Adventure Tyres

[jimmystewpot]

Hi There,

I am currently looking at buying the 1200 GSA, They have the option of street tyres and off-road tyres. the vast majority of my first 9 months of riding will be on normal European roads. I like the idea of the off-road tyres but Im not sure how they will handle. My experience of off-road tyres has been vibration, noise and less on-road handling. Although the experience has been gained from my riding motor cross / enduro race bikes so im not sure if the BMW tyres are "special" or they will exhibit many of the same problems. Any advice on this subject would be excellent.

Regards,

Jimmy.

 

[Trippy]

I have TK's on my 1150GSA.
A little more noisy.
A little more vibration.
Lovely in the dry.
Not so great on tarmac in the wet.
Wear quicker.
If you don't mind the above and are going to have the odd trip up a forest track then fit them.

Oh and they make the bike look better.

 

[jimmystewpot]

mileage?

I have TK's on my 1150GSA.
A little more noisy.
A little more vibration.
Lovely in the dry.
Not so great on tarmac in the wet.
Wear quicker.
If you don't mind the above and are going to have the odd trip up a forest track then fit them.

Oh and they make the bike look better.

What sort of Milage do you get on them., I am also not familiar with the term TK?

 

[Yellow Peril]

All of what Trippy said, but triple the yuk on wet tarmac, personally I had my 12GSA with TKC's but changed them to Tourances at 1000 miles still loads of life left in them but I am a "gentle" rider.
Search the site and you'll get an average wear rate on TKC's in the region of 3000- 5000 dependent on the rider.

Doing Europe? I think I would swop to Tourances especially for Autoroute mileage.

 

[Trippy]

Continental TKC80's are the Adventure tyres that will come with the bike.
I think the ones on the 1100 lasted about 4000 miles .. I think.

 

[Pukmeister]

For a European Tour I'd get the bike wearing a set of Metzeler Tourances:

Great on tarmac, you can easily deck your toes/footpegs and still have grip to spare, yet on a dry unmade road they are fine. Not very good in wet mud/heavy offroad as the tread pattern will clag up immediately unlike a decent knobbly tyre, but they should be much better for long distance on tarmac and give good wear rates and smooth riding. If you expect fine weather on your tour then Tourances are ideal.

 

[adventure-spike]

I have a 12GSA and would like to fit just road tyres as i am going to do a lot of miles on the black stuff any recommendations ?

 

[Mutley]

The Font Of All Wisdom

Check out this thread for a pretty good roundup of the available tyres:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32096

It's been around a while now but 'adventure tyres' don't get released very often. The newest on the market is the Battlewing which is an update of the Trailwing and based on the 020 road tyre I believe. There have been lots of positive remarks about them on here as they are often fitted to 1200GSA's as standard.

In the end evrything is a compromise. More road orientation will clog and slide in the dirt, more dirt orientation will 'walk' on the road and slide easier on wet tarmac. Road tyres on an Adventure look a bit but not as as lying in the road because you fell off on dirt tyres in the wet

Personally I've found TKC 80's to be spot on for me. They will allow me to scrape the stands on dry tarmac and grip fine two up with luggage. They wear faster than Tourances but if you've ever ridden a sports bike then you'll be happy with the wear rate and delighted with the prices. Yes they slide in the wet on tarmac but they do it progressively. Oh, and they look great

 

[Wizard]

Road tyres on an Adventure look a bit but not as as lying in the road because you fell off on dirt tyres in the wet

Oi! I resemble that remark

TKC's are a fantastic tyre, but they will spit you off in a heartbeat in the wet if you screw up. While road tyres will usually be a bit forgiving of mistakes, knobblies won't. After several thousand miles in dry and wet conditions on TKC's, I wrote off a bike the first time I misjudged a corner in the wet. Maybe I'd have made it around on either dual purpose or road tyres, maybe not. I think I would.

That said, I never had any hesitation on them in the dry whatsoever, and there was a fair combination of circumstances involved in my off. Problem is that I still haven't got over it properly and would kill myself if I used knobblies ATM

 

[MikeP]

Problem is that I still haven't got over it properly and would kill myself if I used knobblies ATM

Go on. Fit some TKC's!



I love them but then I have never been 'spoilt' by riding anything with super-sticky radials.

I have 'proper road tyres' on my little K75 and the TKC's are better wet or dry.

The only thing I have ever noticed is that the potentially smaller contact patch of the TKC will invoke the ABS into action sooner in the wet under emergency braking.

I've never ridden a 1200GS with TKC's but I imagine they will suit the Adventure better. I surmise this on the basis that when my 1150 Adv is fully loaded the TKC's seem to work a bit better in the grip department than when the bike isn't laden. (That of course could just be my imagination ).

(Maybe Clive, who has both can comment).

Mileage for the rear, I can get 5 to 6K. Front, the best I've managed is 10K but the cupping was by then unbearable (and decidedly scary in the wet but only in low speed stuff oddly).

 

[Cullen]

I use the TKC 80s on my 1150 Adventure. I get around 4500 from a rear and two rears to one really shagged front.

I disagree about the handling though. Okay, TKCs move about in the wet but, when you're comfortable with it, they slide really predictably. Many a wet day I've been grinning from ear to ear as the back-end slides out effortlessly and completely predictably.

I love TKCs, just wish they lasted longer...