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

I have had alloys on mine with BT020's for the last 2 years and have never re-fitted the spokes which have Tourances on,I also have a part worn set of TKC'S which I found noisy and wore too quickly for the riding I do.

I would only consider re-fitting the spokes with the Tourances if I was doing a really long tour as the ware rate is very good.

I just like the feel and the look of the GS on the alloys,there are no lanes were I live that I could ride the GS on anway and I have a Honda 250 for real off road stuff.
 
I'm sure TKCs would look uber cool on an R1... but would anyone but a tosser buy them? probably not.

*cough*

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More two wheeled ice insanity from Sjaak here. He doesn't seem insane when you talk to him, but clearly he must be...
 
*cough*

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More two wheeled ice insanity from Sjaak here. He doesn't seem insane when you talk to him, but clearly he must be...

If you're suggesting that THAT R1 was shod with TKCs then you're very much mistaken. I remember when those videos first appeared a couple of years back.. caused quite a stir because of one scene in one of them where 'studs' are 'power driven' into the front and rear tyres.. and they were exactly the kind of tyres you'ld see on any R1 in summmer.
 
As it goes THAT R1 is currently (not in the video I grant you) sporting some bespoke snow tyres with chuffing great metal spikes in them. Sjaak was a little put out that normal sports bike tyre compounds are too soft to take spikes and so he's developed some with a major tyre manufacturer...

All this for a special trip which he is planning - I discussed this over dinner with him and try though I might, the best information I could get from him was that it would be "extreme".

If Sjaak thinks it's extreme - I'd think it was suicide.

Can't wait to see where he ends up going though :D
 
Elevensies... look out....

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?

Hey magicfingers, dont let elevensies see you've written your bike up as a GS1150!!! Oooh no... Remember "when posting at all times its a R1150GS" dont ya know ;) Oh yeah, simply refer to it as an "1150" that will also keep the post length down too :)

Wonder what we should call the RT model then?

You saw what he wrote on your thread for the Karoo's! :augie

Am I using a big enough stick for this amoutn of stiring? :nenau It's good to see that im not the only person's who logic automatically without thinking applies the model number of GS1150... LMAO.... teeeheeee...

Baz
 
If you push the TKC 80 tyres hard enough and get them quite warm they are superb, but once you push them to the point that they start to walk a bit (or squirm), especially the front under very hard braking, that is the time to cool your jets, they are about to let go!

I’ve had a few interesting slides under those circumstances and it is my belief that a good rider on a road tyre on a GS1100/1150 will slowly pull away from a good rider with TKC 80 tyres on an GS1100/1150. The original GS1150 Adventure model will pull away that much quicker than the other two, it is certainly the best of those three similar bikes, for performance.

The TKC 80 tyres are excellent in the wet and my experience in downpours with them is that they perform far better than normal road tyres when the road is awash with flowing water, albeit only a few mm of water.

If you don’t use hard acceleration, then they will last quite a time, around 8,000 klm’s on the rear and around 12,000 klm’s on the front. However if you really use the front brake then severe cupping can happen relatively easily, which decreases tyre life, your call.

As an all round touring tyre, they are superb. Possibly the best combination is a TKC 80 on the front and anything that lasts on the rear. You can live with a moving rear tyre, but a moving front tyre in gravel or dirt, isn’t the best thing with these heavy flat twins.

To answer the original question, I have a spare rear wheel, complete with ABS ring and disc fitted with a road tyre. Generally I leave the TKC tyres on all the time, however for an interstate trip on a weekend with around 2,000 + klm’s, then I switch the rear wheel, generally takes about 15 minutes to complete.

On my 1980 R80 G/S I had two sets of wheels, a set with road tyres and a set of wheels with full knobby tyres on. I usually came home early on a Friday afternoon and managed to change the wheels in around 15 minutes, pack the bike and grab a snack in 30 minutes, and then I was off for the weekend going and doing whatever. I usually did this about once a month in the warm months, but that was nearly 30 years ago, I‘ve slowed down a bit since then.

Mick.
 


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