Best behaving nobbie tyre on wet roads

RTV

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Lads,

I you might have seen on other posts, I've started to take the GS offroad. Incredible capable machine that's now being limited by the rider and road tyres... can't do much about the rider :D but I can change the tyres, so it's something!

Now, the reality is that I will still spend most of my time on the road with the weekend adventure in mind, but I do use the bike for daily commute and long journeys 2 up.

My worse fear is loosing grip on the road and you know that in this part of the world wet roads are most common. At the moment, the anakee 3s are excellent on the road, bit noisy maybe but they do give me a lot of confidence both dry and wet even with the bike fully loaded 2 up.

My options at the moment are: Anakee Wild (most inclined), K60 and TKC80


I would love to hear your experiences with any of these tyres on road, specially wet roads. Off road, I'm sure they're mostly on par with each other.


Cheers,
Rami
 
I've used TKC80's for everything since 2002 and I've always had confidence in them in the wet.

However I've just fitted TKC70's for a longish Europe trip as the 80's even though I get 4600miles out of a rear are wasted on Autobahn tarmac.

On my sh*tty farm, country roads and gravel tracks and fields the TKC80's are great.
 
I only have experience of the Anakee Wilds and the Heidenau K60 Scouts. The Anakee's are better off road, but I found them a pig on the road, the bike is never settled, always squirrelly and very slippy in the wet. The K60's are much better mannered on the road and I think better in the wet too.
 
I'm running mitas E07 (similar tread pattern to K60s) at the moment after Sgt Bilco recommended them to me.
2 up with luggage to Wales earlier in the month and then a little play at Walters Arena plus some fast twistys over the brecons and I'm very impressed so far.
Only been out twice on wet tarmac twice though, so still not had enough experience to get a feel for them in those conditions, but I've had no 'moments'.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Farmer Palmer said:
I've used TKC80's for everything since 2002 and I've always had confidence in them in the wet.

However I've just fitted TKC70's for a longish Europe trip as the 80's even though I get 4600miles out of a rear are wasted on Autobahn tarmac.

On my sh*tty farm, country roads and gravel tracks and fields the TKC80's are great.
Click to expand...

It would only make sense to have more road oriented tyres for long tarmac trips, for sure. For that, I'll definitely be back to the Anakee 3s. Thanks for your experience with the TKC80s, they seem to be the bench mark for years now.

crotchrocket said:
I only have experience of the Anakee Wilds and the Heidenau K60 Scouts. The Anakee's are better off road, but I found them a pig on the road, the bike is never settled, always squirrelly and very slippy in the wet. The K60's are much better mannered on the road and I think better in the wet too.
Click to expand...

That's very interesting and the exact reason for this post, you'll be the first to call out the wilds on roads surfices. K60s look interesting but they're definitely more road oriented, I'll have to do more research on them.

Sgt.Cupid said:
I'm running mitas E07 (similar tread pattern to K60s) at the moment after Sgt Bilco recommended them to me.
2 up with luggage to Wales earlier in the month and then a little play at Walters Arena plus some fast twistys over the brecons and I'm very impressed so far.
Only been out twice on wet tarmac twice though, so still not had enough experience to get a feel for them in those conditions, but I've had no 'moments'.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I've seen many mixed reviews on the Mitas, some love them, some hate them. To simplify my life a bit, I think I'll stick to the 3 I mentioned on the original post, if not... we would have to start throwing metzlers, avon, etc and the list is just never ending. It's trail and error I guess and I'll depend a lot on the rider's input...


Cheers,
Rami
 
Try a k81 on the front and and normal road tyre on the rear, this will stop you loosing the front end and give good wear, and a note to the armchair experts, I and others used this for a trip from top ,of Alaska to Ushia in Argentina with great success over worst roads that off roading here will not match approach.
 
davegs said:
Try a k81 on the front and and normal road tyre on the rear, this will stop you loosing the front end and give good wear, and a note to the armchair experts, I and others used this for a trip from top ,of Alaska to Ushia in Argentina with great success over worst roads that off roading here will not match approach.
Click to expand...

