Has anyone fitted a pair of these in the last few months? Some online stores say they are now discontinued, Replaced by the Sirac? True? If you have them fitted... What you think of them? Thanks........
i'm gonna order some this month for a trip around the great lakes on gravel and back roads. heard lots of good things about them. we JUST got them here AFAIK. they just appeared in the new Dennis Kirk catalogue and are springing up on the US websites. at as low as $60 front/$60 rear (motorcycle-superstore.com) they seem like a GREAT deal if they hold up for the 3-4,000 miles people are reporting.
Another newbe I am looking at is the Pirelli Scorpion XCMH. Looks like an improved MT-21 with slightly more tread.
Read this thread <- Lot's on different tires including T63s Sirac is listed as a road tire where as T63 is the only trail tire Michelin make. If they lose the T63s they'll have nothing between Desert/ baja and dualsport Siracs. I doubt they're discontinued and I'm really doubting they've been replaced by Siracs...they're not comparable tires really...
I don't have any inside information but Michelin has been moving things around a bit with dual sport tires in the USA. Here, you could buy the Desert, Baja, or T63 several years ago. Then they quit bringing in the T63. Last year they stopped importing the Baja but recently brought back the T63. All three are listed on the corporate Michelin site so it probably varies by importer.
I think you're right in the different importers We were very lucky when riding around Australia that we got T63s all the places we asked. About 50 T63 tires (25 sets) were imported to Oz that year and we went through 20 of these (10 sets for 4 bikes). Last time we replaced tires we got the last 8 tires in the country....phew...
I picked some up for the KLR a couple of weeks ago. Due to the snow we have been getting I haven't tried them in the dirt yet but they are very nice on the street and it didn't take long to break them in. I'm going to Moab in two weeks and think they will be the ticket.
I couldn't wait to get rid of the 270's. They are good in the dirt but suck IMO on the street. They felt really mushy.
I have rune them on my 640ADV. The rear is just a desert in a different set of smaller sizes, The front is not a bad 50/50 tyre, a lot like a TKC80 Continental front but a little more aggressive. I got about 4000km out of a rear but it was poor off road by then but still OK even on gravel roads eventually it was completely rooted by 5500km, of which about half was tar. It stood up well to rocks , very abbrasive gravel and extreme heat 50C and never chunked. It was the only tyre that I got good durability from on the 640 in all conditions even on the road. It didn't squirm around to badly on the road either when pushed hard as the knobs of a moderate size. Even in the wet on tar it was OK. Would I get another set, definately. I used the desert rear to get a 140 size and the only downer was that the "desert" rear in a 140 was $50 more that the T63 in a 130 :eek1 . Tough tyres that will last, very hard to cut, stake or puncture and will just about run flat as the side walls are really strong, but they are a bit of a bugger to change yourself. PS The Avator is NOT a desert rear. That tyre lasted less than 200km before it started to chuck the knobs off. Went back to the desert again after that one.
The T63 is not "just a Desert in a different set of smaller sizes". It has a softer carcass and a completely different rubber mixture. A T63 is still a capable street tire in the rain for instance, while the Desert certainly is not. The Desert can stand the most of hard, hot rocky terrain with the least risk of a puncture or snakebite, while the T63's carcass is more pliant and self-cleans better than the Desert. They only look the same, tread-wise.
Max funny you should say that about the 2 tyres. I have had 2 different and very knowledgeable Michelin dealers tell me both stories (one said they were the same and the other said they were different). Both were quite adamant that they were correct and had been told so by the factory. After I had asked them to specificaly find out about the compunds and carcas construction. :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh :huh Got me stuffed but I personally found that the T63 front and a desert rear worked quite sell in quite harsh terrain and heat in very mixed riding including tar, the only place they felt a bit deficent was in the really sticky baby shit kind of clay mud.
One the two very knowledgeable Michelin dealers was talking out of his behind, right? hint: try to ride a Desert with some fun and enthusiasm when the outside temperature is below 10 degrees Centigrade (or in the rain at the same temperature). They really are different.
They are very good on the street,rocks,makadam... In mud-they are not for that type of terrain`s but for Dual purpose tyre`s-they are decent. Best tyres for d.s. riding-in my opinion. But they are bad choice for enduro riding. Ivan
Exactly. The toothless one is is dribbling again. :eek1 We don't get a lot of sub 10C temps around here.
Anyone who compares Desert's and T63 is speaking out of his back hole...period. It doesn't even have to be sub 10 degrees, it's enough to have a couple of raindrops on asphalt for the front tire to give you some serious shite......rear one is better. In mud Desert's don't clean up and become tricky, front is better than rear in mud.....T63 doesn't clean up well if you compare it to cross tyres, but comparing to Desert's, t63 are better. On macadam, small rocks and similar terrain they are about the same. On tarmac T63 is a lot better.
