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Mixing tire brands/models


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Who's mixing what tire brands/models front and back? I know this is common for enduro dirt bike riders, but how about when you spend 50-60% of your time on the street? Any issues to consider there? What are your experiences in the quest to find good street manners and solid off-road traction? What witches brew combos have you tried that worked out well?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Do you ride any sand? I need a good set-up for 70% on 30% off. But, in my neck of the woods, off will = sugar sand.

Some sand, not much. It's alway a compromise; I'd rather have have the traction of a real knobby like a D606 on the back but changing it out every 3000miles is a pain so I deal with the K60's so so traction to get the longevity.

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Some sand, not much. It's alway a compromise; I'd rather have have the traction of a real knobby like a D606 on the back but changing it out every 3000miles is a pain so I deal with the K60's so so traction to get the longevity.

 

Isn't that the truth. :) Thanks for the feedback.

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I would never run a k60 on my bike, especially in sand.

 

Well, I shouldn't say never.  If I were doing a trip to Alaska then I might use a K60 on the back but never for my regular desert riding.  Too hard.  Center lug reduces off road traction.  Really hard to get on and off the wheel.  Squares off really bad.  Wet pavement traction is compromised too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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TKC.jpg

 

Soon the Tiger will have claws off-road.  :)  Considering that I didn't think that the stock Pirellis did all that bad of a job, I'm sure that these tires will be night/day in the sugar sand. And, Eric said I was an idiot for doing so, so he shamed me into upgrading. Nice peer pressure Hall! :P;)

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I may as well add my $.02 here as well... I swapped out my stock tires at 3079 miles with Mitas E07 F&R. I wanted something fairly aggressive that I could get some decent mileage with. The rear E07 was fine, but I didn't like the feeling of the front at all. It made the bike feel like it was "falling off" of vertical when going into a turn. (Closest thing I can compare it to is notchy headstock bearings.) I ran those for about 1800 miles at which point I was given a set of TKC80's. The TKC's are great aside from the fact that the rear is pretty much gone after 1100 miles. I'd say I have about 30% of the tread left. I ride my Tiger pretty aggessively on the street, and the TKC's don't like that one bit. They handle great and stick like glue, but I don't want to be swapping tires out every 1500-2k miles. I am going to run the TKC for a bit longer, then put the E07 back on the rear. I'd say the E07 I have still has about 75% of the tread left at 1800 miles. I've read a lot on other forums about guys having good luck with a TKC 80 on the front and Mitas on the rear, so I'm going to give that a go. 

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E09 Dakar works well on the back too.  Very good off road but not as much on your wet Oregon pavement.  I get 4200 off a rear compared to about 3200 from a TKC 80.

 

E10 Dakar looks very much like a TKC 80 and will also last longer but they are a bit pricey here for some reason.  If you drive to Vancouver, pick up a few at MX1Canada.  The exchange rate now is 1.26 Canadian to 1 US.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I switched out from the OEM Conti trail attacks to TKC 80's at my 1st service, approximately 600 miles, as i had the Altrider Hoh

Rainforest Rally coming up. I like em a lot with the exception of two things. One, my rear is garbage at 2000ish miles. Two, the front tire on the 1190R is a 21" that is maybe slightly to wide, so the profile is way to flat. As sticky as it is, it does no good if your going past the edge. Ive pushed the front a couple times... Had to scrape out my britches. 

 

Tires... The constant hunt for the ultimate compromise... We all want knobby traction in the dirt, race tire traction in the twisties, and 20,000 miles out of a hundred dollar tire...

 

The search continues.

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  • 1 year later...

Pirelli Scorpions , oem on my 990, chosen by the factory for all around use with decent street manners, lacking an inspiring grip off-road. TKC's next up, fast wearing if run primarily on tarmac but capable to a point off-road. Soon to be installed: Mitas E07 Dakar rear( won't that be fun to install) Pirelli Scorpion Rally front. Taking a chance on this pairing. Might convert my rear rim to tubeless if I can be convinced of the benefits.

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  • 2 months later...

Pirelli Scorpions , oem on my 990, chosen by the factory for all around use with decent street manners, lacking an inspiring grip off-road. TKC's next up, fast wearing if run primarily on tarmac but capable to a point off-road. Soon to be installed: Mitas E07 Dakar rear( won't that be fun to install) Pirelli Scorpion Rally front. Taking a chance on this pairing. Might convert my rear rim to tubeless if I can be convinced of the benefits.

Change in plans. Just ordered a Tractionator Adventure front to go with Mitas e07 rear. Taking a autumn trip from northern NY through central PA, west MD into central VA to include mainly tarmac so have rethought the Pirelli rally front that is open knobby. We'll see.
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  • 2 weeks later...

140+ miles on new Motoz Adv. front and e-07 Dakar rear at about 25psi on both. These tires have good heavy carcasses so the lower psi seems to give good feedback on all surfaces. Front def. wants to fall in on curves/corners but that's to be expected/respected. Offroad , it's a good deal better than my old Pir. Scorps. Ridden in the rain with only 60 miles on them and seemed ok but I was not pushing it by any means. You have to know what your riding on and adjust to the feedback until you know what the limits are. Time will tell.

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