Those of you with two sets of wheels/tyres, how often do you actually swap them out?

[mr_magicfingers]

When I bought my gs1150 I also bought the spare alloy wheels that the seller had. Thought was to have a set of knobblies on the wires and road tyres on the alloys, swapping as required. Haven't got round to actually sorting that out yet and just wondering for the people that have two sets of wheels, how often do you really swap them out.

I'm thinking maybe just put something knobbly on for the winter months and tourances for the summer. If I sold the alloys/brakes I could use the money for something like a set of hid spots which would be of daily use.

Thoughts?

 

[Colban]

Knobbies may not provide enough grip on the wet winter roads.
Unless you offroad a lot then TKC80 would be good on the wire rims;i'd put dual-sport tyres (Tourance etc) on the wire rims and proper road rubber on the alloys (17 inch i presume).

 

[Paul Young]

I have alloys on the bike at the mo', fitted with BT016 tyres, & also have the original spoked wheels in the garage, fitted with Tourances. The spoked wheels haven't been on the bike at all in the last 7 or 8 years... However, in these conditions, I'd happily fit some TKC's to the spoked rims if I needed to use the bike at all. Happily, I don't need to use it...

 

[MarkShelley]

I bought some spare wheels with my XTZ660 which had knobleys on. I never swapped them and sold them earlier this year.

 

[motobiker]

I would quite happily fit alloys to my bike.. and then sell the spoked - probably to someone like Matt.. who has the earlier wheels (that get filthy and are almost impossible to keep clean)

never go off road.. it doesn't interest me. so wire wheels are neither here nor there.

But at present.. and for the foreseeable. I can't justify the expense of changing. But if I could you can bet I would. I think Pauls bike looks fantastic. (always have)

 

[Slowdown]

How much do you want for the alloys? I'm happy to help fit the spots....

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Thanks for the replies. I do intend to do some offroading on the bike eventually, as I hope to do some long distance travelling where dual sport tyres would be needed. Like the idea of stickier rubber on the alloys but wonder if I'll ever really need it.

Are TKC's as good on road as the tourances? Having a more aggressive tread pattern I wondered if they'd have the same sort of grip/handling abilities. Perhaps they'd be a better winter tyre option than the tourances for when we have some slush and snow, I'm not exactly caning it even when the roads are dry.

Hmmm, decisions decisions.

If I decide to sell the wheels they'll go in the for sale section.

 

[Paul Young]

...Are TKC's as good on road as the tourances? Having a more aggressive tread pattern I wondered if they'd have the same sort of grip/handling abilities. Perhaps they'd be a better winter tyre option than the tourances for when we have some slush and snow, I'm not exactly caning it even when the roads are dry.

TKC's move around quite a lot when leaned over, but in dry conditions they can really lean over... Mine were blue around the edges where they were overheating. The funniest time was passing loads of people between Ballacraine & Ramsey, pulling over in Parliament square & watching as some ZX/CBR/GSXR600 riders we'd passed stopped & pointed at the bike parked up. One of my mates told me after that he'd been listening to them & one turned to his mates & said, quite loudly, "F**KIN' HELL, & HE WERE ON KNOBBLIES!!!" It made my week, that did

 

[mr_magicfingers]

TKC's move around quite a lot when leaned over, but in dry conditions they can really lean over... Mine were blue around the edges where they were overheating. The funniest time was passing loads of people between Ballacraine & Ramsey, pulling over in Parliament square & watching as some ZX/CBR/GSXR600 riders we'd passed stopped & pointed at the bike parked up. One of my mates told me after that he'd been listening to them & one turned to his mates & said, quite loudly, "F**KIN' HELL, & HE WERE ON KNOBBLIES!!!" It made my week, that did

'Kin hell

Sounds like they'll have more ability than I will.

Shame I put a new tourance front on a month ago, the rear's on it's way out, there might be a pair of TKC's in my future.

Will contemplate the spare wheels as summer gear. Think I just need the different length bolts for the rear wheel mounting, and a couple of bolts for mounting the disks. Then I just need to figure out which speedo hub will work and a different front mudguard. Shouldn't take long to swap wheels if the disks are all mounted, just swap out mudguard, speedo hub and wheels.

