Hello there
Those of you who use knobbly DS tyres on the Tenere, can you please let me (and others) know which one and what mileage you get from them (especially rear one) - and indicate what type of riding? The reason I ask is I was seriously hampered on my last trip by how quickly the rear tyres were gone (as you can see below I went through number of them).
Here is the story:
I came back from a trip around SA - did about 5000 km and was seriously hampered by the rear tyre consumption. The bike has basically eaten/destroyed three new rear knobblies and towards the end I had to adjust trip seriously just to be able to get a tyre (fourth - not knobbly this time) to get me back to Joburg. Here is a bit of a detail (to provide context):
- right before the trip I got fitted new TKC80 front/back. In three days I have ridden down to Foriesburg (day 1), then through Lesotho (Caledonspoort, Mokhotlong, Quacha's Nek, Matliatele) (day 2), then through Naude's Nek to Willowmore (1 day) and then through Prince Albert Pass to Knysna. Don' know exactly but let's say 1500 km. And the rear was almost completely gone (There was still about 1mm on the knobs in the centre, but given I had to get back I played it safe and looked for new tyre). This was really bad surprise as I used only TKC on my 1150GSA for almost 100k km through out Africa (fully loaded) in similar type of riding and never got less than 4500 - 5000 km, no matter how hard I tried.
- In Knysna I got Michelin T63 and ridden to Gaansbai (quite a bit on a good gravel roads along the coast)
- About a week later I have ridden from Gaansbai to Cedeberg (Clanswilliam) with only about 50 km of dirt and found out three or four center knobs were ripped off (I was told by more knowledgeable people that due to heat). WTF!!! Again I'm not sure exact mileage, but let's say 700 km from Knysna! As there were no tyres to be had there I did a trip around Cedeberg (around 170 km this time dirt and a bit of rocks and sand) and next day I have ridden on tar to Upington, where in BMW I got Pirelli something (desertrace or some such) - there was not much choice there I have to say. They looked more offroadish, but I was assured they will get me to Joburg. So in the afternoon I have ridden north to Mokolo (about 200 km) and horrified found out that almost half of the knobs at the rear were gone - ripped off again I assume due to heat. Seriously - WTF!!
- I said F@ck it and continue and have ridden next day along the Molopo river through VanZyls Rus to Kuruman. I averted my eyes as when I looked by accident a lot of textile was showing in the rear thread. And sure enough on tar on the way to Kuruman my rear exploded lost bead on one side and almost had me crushing down - however it was not the tyre (when I checked from inside it was not damaged through yet), but the tube (the thick enduro one) that got ripped apart in one place which was clearly weakened by heat (much softer than the rest of the tube). Once I changed tube I limped to Kuruman where I found out that there are no bike tyres to be had - the closest indicated chance was in Kimberley about 200 km away (and not in Joburg direction). So I limped there next day and got Michelin Sirac to get me home.
I was travelling alone and had about 25 kg of luggage at the back in the soft side backs on top roll. The bike has all standard performance upgrades without which I believe it is almost unriddeable - i.e. open DNA filter, Powercommander and LV pipes. Let's face it - it is still a dog in terms of performance and I normally ride somewhere around 140 kmh on the tacho (i.e. about 130 kmh GPS) - and as we all know you cannot get too much faster anyway. On dirt I like to slide my rear a bit, but nothing I would not be doing also on the big GS and as I said I got much better mileage from tyres on GS.
Am I doing something wrong here or is this realistically what I can expect from Ten and knobblies (not interested in those 50/50 - already crashed Ten on one of those)? I have read thread on XT660.COM and they all talk about 5000 - 6000 km on rear TKC. Do you thing that the thick enduro tubes do add to the problem by producing excessive heat? And do you think that converting to Tubeliss will help with the heat (less weight, no friction with tyre)?
I will really appreciate your input.
Ta
Those of you who use knobbly DS tyres on the Tenere, can you please let me (and others) know which one and what mileage you get from them (especially rear one) - and indicate what type of riding? The reason I ask is I was seriously hampered on my last trip by how quickly the rear tyres were gone (as you can see below I went through number of them).
Here is the story:
I came back from a trip around SA - did about 5000 km and was seriously hampered by the rear tyre consumption. The bike has basically eaten/destroyed three new rear knobblies and towards the end I had to adjust trip seriously just to be able to get a tyre (fourth - not knobbly this time) to get me back to Joburg. Here is a bit of a detail (to provide context):
- right before the trip I got fitted new TKC80 front/back. In three days I have ridden down to Foriesburg (day 1), then through Lesotho (Caledonspoort, Mokhotlong, Quacha's Nek, Matliatele) (day 2), then through Naude's Nek to Willowmore (1 day) and then through Prince Albert Pass to Knysna. Don' know exactly but let's say 1500 km. And the rear was almost completely gone (There was still about 1mm on the knobs in the centre, but given I had to get back I played it safe and looked for new tyre). This was really bad surprise as I used only TKC on my 1150GSA for almost 100k km through out Africa (fully loaded) in similar type of riding and never got less than 4500 - 5000 km, no matter how hard I tried.
- In Knysna I got Michelin T63 and ridden to Gaansbai (quite a bit on a good gravel roads along the coast)
- About a week later I have ridden from Gaansbai to Cedeberg (Clanswilliam) with only about 50 km of dirt and found out three or four center knobs were ripped off (I was told by more knowledgeable people that due to heat). WTF!!! Again I'm not sure exact mileage, but let's say 700 km from Knysna! As there were no tyres to be had there I did a trip around Cedeberg (around 170 km this time dirt and a bit of rocks and sand) and next day I have ridden on tar to Upington, where in BMW I got Pirelli something (desertrace or some such) - there was not much choice there I have to say. They looked more offroadish, but I was assured they will get me to Joburg. So in the afternoon I have ridden north to Mokolo (about 200 km) and horrified found out that almost half of the knobs at the rear were gone - ripped off again I assume due to heat. Seriously - WTF!!
- I said F@ck it and continue and have ridden next day along the Molopo river through VanZyls Rus to Kuruman. I averted my eyes as when I looked by accident a lot of textile was showing in the rear thread. And sure enough on tar on the way to Kuruman my rear exploded lost bead on one side and almost had me crushing down - however it was not the tyre (when I checked from inside it was not damaged through yet), but the tube (the thick enduro one) that got ripped apart in one place which was clearly weakened by heat (much softer than the rest of the tube). Once I changed tube I limped to Kuruman where I found out that there are no bike tyres to be had - the closest indicated chance was in Kimberley about 200 km away (and not in Joburg direction). So I limped there next day and got Michelin Sirac to get me home.
I was travelling alone and had about 25 kg of luggage at the back in the soft side backs on top roll. The bike has all standard performance upgrades without which I believe it is almost unriddeable - i.e. open DNA filter, Powercommander and LV pipes. Let's face it - it is still a dog in terms of performance and I normally ride somewhere around 140 kmh on the tacho (i.e. about 130 kmh GPS) - and as we all know you cannot get too much faster anyway. On dirt I like to slide my rear a bit, but nothing I would not be doing also on the big GS and as I said I got much better mileage from tyres on GS.
Am I doing something wrong here or is this realistically what I can expect from Ten and knobblies (not interested in those 50/50 - already crashed Ten on one of those)? I have read thread on XT660.COM and they all talk about 5000 - 6000 km on rear TKC. Do you thing that the thick enduro tubes do add to the problem by producing excessive heat? And do you think that converting to Tubeliss will help with the heat (less weight, no friction with tyre)?
I will really appreciate your input.
Ta
