ahutcheon
Registered user
I stuck a pair of the (new, or newish anyway) Karoo 3 tyres on to my 1150GS a few months ago, and I've now ridden on them enough to form some opinions.
Background: I like to make smooth progress (or so I delude myself), have fun on corners, but I'm not hard on brakes. There are lots of gravel and 4WD roads in New Zealand; some I use because I have to, others I like to see where they go. For nearly 50,000 miles I used Tourances 'cos they worked fine and I was getting 8000 or more out of a back. Then a pair of Tourance EXP's ('cos at the time there were no "old" Tourances in NZ) which lasted 7000 miles, were worse on gravel and probably better on tarseal (but the older ones were good enough on blacktop so I wasn't excited by the tradeoff). I've never tried TKC80's because they're crazy expensive over here and have a reputation for not lasting long.
The Karoos went on just as the council sent a grader up the gravel road past our house and left a deepish loose surface layer; they were much nicer on this than the (worn out) EXPs. That's been confirmed by a fair amount of use on gravel and a little bit beyond: the GS is still a big, heavy bike but it's much more reassuring and much more relaxing to make reasonable progress. And there is some grip on softer surfaces, muddy bits that would have been a drama on Tourances have been no hassle. I haven't explored the limits for getting stuck: I've got an XR250 on knobblies for that, and neither my (lack of) skill nor the tyres will get the GS to the places it goes easily.
On tar the Karoo 3s are pretty good, I haven't felt the need to slow down in the dry. They work well enough in the wet, too (they haven't done anything scary, but I've perhaps been a little more conservative out of respect for their fairly knobbly tread).
I've done about 3000 miles, and the back tyre is down to 4mm in the centre (11 when new). It's looking like it'll do 4000 miles, maybe a bit more. The front still has 6mm (of 8) left, so will probably last for two backs. But the back tyre is the expensive one...
There is a bit of howling at cruising speed, particularly when new (or maybe I just got used to it), but I'm wearing earplugs most of the time so I don't care. And the knobbliness is noticeable when wheeling the bike around the garage (and can be felt when riding really slowly, if you look for it). But nothing that intrudes on 400+ mile days.
Overall, for the mix of riding I do, the performance on sealed roads is plenty good enough given the extra ability on the looser stuff. The tradeoff is in the life of the rear tyre, I can probably live with that if I can put the bulk of the commuting miles onto the cheap Kendas on the XR. I wonder how a Karoo 3 on the front and original Tourance on the back might work?
Just in case a subjective opinion helps anyone...
Background: I like to make smooth progress (or so I delude myself), have fun on corners, but I'm not hard on brakes. There are lots of gravel and 4WD roads in New Zealand; some I use because I have to, others I like to see where they go. For nearly 50,000 miles I used Tourances 'cos they worked fine and I was getting 8000 or more out of a back. Then a pair of Tourance EXP's ('cos at the time there were no "old" Tourances in NZ) which lasted 7000 miles, were worse on gravel and probably better on tarseal (but the older ones were good enough on blacktop so I wasn't excited by the tradeoff). I've never tried TKC80's because they're crazy expensive over here and have a reputation for not lasting long.
The Karoos went on just as the council sent a grader up the gravel road past our house and left a deepish loose surface layer; they were much nicer on this than the (worn out) EXPs. That's been confirmed by a fair amount of use on gravel and a little bit beyond: the GS is still a big, heavy bike but it's much more reassuring and much more relaxing to make reasonable progress. And there is some grip on softer surfaces, muddy bits that would have been a drama on Tourances have been no hassle. I haven't explored the limits for getting stuck: I've got an XR250 on knobblies for that, and neither my (lack of) skill nor the tyres will get the GS to the places it goes easily.
On tar the Karoo 3s are pretty good, I haven't felt the need to slow down in the dry. They work well enough in the wet, too (they haven't done anything scary, but I've perhaps been a little more conservative out of respect for their fairly knobbly tread).
I've done about 3000 miles, and the back tyre is down to 4mm in the centre (11 when new). It's looking like it'll do 4000 miles, maybe a bit more. The front still has 6mm (of 8) left, so will probably last for two backs. But the back tyre is the expensive one...
There is a bit of howling at cruising speed, particularly when new (or maybe I just got used to it), but I'm wearing earplugs most of the time so I don't care. And the knobbliness is noticeable when wheeling the bike around the garage (and can be felt when riding really slowly, if you look for it). But nothing that intrudes on 400+ mile days.
Overall, for the mix of riding I do, the performance on sealed roads is plenty good enough given the extra ability on the looser stuff. The tradeoff is in the life of the rear tyre, I can probably live with that if I can put the bulk of the commuting miles onto the cheap Kendas on the XR. I wonder how a Karoo 3 on the front and original Tourance on the back might work?
Just in case a subjective opinion helps anyone...
I have been contemplating alternative tyres for one of the lumps for exactly as you describe- much tarmac but some gravel and muddy lanes, not serious offroading (I have never done it - I don't like getting dirty!)