Sounds promising.

 

[brassmonkey001]

I have Tourances on the 650 during summer and TKC's through the winter.
Sometimes I don't even bother putting the Tourances back on when the warmer weather comes as I'm more confident in the TKC's.
If you want to know how well they perform, try keeping up with Vern.

 

[Fanum]

If anyone needs anything stickier than a TKC, or can outride the grip a pair will provide, they need a different bike.

 

[Timolgra]

If anyone needs anything stickier than a TKC, or can outride the grip a pair will provide, they need a different bike.

That's almost true in the dry, but most of our confidence in tyres is actually in our own heads and it does take a while to build on TKCs.
If something should give you a scare in the wet it's then very easy to blame the tyres.

There, that's confused things

 

[mr_magicfingers]

OK, everyone seems to talk about TKC's being slippy in the wet, would anyone care to elaborate on that, do they just have less grip or what? Given that over the winter we have much more rain than mud/snow how big a deal is this. So far I've only had my 1150 for 3 months and it's been on tourances only.

Cheers,

 

[sparkplug]

TCKs are really no problem in the wet - I really wouldn't worry too much about it.

You get used to them quite quickly.

I only find them to be a problem for the first 20 miles or so when they are brand new and they don't want to let you go round a corner on dry tarmac because they grip so much! They don't take long to scrub in though and it's all good after that.

As has been said by others, the tyres are more than good enough for all conditions - you just need to get used to them and ride accordingly.

 

[motobiker]

you become used to a specific tyre and changing to another type can as Tim says: takes a lot of getting used to.. and when it gives you a scare under circumstances that another tyre that you've used would not have. then that can easily put you off them for life.

that happened to me. Like everyone I had tourances.. and in a fit of pique (and wanting a change) went for TKCs, and they scared me to death.. in the wet. they had a good few 100 miles on them by this point.

I realised.. that I had only put them on (being honest with myself) for the rufty tufty image.. they do make the bike 'look good'. But that wasn't a good enough reason for having them. So off they came and onto ebay they went.. and I moved over to pure 'road tyres' and haven't looked back since.

I would put tourances on for a long tour across europe.. but for the way I ride my bike.. road tyres suit me down to the ground... I just adore the way the bike 'works' with them.. far more fun for me riding solo than tourances.. or similar.

but we're all different. with different skills and needs.

 

[brassmonkey001]

I find the transition from Tourance to TKC far easier and smoother than TKC to Tourance.

 

[rockchunk]

I have used TKC's all winter up till now and have no problem with them as timolgra says with tyres its mostly all in your head,, don't think to much about it ,,i have been off twice this year but it would have happened no matter what tyre i was on..

 

[Mutley]

I have TKCs for off road and Tourance for the road.

I wouldn't bother with Tourances off road unless it's pretty dry or gravel.

THCs on the road are fine but they wear pretty quickly. They take some getting used to though. They are pretty progressive when they let go and it's very controllable (I'm no riding god I promise ). They will slide earlier than a road tyre in greasy conditions but I'd rather trust them than most dual sport compounds. They also look cool

 

[motobiker]

no offence to anyone.. but sometimes it seems that these tyres are bigged up to such an extent you really wonder why they're not standard issue on all bikes and not just two. (that continental cite in their ads)

I'm sure TKCs would look uber cool on an R1... but would anyone but a tosser buy them? probably not.

 

[Paul Young]

no offence to anyone.. but sometimes it seems that these tyres are bigged up to such an extent you really wonder why they're not standard issue on all bikes and not just two. (that continental cite in their ads)

I'm sure TKCs would look uber cool on an R1... but would anyone but a tosser buy them? probably not.

The biggest problem I had with TKC's was the wear rate. The best I got out of a rear was about 2500 miles & the worst was less than 1800. If I lived in the IOM, I don't think I'd get 1000 miles from a rear tyre... They are made from one of the softest compounds that Conti make & the degree of movement of the blocks, plus the torque the GS puts out, means that they can square off badly in a fairly short space of time.