That's an amazing trip, fair play to you! How did you like Argentina? (I'm from Buenos Aires).

Longevity is not my main concern at the moment and while no doubt the setup worked for you, I'm doing forest trails at the moment and I've been fighting to get over stuff with the GS where my buddy was able to just cruise along with the Super Tenere on nobbie tyres, front was not doing anything, just the back spinning with no where to go in wet grass. Giving the irish weather, I'll be facing wet stuff most of the time both on and off road.

Thanks for the advise though, much appreciated and I'll consider it for longer journeys.
 
Well I can offer you an alternative perspective

Karoo3 Bias (90% offroad /10% on)

I reality i do 100% onroad :D

In the dry there good, i can tip the gs into a roundabout and hold a nice

line - (one day i will fall off the tyre edge lol)

Slightly squirrely if pushed hard, nothing to make you eek!, but you can

feel the movement

In the wet

Polar opposite - dont even think about going round a roundabout with any lean. not confidence inspiring.

Have had a few slides when changing down slightly higher than i should ..

Controlable, but made me aware!

Noise... front end is new, back is squaring off. Front end drones like a banshee ... not nice at all


I'm going avon trailriders next change


mart
 
Santa-2512 said:
Well I can offer you an alternative perspective

Karoo3 Bias (90% offroad /10% on)

I reality i do 100% onroad :D

In the dry there good, i can tip the gs into a roundabout and hold a nice

line - (one day i will fall off the tyre edge lol)

Slightly squirrely if pushed hard, nothing to make you eek!, but you can

feel the movement

In the wet

Polar opposite - dont even think about going round a roundabout with any lean. not confidence inspiring.

Have had a few slides when changing down slightly higher than i should ..

Controlable, but made me aware!

Noise... front end is new, back is squaring off. Front end drones like a banshee ... not nice at all


I'm going avon trailriders next change


mart
Click to expand...

If you're riding on the road, I'll advise you to try the Anakee 3. They're very good dry/wet road, even ice/snow never had an issue... and as mentioned on the original post, they're very decent on dirt and gravel for a road tyre.

I'm looking for the least compromise of a 50/50 tyre now which will cope well with our wet weathers. I found most reviews come from the US and those lads deal more with deserts than wet roads, so their reviews wont apply to us.

Cheers,
Rami
 
Rami, you need to check out the new Avon Trekrider, they seem to be exactly what you're looking for.
Judging by how good the Trailrider is, I'd imagine they will be a brilliant 50/50 tyre.

Sent from a OnePlusX.
 
younger06 said:
Rami, you need to check out the new Avon Trekrider, they seem to be exactly what you're looking for.
Judging by how good the Trailrider is, I'd imagine they will be a brilliant 50/50 tyre.

Sent from a OnePlusX.
Click to expand...

I've seen them alright, but failed to find many reviews. Not a very popular tyre really, they do look more road tires than anything else but again... almost no reviews/experiences that I could find online except for the manufacturers brochure (and even that's a bit weak). Thanks for the recommendation but I think I'll stick with the most popular choices, don't want to reinvent the wheel (literally) :D
 
RTV said:
I've seen them alright, but failed to find many reviews. Not a very popular tyre really, they do look more road tires than anything else but again... almost no reviews/experiences that I could find online except for the manufacturers brochure (and even that's a bit weak). Thanks for the recommendation but I think I'll stick with the most popular choices, don't want to reinvent the wheel (literally) :D
Click to expand...
No reviews because it's literally only hitting the market.
Avon have been making tyres for a very long time and also developing them for our climate and road conditions.

Sent from a OnePlusX.
 
Another untried but interesting looking tyre is the new Scorpion Rally from Pirelli.

I had almost talked myself into TKC's on my next tyre change (KTM 1190R) but fancy these now, they look as if they'd be almost as good off road but better on road than TKC's LINKY HERE

FWIW I've used K60's in the past on my old GS (the older style without the central ridge) and thought they were pretty good off road (Derbyshire trails and Maroc) and far better than they should have been on tarmac, dry or wet.

