Continental TKC-70

Lentarn

Registered user
Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
36
Reaction score
0
Location
Loughborough
Hi all

Went through 3 sets of tyres last year - Annakees, TrailSmarts and new TKC70. I liked the A's, the trailsmarts were ok and the county's have now done about 3500 miles

The first 2500 miles were great on the TKC70 - great grip on road and brilliant on minor off-roading. The last 1000 miles hasn't been great however. I am getting a slight wobble on the bars at motorway speeds and cross winds seems be having a disproportionate effect on the bike. Pressures, suspension etc all ok. The rear is fine but the front has uneven block heights and is stepped.

Took it back to my tyre fitter yesterday and explained about the issue and wholesaler has offered a part refund and a new front which is decent of them

I had looked around the forums and seen that a few years ago there were problems with the front on certain bikes giving similar problems to what I am having but the reviews were very mixed ranging from no problems to people removing them completely from the bike.

I could take the offer of having the replacement but if its going to happen after another 3000 miles then thats getting expensive.

Anyone have similar experience - trying to weigh up whether to ditch the tyres altogether or just go for a replace and chalk it up to a bad front. I had seen some posts where people kept the rear but put an 80 on the front.

Bike is 1200GSA oil. Do 80pc road, 20pc tracks and about 30,000 miles a year.

Cheers

Rob
 
You'll love Avon Trailriders 90:10 not bad on dry tracks, you can go from shitty back roads to outsidelane naughtyness let the pressures vary (slow leak from my plug) and they still turn in a feel wonderful right down to the end.

They now do a Trail tracker or something like that 50:50
 
I tried TKC70s on my TC GSA. Very disappointed and changed them before they were worn out. One of the worst tyres I have ever tried on a bike. Ok at first but quickly went to not so good.

I then fitted Avon Trailriders. The bike and my riding were transformed. Now about 3k miles into them and still good and not showing much wear. And not sensitive to tyre pressure insomuch as I can ride solo with two-up pressures or vice versa and it's hard to tell the difference. Recommended.
 
The Avons are the only tyres that I have replaced "like for like" since I got my bike 2 years ago. Absolutely brilliant, do it all (well, almost) tyre.

Sent from a OnePlusX
 
I thought the TKC70 where going to be brilliant, they certainly felt brilliant initially but as soon as they start wearing (unevenly) things go down hill fairly fast, I took mine off while they still had life in them.

Sent from a OnePlusX
 
Really interesting replies - thanks all. Looks like I will go for the avons and lose the 70's. Good (in an odd way) to hear that it's not my imagination.
 
Maybe I am not so discerning , but I think they are a very good tyre
Rode Scotland to the top of Norway and back on a set :thumb2
Got another set at Santa Rosa Bmw ( San Francisco ) did a fair milage out there with a mix of all weather shipped home and looks like there's another 3 K on them
No issues with handling etc
 
On my fourth set of TKC70 and I love them......use them all year round..all weathers. Ride the bike hard on a variety of roads and surfaces from here to Morocco several times. Other tyres squared off if used on the dreaded m,ways....getting around 7000 out of rear and I’m happy at that.....no punctures either....as for weave / wobble its more likely to be caused by all the “bolt ons’ like extra lamps, screens, numerous plastic bits and the bags on top of panniers etc....bags on top of the top box..:blast....the bike is developed in a wind tunnel and we then undo all the streamlining....not to mention tyre pressures....tkc for me every time...
 
Everyone has their preference in tyres, you will never get a straight answer, I am on A3,s and find them fine, but my bike is 2017 and my first GS so I can only vouch for the A3,s
 
Had the TKC70 on both our 09 GS and did about 5000miles on each bike. Got for a long trip up to Norway and Finland. As Lentarn says initial ok but experienced all sorts of wobbles, instability as you said as mileage built up. Got home and first ever tyre Iv'e taken off a bike that still had loads of life but was just to unstable. Did lots of checks prior, pressures, play in bearings etc etc but was exactly the same on both bikes. Was so bad at one point my wife took a lowspeed tumble as the bars twitched as she was u turning in a tight spot.
Long thread about them on ADVrider seems to be one or the other, Worlds best tyre or never again.Seems to be some inconsistency in build/manufacturing to polarise peoples opinions of the same tyre on near identical bikes.
Changed back to tourance Next once home and everything returned to normal. No vibes, shudder or lumpiness instantly all gone.
Re the effect of boxes extras and so on. we have, well had, 2 identical bikes full alloy panniers extras and so on. We do lots of distance touring Norway to Turkey twice for example. Have had a good range of tyre on both bikes, not always the same. Had original Tourance, AK2 and 3s, pilot 3, Avons. all behaved fine at low speed gravely track and 80+ Mway blasts. The instant recovery of both smoothness and stability once the 70 were swapped says to me it was the tyre as nothing else had changed.
From my experience would not get them again.
 
When I bought my 2016 Africa Twin it had Dunlop D610 tyres fitted as standard, after around 5,500 miles I fitted Conti trail Attack 2s, very pleased with those and even fitted another set at 11,000 miles and almost 16,000 miles, never had any problems at all,
Anyway ,decided to swop the bike and noticed the front tyre was made in Korea the rear in Germany, so much for their advert German engineering at it's best ,

Well in April I bought the Africa Twin Adventure Sport, again it was shod with the D610 tyres, I wore those out at 5,000 miles, and decided to try the Conti TKC 70s, would you believe it , the front tyre once again made in Korea , ok, I'd ordered them so I couldn't change my mind now, First time out dry tarmac, wow so vague was the steering it was quite scary, seemed like the bike wanted to go in a straight line only, did about 5 miles and I was thinking of taking it back to the dealer, but carried on for another few miles and it seemed to be getting better and better so I carried on 25 / 30 miles and all was fine did just over 200 miles and I was well chuffed,

Sorry if this is a bit long winded, :rob I'll see how they go regarding wear etc ( even though I'm thinking of going back to TA 2s anyway) Question, are all the front TKC 70 tyres made in Korea ? OR is it just the 21 inch tyres , just wondered , thanks for listening ,Graham
 


Back
Top Bottom