Heidenau K60 Scout - weird vibrations anyone?

I think the vibrations came from bended front whell

I have an '09 R1200GS with TKC-80's front and rear. I use no wheel weights and use RideOn instead. Seems to balance just fine. My rear TKC-80 is just about done and I will replace it with a Heidenau K60 150 and use RideOn again. Once I get some miles on the tires, I'll post again.

I had the front and rear installed on my F800GS at the NoMar booth in Sedalia. Steve told me I'd notice a different feel and some more noise compared to the Anakees I took off.
Noticed it at slow speed in the front and seems a bit noisier but there is a lot of tread there. After 650 miles less noise and they "feel" great. That grooved road business is a bit unnerving but stll better than the TKC 80s.

balanced mine with a No Mar balance stand after changing out tire by hand. took all original weight off before starting.

perhaps I got lucky, K60 front tire was almost perfectly balanced without any weight. K60 rear tire took minimal weight to balance, compared to new Shinko 705's that was removed.

was a bumpy ride for about 500 miles, then smoothed out nicely.

i have k60 scouts on my gs 1100 and love them . this is the second set 11,000 miles on the first set
probably rode about 3,000 miles on dirt and they are about 15% less sure footed than the TCK 80's
in the loose, soft , stuff . tire pressure for me is 32 psi front and rear hot ,even two up.
i have run them as low as 26 in all dirt when im on a trail for 5-8 hours
when they are mounted it is important to use plenty of soap or gooo so the bead seats well
i have been in down pour rain at 100 mph and the bike is steady as a rock
leaned over so far as to drag my foot off the pegs plenty of times , carving or in the dirt , i love these tires
iv'e convinced my friends to run them as well and they love them too

I just had a new K60 rear installed/balanced and left a TKC80 with 4k miles on the front. I get a vibration similar to what many people are reporting, coming from the rear at approx 10-15 mph. Guys at the shop said the rear balanced perfectly, so I am guessing it is the tread. Since most people report it either goes away or they get used to it after a while, and it doesn't seem to impact performance, I guess I won't worry about it...

I had new Scouts installed by the dealer on my F800GS last week and have the same vibration problem. This is my second set and I never had this problem before. When I got home I pulled the wheels and put them on my spin balancer to check the balance and run out, they checked out ok. I noticed the dealer set the back at 36PSI which is higher than I ran my last tires. We've been getting record rain around here the last few days so when I get a chance I'm going to lower the pressure to 30 or 32 and see if that makes a difference.

I switched to Heidenau tires after years of running TKC80's I like the TKCs but they do wear fast. The Scouts certainly last longer and hook up pretty good offroad but can be a little slick in the mud. I like the earlier suggestion of a TKC80 on the front, I might try that sometime.

I'm leaving in 6 weeks for South America on these tires, I'll be starting a ride report soon.

I've run Michelon Anakee's and Continental TKC 80's on my bike with no issues whatsoever. Recently though I put a set of Shinko 705's on and I'm experiencing the same problem you describe here with the Heidanau's. The vibration occurs at 20 mph and is very consistent.

Running the old style K60 on the back and a TKC 80 on front with no problems. The front K60 never would settle down on vibration and felt loose off road. No complaints with the TKC 80 on front.

800mi on my k60s on my klr and no vibs, smooth on pavement, love the rear, front could be improved in the loose stuff.

bump this up, as i did a lot of research and thought the k60's were an awesome all round tire, of course not coming across this thread till putting in the word "vibration" after mounting the k60...

i spooned on k60's last week onto my 990 adv, and it gave my bike a bonifide 100hp increase... seriously, not impressed. tire is very hard, and the bike lights up the tire on the street with nearly no effort. also, i am into the ABS very frequently now, both on road and off, especially with the rear brake.

the killer for me was the front had one weird vibration, that did not go away after rebalancing/spinning tire on wheel 3x. i tried countless tire pressure settings from 25 to 36, and different suspension settings to no avail. tire/wheel had no noticeable runout either, and bike only has 1500 miles on it. the vibration seemed to almost come and go, as i was on different road surfaces. it wasn't huge, as i have ridden worse having plated dirt bikes, but the bike was seamlessly smooth on the stock tires. it was very aggrivating.

i removed the front last night and went with a pirelli scorp rally, a full knob. after a short test ride, vibration is immediately gone in the front, tolerable from the rear. i will test more this weekend, leaving the k60 out back and treating it as it was a full on knob, with minimal lean angles on pavement.

iif you are a remotely aggressive rider and plan to ride on pavement at all, this tire will scare you compared to the stock scorpions. YMMV.

i have a love/hate with these tyres , im on a 1200GS , front heidy loses 1 bar a week , back vibrates the bike at around 20mph , however they are a pleasure to ride in dry offroad conditions and suprisingly good on the asphalt ! they actually feel better than the tourances exp !

