the front... but they thought this could cause problems with clearance and ballooning on the rim.

The final solution was to change the front to a 100/90 19 M/C 57S. The difference between this tyre height and the 110/80 is negligible. For some reason the 100/90 is not listed on the Conti web site but it exists! Finally picked up the bike tonight and headed off for the mud.

Cheers.

Malcolm

 

[ILMV]

Please tell me how you get on compared to the street tyres... I am gonna slap some 80s when my tyres are rogered.

 

[Tony Johnson]

Those rating in the handbook are for road tyres.
If you go the the continetal web site (below) you will see the 'S' rating for TKC80's

http://www.conti-bike.co.uk/default.asp?spid=12

 

[freeloader]

Does anybody other than me really care about this?

Yep, I do 'cos I'll be looking for a pair of TKCs (or similar) soon.

Slightly concerned that they're telling you the correct version isn't available in this country, but I know a few Tossers have already fitted them here - I've seen the pictures.

I do like it when others do the product testing for me...

 

[Klanky]

Those rating in the handbook are for road tyres.
If you go the the continetal web site (below) you will see the 'S' rating for TKC80's

http://www.conti-bike.co.uk/default.asp?spid=12

Thanks for the reply Tony.

The 'Q' rated TKC 80's are the ones given as the correct size/rating in the owners handbook (page 130), it's rather confusing as you'd think they would specify 'S' rated because of the higher speed rating of the 'S'.

....Although it does say that 'a sticker with the permissible top speed of 160 kph' must be fitted to the bike when riding 'Q' rated tyres.

Yep, I do 'cos I'll be looking for a pair of TKCs (or similar) soon.

Slightly concerned that they're telling you the correct version isn't available in this country, but I know a few Tossers have already fitted them here - I've seen the pictures.

I do like it when others do the product testing for me...

Yup, plenty of TKC 80's fitted to 800GS's - no problem there, but I'm not sure about the weight rating of the rear tyre (65 as opposed to 69) that has been supplied to me.

I'll try and phone Continental this morning and report back...if I can't get any sense out of them straight away - then fookit, I'll just fit the bloody things and see what happens.

 

[Klanky]

Oh FFS!

It gets bloody worse!

I've just realised that the tyres quoted in the BMW manual are bloody TL -tubeless!

On a spoked F800GS? Which tit wrote this bloody manual?
I'm not suprised there's confusion over the tyres with the bike shops.

All the 'Q's are TL, so it would appear that the 'S' ratings (TT) are correct after all.

 

[everywherevirtually]

Oh FFS!

It gets bloody worse!

I've just realised that the tyres quoted in the BMW manual are bloody TL -tubeless!

On a spoked F800GS? Which tit wrote this bloody manual?
I'm not suprised there's confusion over the tyres with the bike shops.

All the 'Q's are TL, so it would appear that the 'S' ratings (TT) are correct after all.

You can put an inner tube into a tubeless tyre. Mine are TL and they've been just fine.

 

[twisticles]

Oh FFS!

It gets bloody worse!

I've just realised that the tyres quoted in the BMW manual are bloody TL -tubeless!

On a spoked F800GS? Which tit wrote this bloody manual?
I'm not suprised there's confusion over the tyres with the bike shops.

All the 'Q's are TL, so it would appear that the 'S' ratings (TT) are correct after all.

Nowt wrong with running TL tyres with tubes in.

 

[Klanky]

You can put an inner tube into a tubeless tyre. Mine are TL and they've been just fine.

Nowt wrong with running TL tyres with tubes in.

I know...but they don't make life simple for you do they? Why not list the correct TT in the first place and then list which TL's are a suitable alternative? Or am I being too logical here?

Anyway - the TKC's are on. Gone is the twitchy Battlewing front end...

 

[Klanky]

And another thing!

The 800GS handbook says 150/70 B17 tubeless...that's the GS1150/1200 tyre - isn't it?

My TK's are 130/80.........

Oh, I'm off to the pub.

 

[freeloader]

Bit late for you Klanky, since you already have yours, but...
here's a pair on fleabay - and they're "S" rated...

And even better, it's "the tyre that was made famous by the well loved series The Long Way Round."

So their tyres must have been "S" rated too.

 

[Klanky]

£125 for the pair...not a bad price.
I've just paid £175 - that includes taking the wheels off the bike and fitting charges.

I give up on the sizings....they seem to work well and that's all I care about now.

 

[freeloader]

£125 for the pair...not a bad price.
I've just paid £175 - that includes taking the wheels off the bike and fitting charges.

I give up on the sizings....they seem to work well and that's all I care about now.

Don't fall off, don't have a puncture. don't go over 100mph, don't ride in the wet, don't have an accident, and you'll be fine.

No need to worry.

 

[Manxlad]

Don't fall off, don't have a puncture. don't go over 100mph, don't ride in the wet, don't have an accident, and you'll be fine.

No need to worry.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT SLIPPERY MUD!!!!!!!!!

 

[Malcolm Leick]

Going very carefully so far while they scrub in. The front end feels a bit twitchy at 80mph if you wobble the bars, but I'll keep you posted. I'll be doing about 350 miles on Saturday so that should give me a better idea. My son just bought his first bike and I'll be shadowing him down to Bristol to make sure he doesn't kill himself. Some weird Indian thing called a Yamaha Enticer 125. Looks like a mini cruiser and its lilac! Speedo in kph. Hope he hasn't been ripped off.

 

[twisticles]

Surely someone can post the pressures they are running their TKC80s?

 

[chrisjk]

Matt,
I have been wearing my TKC80s out rather fast especially in the centre of the tyres (mainly the rears which have not gone beyond 1500 miles). I have been doing mixed road and off-road on them (about 80/20 ratio I guess) and have typically run 2.2 /2.5 bar for front and back which is what the manual says for regular tyres. In anticipation of a longish European trip to go trail riding and involving the long trip on road there and back and wanting one set of tyres to go the distance, I corresponded with Tim Cullis who tells me he uses 2.1/2.9 He reckons low pressures cause heating that accelerates wear.

In my view, it's high speeds and heavy acceleration on the road that really kill my tyres - going on a ride out with other bikers who don't hang around when I accordingly accelerate hard etc. can produce quite visible wear in a day out involving only a couple of hundred miles - reminds me of days on the track. No doubt heat plays a large role here but so too will simple physical abrasion.

I am considering using lower pressures on the road to try and combat the centre tread wear. Off-road, then I am happy to run anything down to 1.5 bar - much lower and I would worry about the tyres slipping on the rim ( at least on the rear wheel) and I have no rim locks installed.

What is it you like about the lower pressures you have used?