I have just returned from a 7 day trip with 3 mates ( https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=68622.msg1402023#new ). We covered around 3,500km of which at least half was on gravel, sand, mud and 4x4 trails. Prior to this trip I had done only 1 longish trip, a 4 day trip that covered around 2,000km, a couple of 1 day outrider's. This latest trip however made me make decisions regarding equipment and especially tyres as we were expecting a fair amuont of sand. The following a brief report and feedback on the tyres.
Front tyre - TKC 80
First of all the tyres I have had on my bike until now were Anakee 2’s. I never had any problems with them. I only had 1 puncture and always found the traction to be acceptable for the conditions I was riding in. It must be noted that I never used them in sand or on wet gravel roads. My only complaint with the Anakees might be that I never felt that I could break hard on the dirt and I was always a bit tentative when cornering on gravel. I have since found the cornering problem to be me more than the tyre.
Now for the TKC 80; at low speed this tyre is seriously noisy. This is to be expected as it is naturally a far more aggressive tyre with a knobbly tyre pattern. At higher speeds, over 100km/h, the wind noise on my helmet cancels out the tyre noise and so this wasn’t problem anymore.
Traction never seemed to be a problem with this tyre. On tar it always behaved fine. I only rode it in the wet on tar for about 20 minutes and it was fine. I must confess that I am not a cornering machine so I did not test it to the limit. On gravel it was obviously better than the Anakee and it did instil more confidence in me and my riding. We did one section of a 4x4 trail where momentum was everything for about 3-5km. My tyre pressure was down a bit at the time and the tyre performed exceptionally well in this situation. I hit some rocky outcrops very hard during this 4x4 climb and I have no damage to my rim at all. We also rode on ‘marbels’ (small roundish stones) with great success. I also had opportunity to test the straight line traction under HARD breaking on a gravel road. With a fistful of front brake the tyre did not budge once, excellent performance. As for sand; I tried to avoid the worst of it but there times that I had go through some bad patches. This was my first time in sand so I was very tentative. I just put the bike in second gear found a comfortable range on the revs and ploughed on. I had some scary moments but the bike and tyre always corrected itself.
There were two areas that I did not like the tyre. The first I do not think was the tyre itself but more the conditions although I am not sure. We found ourselves riding a lot of dirt roads with a thin film of sand/powder on top of it, say 3-5cm thick (thicker in places). On these roads I was clueless. I literally hated every minute of it. I found the front wheel had a mind of its own. Now I am not a rider that will ride fast because it is more comfortable. The other guys I rode with said that if the rode faster it improved. I tried this for brief periods and did not find this to be the case. But by then I think that I had such a negative attitude that nothing would have helped. The second case where I did not like the tyre was when riding at higher speeds on tar. I generally like to cruise from A to B at around 140-150km/h on tar and on the Anakee’s I felt comfortable at any speed the bike would go. The TKC’s on the other hand were awful. They just rolled everywhere and the handlebars would feel like had a mind of their own. It felt like tyre was floating. I would say that it felt like the tyre was rolling left to right across the rim. On the first day I found that anything over 120km/h felt downright dangerous. Now I am not sure if I got used to them or if the tyre improved after a bit of wear but it did seem to get better as the trip went along. On the last day we were riding with a strong cross wind which us to lean over quite a bit to left for extended periods of time. After this the front tyre felt almost normal and I felt more comfortable travelling 140km/h. I think that problem may be related to the tread on the outside wobbling about at high speed. Ah bugger, I don’t know, but the tyre was not ideal for long tar stretches at higher speeds.
As for tyre wear. I would say that it is nominal at best. It seems like this tyre will last a long time, something that I am not sure if I am happy or sad about.
Back Tyre – Heidenau Scout
I can only say that I am reasonably impressed by this tyre. I had heard about the problems that folk had had with this tyre in the past. In fact one of the guys on the trip had a brand new one of the older model and it popped the tread after 500km into the trip. Fortunately he had brought a spare tyre along. I will say however that he was riding at speeds far in excess of the tyre rating for extended periods. So, duh, what do you expect.
The tyre is naturally more noisy than I am used but once on gravel or at higher speeds on tar that went away.
Traction was always superb, on tar, gravel, sand, mud, etc I could not fault it. The 4x4 section that I mentioned earlier was a case in point. I have no doubt that my old Anakee’s would have coped fine but there would have been a lot more wheel spin. I barely noticed any wheel spin with this tyre in the more technical stuff.
The only point I have to raise about the tyre is both a positive and a negative. That is the rigidity (if that is the correct word) of tyre itself. At one of the petrol stations we pulled in to fill up. I thought I would check my tyre pressures. The back tyre did not have enough pressure to register on the gauge. I had a puncture and was not even aware of it. Now this is a good thing in as much as you will be able to ride out of trouble if you have a puncture. It is is seriously bad news if you do not realise you have a puncture and hit the tar for 100km at 140km/h because something bad is going to happen. You decide if that is good or bad. What I do know is that I will constantly check the tyre pressure while I have this tyre on my bike. Even the tyre kicking test will not tell you if there is pressure or not. So be very careful with this tyre in this respect!!!
As for tyre wear. The tyre does show some wear after this trip. I have found that I am nowhere near as hard on tyres as a lot of other folk so this is to be expected. Looking at the wear and the mileage done so far, I expect to get at least 8-10,000km out this tyre if not more. We will see though. Am I happy or sad that it will last? I dunno. One of the other guys on the trip had a new Mitas E-07 on the back of his KTM 990 Adventure. He rode very hard all of the time and his tyre wear was certainly reasonable for the amount of punishment he gave it and he was very happy with the overall performance. I understand that it is a lot cheaper than the Heidi so I would be keen to try it out.
