Heidenau K60s on road

Bendy toy

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I've asked Gordyman for dibs on his Heidenau Scout K60 tyre pair. However, I do very little off road riding. Can anyone tell me if I would be better to stay with a more road biased tyre?

Saying that Devon lanes can be messy so maybe I should take the chance.

But to repeat how do Scouts cope with at least 95% road use? Will I suffer more side effects than benefits?

Thanks

Dave
 
Dave, Got a set on my VFR1200X crosstourer at the moment, for my long trip down to Greece & back. I wanted something that was going to last the whole trip, would be able to cope with rough roads (Albania) tracks if I decide to venture on them (unlikely) So far they have been great and I have seen some heavy rain and slippy road surfaces…. I like them, the only minus I can think of is that they are a bit noisy.
 
Still round at the moment Dave, but then I try to avoid motorways (I used the train between Holland & Slovenia) so have not got too many miles on at the moment, just travelled through Croatia for 2 weeks, now in Montenegro. But will have plenty on by the time I get home in 3 weeks though :)
 
Thanks Gadget. Has anyone else any comments for K60s on surfaced roads?

Noise I'm not fussy, but are they heavy handling?

Do they keep the profile and tread blocks shape?
 
I had a set, only used them on tar (bought them as we get mild snow that takes weeks to clear).

Thought they were great and they wore well without destorying the blocks and gave the same mileage as Michelin or Trail Attacks - prefer them to to Trail Attacks. Worked well in the wet.

Noise was the only issue but I think they are quieter then the Michelins (PRS3?)I have on now.

The only reason I do not have them on now is my tyre shop will only get them on special order and charges more.
 
I had a set of K60's on for Spain/Morocco a couple of years ago; a great, hard wearing tyre that coped superbly with on/off road riding, wet & dry...I was very impressed with them, and would certainly have them again.

Wear rate was great and the blocks were fine. Yes, they were a little noisy up to 30 mph.....but it didn't bother me in the slightest.
 
The initial wear rate can seem fast, (not as bad as TKC80s though) but it's just the edges of the blocks finding their form (and also in the process auto-balancing themselves in fact :D) but after 500-1000 miles, the wear rate will appear to drop a LOT.
They are also a bit more skittish on banding and metalwork on the road, but again, not as much as you get from a TKC80......It's not enough to scare you, but the odd slight twitch can catch your attention pretty effectively until you're used to it :)

Brilliant tyres, but sadly at mainstream prices now (when they first started to become known, they were 75% of the price of a big GS tyre)

Definitely recommended though....My next pair of hoops will be K60 Scouts :thumb2
 
I'm a great fan of them and have had a couple of sets of the original model (the ones Fanum refers to). I believe the tread profile has changed slightly since then to make them a bit more road biased.........but, I have to ask, I fitted them 'cos I was using the bike off road. They have decent enough road manners and cope well off road in anything other than full on gloop but are no way as good on road as a pure road tyre so I have to ask, if you're not really gonna stray off the tarmac why would you fit them?

Andres
 
Andrea that was my suspicion. I have a road tyre on the back and a trail on front simply because I've not found a road in 19".
But as Gordy is selling his Scouts thought it's worth asking opinions.
 
Bendy toy said:
Andrea that was my suspicion. I have a road tyre on the back and a trail on front simply because I've not found a road in 19".
But as Gordy is selling his Scouts thought it's worth asking opinions.
Click to expand...

There are many 19" road tyres. What do you have on the rear?
 
I've got a Maxxis SuperMax a type I've liked on other bikes fitted when the Maxxis Detour rear was worn out. The front has the original Detour now worn out along with the SuperMax.
I liked the Metzeler Tourance better than Detours not as good as SuperMax (sadly not available in 19" front )
Didn't like Bridgestone trails.
On other bikes -
Liked Continental "entry level" Motion (not available in 19").
Loved Conti Road Attack but hated how badly the rear handling fell off after half worn and not impressed with the tread life.
Did not like BT 021 road tyres.
 
We use the K60's on the Alaska trips because of the varied road conditions which are anything from smooth tarmac to deep gravel and gloomy mud. They cope with everything thrown at them and will also last 10,000 miles. They aren't as good as TKC's off road and not as good as road tyres on road but as a compromise, they are excellent in my opinion.

They wear very quickly to start and then just seem to stop wearing until they are about shot. Be warned, they are a bastard to fit because the walls are so tough.
 
Sgt Bilco said:
We use the K60's on the Alaska trips because of the varied road conditions which are anything from smooth tarmac to deep gravel and gloomy mud. They cope with everything thrown at them and will also last 10,000 miles. They aren't as good as TKC's off road and not as good as road tyres on road but as a compromise, they are excellent in my opinion.

They wear very quickly to start and then just seem to stop wearing until they are about shot. Be warned, they are a bastard to fit because the walls are so tough.
Click to expand...

Wot he said! :thumb
Mark
 
I have just taken a pair of K60s off my bike. The rear lasted nearly 12,000 mostly road miles two up with luggage across the USA. They were good for about the first 3000 then I thought they were rubbish and got worse as the rear wore. From 3000 miles on they lacked grip, eg a big shove on the bars in a tightening corner had the front skittering across the road, or a nice big handful coming out a corner would find the bike sliding out. (Not that unpleasant once I got used to it). I didn't dare push it in the wet. Like all tyres that wear a bit square they were very sensitive to lines in the road, white lines, over banding etcetc. I am glad to get rid. But, if I was doing another 7,000 mile trip road or gravel I would fit them again.




Sent from my iPhone with a smile :)
 
Did the back tyre go square because of straight roads in USA or do these tyres all go square after a few thousand miles?

I used Conti Road Attacks on a previous bike. They were stunningly good for 3000 miles (about 60% worn) but they squared off and became some of the worst handling tyres I've used.

I've not had such a squaring off problem on the GSA but it handles so well I get to use more of the shoulders. It's also not had any Conti RAs.

I don't want tyres that force me to point and squirt like a newly born again rider who can't do bends.
 
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