Andres
 
Outtomunch said:
Another untried but interesting looking tyre is the new Scorpion Rally from Pirelli.

I had almost talked myself into TKC's on my next tyre change (KTM 1190R) but fancy these now, they look as if they'd be almost as good off road but better on road than TKC's LINKY HERE

FWIW I've used K60's in the past on my old GS (the older style without the central ridge) and thought they were pretty good off road (Derbyshire trails and Maroc) and far better than they should have been on tarmac, dry or wet.

Andres
Click to expand...
They look tasty........ might try those myself.

Sent from a OnePlusX.
 
K60's are brilliant tyres and possibly the best compromise out there. Mitas E07's are much the same. I use K60's on my Alaska trips and they give good grip on everything from a soaking wet Dalton Highway with mud and deep gravel to the baking heat of twisty tarmac in California and are stable no matter what you throw at them. 10,000 easily do able on them.

However, if you are doing mostly off road and not bothered with wear, I'd go with TKC80's which are a very good wet weather tyre. I've tried to keep with Vern on his old donkey when he's got part worn TKC's and it's next to impossible :eek:. You get a very slight movement because of teh block tread but once you get used to them, they are very secure.
 
Outtomunch said:
Another untried but interesting looking tyre is the new Scorpion Rally from Pirelli.

I had almost talked myself into TKC's on my next tyre change (KTM 1190R) but fancy these now, they look as if they'd be almost as good off road but better on road than TKC's LINKY HERE

FWIW I've used K60's in the past on my old GS (the older style without the central ridge) and thought they were pretty good off road (Derbyshire trails and Maroc) and far better than they should have been on tarmac, dry or wet.

Andres
Click to expand...

I changed to Scorpions on my baby Varadeo, only other fitment was Pirelli i think

It was a tyre you need to trust if that makes sense.

In the dry, take it as read its a good tyre

In the wet it was odd, going into a large roundabout at a lowish speed 10 - 20 mph,

and the tyre felt unsettled , squirming and almost sliding.

However going in 5-10mph faster and it was like a sticky, it would dig in, you could almost feel the blocks squeezing and

pushing the water out.

As i said you needed to trust the Tyre, something i couldn't quite get used to :(
 
Santa-2512 said:
I changed to Scorpions on my baby Varadeo, .............
Click to expand...

Pirelli do several Scorpion branded tyres but the ones I mention are very new and AFAIK not widely available yet ~ are you sure we're talking about the same tyre here?

These are the Rally ST's I was talking about...............

Andres
 

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Outtomunch said:
Pirelli do several Scorpion branded tyres but the ones I mention are very new and AFAIK not widely available yet ~ are you sure we're talking about the same tyre here?

These are the Rally ST's I was talking about...............

Andres
Click to expand...

Apologies,

I was referring to the MT90 Scorpion Tyre.
 
My last set was TKC-70. They initially felt unstable but they actually grip very well just needing much less handlebar force to turn the bike. They felt squirrelly at speed but no surprises there. They handled wet weather no problems at all probably better than the Trail Attack II now on the bike. They were excellent on gravelly back roads which was why I bought them. The TAs slide quite nastily in comparison.

Bad points. The TKC-70 was rubbish on mud. I dropped the bike on a slippery field (not deep mud) and spent 15 minutes trying to pick it up. The wheels just slid sideways. No harm done but I would not want to repeat that "exercise". The front wears in very strange ways with an alternately angled wear pattern between tread blocks. Once that takes hold, the grip is rubbish.

If you expect to do mostly tarmac and wont be going on mud you are probably better on Trail Attack 2s.

On mud, the TA2 will be like riding on ice but the TKC-70 was no better. The K60 Scout gets my vote for the band stuff because its solid centreline on the rear copes better on tarmac. There's no point in having good mud plugging tyres if the ride out there wears the tread blocks away.
 
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