I also found my left foot went numb very quickly when riding on tar. Now both of these tyres add a fair amount of vibration to the ride so I will chalk this one up to both of them.
PS:
The lid on the Goose/Tool Tube is useful as a cup
Front tyre - TKC 80
First of all the tyres I have had on my bike until now were Anakee 2’s. I never had any problems with them. I only had 1 puncture and always found the traction to be acceptable for the conditions I was riding in. It must be noted that I never used them in sand or on wet gravel roads. My only complaint with the Anakees might be that I never felt that I could break hard on the dirt and I was always a bit tentative when cornering on gravel. I have since found the cornering problem to be me more than the tyre.
Now for the TKC 80; at low speed this tyre is seriously noisy. This is to be expected as it is naturally a far more aggressive tyre with a knobbly tyre pattern. At higher speeds, over 100km/h, the wind noise on my helmet cancels out the tyre noise and so this wasn’t problem anymore.
Traction never seemed to be a problem with this tyre. On tar it always behaved fine. I only rode it in the wet on tar for about 20 minutes and it was fine. I must confess that I am not a cornering machine so I did not test it to the limit. On gravel it was obviously better than the Anakee and it did instil more confidence in me and my riding. We did one section of a 4x4 trail where momentum was everything for about 3-5km. My tyre pressure was down a bit at the time and the tyre performed exceptionally well in this situation. I hit some rocky outcrops very hard during this 4x4 climb and I have no damage to my rim at all. We also rode on ‘marbels’ (small roundish stones) with great success. I also had opportunity to test the straight line traction under HARD breaking on a gravel road. With a fistful of front brake the tyre did not budge once, excellent performance. As for sand; I tried to avoid the worst of it but there times that I had go through some bad patches. This was my first time in sand so I was very tentative. I just put the bike in second gear found a comfortable range on the revs and ploughed on. I had some scary moments but the bike and tyre always corrected itself.
There were two areas that I did not like the tyre. The first I do not think was the tyre itself but more the conditions although I am not sure. We found ourselves riding a lot of dirt roads with a thin film of sand/powder on top of it, say 3-5cm thick (thicker in places). On these roads I was clueless. I literally hated every minute of it. I found the front wheel had a mind of its own. Now I am not a rider that will ride fast because it is more comfortable. The other guys I rode with said that if the rode faster it improved. I tried this for brief periods and did not find this to be the case. But by then I think that I had such a negative attitude that nothing would have helped. The second case where I did not like the tyre was when riding at higher speeds on tar. I generally like to cruise from A to B at around 140-150km/h on tar and on the Anakee’s I felt comfortable at any speed the bike would go. The TKC’s on the other hand were awful. They just rolled everywhere and the handlebars would feel like had a mind of their own. It felt like tyre was floating. I would say that it felt like the tyre was rolling left to right across the rim. On the first day I found that anything over 120km/h felt downright dangerous. Now I am not sure if I got used to them or if the tyre improved after a bit of wear but it did seem to get better as the trip went along. On the last day we were riding with a strong cross wind which us to lean over quite a bit to left for extended periods of time. After this the front tyre felt almost normal and I felt more comfortable travelling 140km/h. I think that problem may be related to the tread on the outside wobbling about at high speed. Ah bugger, I don’t know, but the tyre was not ideal for long tar stretches at higher speeds.
As for tyre wear. I would say that it is nominal at best. It seems like this tyre will last a long time, something that I am not sure if I am happy or sad about.
Back Tyre – Heidenau Scout
I can only say that I am reasonably impressed by this tyre. I had heard about the problems that folk had had with this tyre in the past. In fact one of the guys on the trip had a brand new one of the older model and it popped the tread after 500km into the trip. Fortunately he had brought a spare tyre along. I will say however that he was riding at speeds far in excess of the tyre rating for extended periods. So, duh, what do you expect.
The tyre is naturally more noisy than I am used but once on gravel or at higher speeds on tar that went away.
Traction was always superb, on tar, gravel, sand, mud, etc I could not fault it. The 4x4 section that I mentioned earlier was a case in point. I have no doubt that my old Anakee’s would have coped fine but there would have been a lot more wheel spin. I barely noticed any wheel spin with this tyre in the more technical stuff.
The only point I have to raise about the tyre is both a positive and a negative. That is the rigidity (if that is the correct word) of tyre itself. At one of the petrol stations we pulled in to fill up. I thought I would check my tyre pressures. The back tyre did not have enough pressure to register on the gauge. I had a puncture and was not even aware of it. Now this is a good thing in as much as you will be able to ride out of trouble if you have a puncture. It is is seriously bad news if you do not realise you have a puncture and hit the tar for 100km at 140km/h because something bad is going to happen. You decide if that is good or bad. What I do know is that I will constantly check the tyre pressure while I have this tyre on my bike. Even the tyre kicking test will not tell you if there is pressure or not. So be very careful with this tyre in this respect!!!
As for tyre wear. The tyre does show some wear after this trip. I have found that I am nowhere near as hard on tyres as a lot of other folk so this is to be expected. Looking at the wear and the mileage done so far, I expect to get at least 8-10,000km out this tyre if not more. We will see though. Am I happy or sad that it will last? I dunno. One of the other guys on the trip had a new Mitas E-07 on the back of his KTM 990 Adventure. He rode very hard all of the time and his tyre wear was certainly reasonable for the amount of punishment he gave it and he was very happy with the overall performance. I understand that it is a lot cheaper than the Heidi so I would be keen to try it out.
I also found my left foot went numb very quickly when riding on tar. Now both of these tyres add a fair amount of vibration to the ride so I will chalk this one up to both of them.
PS:
The lid on the Goose/Tool Tube is useful as a cup