I'm on an F800GS and these tires do in fact have some very strange tendencies. Going hands free with the throttle lock at between 30-50 mph with 25-28psi up front I was shocked by the wild oscillation of the handle bars. I'm not sure this is the "vibration" everyone talks about but whoa, we're talking about an inch at the bar tips of back and forth swing very quickly.

Bumped them up to 40psi and they are completely stable and much more nimble on the road (if a bit like rocks going up or down the curb).

I seem to read a lot about folks lowering their pressure to get rid of some vibration, which makes sense, softer to absorb the shock of the blocks hitting the pavement? But if we're not talking about road noise type vibration but rather this weird wobble or warble as I like to say then I think higher road pressure is the key.

I had the same experience with regard to search for a tire and finding good reports on the K60s. I bought a pair in May 2012 but didn't put them on until a few weeks ago for a trip to WY and CO. BMW Las Vegas installed them and balanced them. I left the next day for Salt Lake and stopped 50 miles out of Vegas to check the install. I had a vibration on the front tire that caused the handlebars to shimmy so bad that the rear view mirror was practically useless on my GSA.

A difference for me was that my vibration got worse the faster I went and peaked around 70. It was marginally smoother at 80 and 60. I was going up I-15. I decided that maybe I was just being paranoid and pressed. I had to meet friends in SLC that night. I ended up stopping 2 extra times to double and triple check the axle and everything. I finally called BMW SLC and they told me to stop by. They pulled the tires and checked the balance on them. I figured I had thrown a balance weight or had a bent rim. They said they were perfectly balanced! They also told me that they had seen this several times before. They said some people just ran em that way and some people replaced them. Based on the pain in my wrists (which I had NEVER experienced from riding, esp in only 430 miles in a day), I told them to yank em and put something else on. I went from TKCs to the Heids and they put on a pair of Anakees. That was all they had in stock for my R1200GSA.

The difference was immediate and obvious as soon as I hit second gear. The wobble was gone and I could see what was back behind me in the mirrors!
I am way happier with the Anakees.

My question now is, can they (meaning can I) handle the White Rim Trail??? :eek1

Thread revive! Just installed the Heidenau K60 Scouts. Yes, there is definitely a lot of vibes coming from the front tire. I am coming from the Anakee 3 in the rear and the stock BattleWing up front, both of which are phenomenal on the road, especially in wet conditions. If my 1 hr ride hunch is correct the front tire is improving rather quickly! One thing I immediately noticed is the very light steering feeling of the Heidenau Scout vs the BattleWing likely due to the reduced contact patch. Additionally, some of the vibes and wondering coming from the front slowly decreased as the miles ticked on. I noticed a scary wondering coming from the front Heidenau tire at 85+ mph (especially after 90mph). The front is very unstable at higher speeds but I am questing it's because of all the chicken strips. Hoping that the tire wears in, in the next 500 miles. The vibes that people have been noticing at slower speeds are there but they don't go away, they are just less noticeable at higher speeds because the frequency is increased (look at he mirrors and you will notice it's hard to focus on objects in the mirrors because they are vibrating at a very high frequency). If the vibes don't go always and the stability doesn't improve, I plant to install the TKC 80 up front and keep the Heidenau K60s Scout in the rear. Cheers!

Same on my F700GS, even after over 5000 miles. Might want to consider that your new top speed now.

I put a set of K60’s on my 2016 ktm 1190 r and didn’t notice any high speed vibration issues. The front is louder than the oem TKC80. What I did notice was a substantial front wobble at sub-walking speed like when approaching a stoplight. I got used to the wobble and it doesn’t bother me anymore. No significant wear after 3000 miles.


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Yeah, I guess so. The steering is definitely a lot lighter with the K60 scout. I suppose I could add a steering dampener but I am not sure if they are even available for the Tiger 800 XC or if it's worth the trouble. I don't usually drive more than 85 mph on the highway unless I am passing, but when I do it can be a bit nerve racking.

I just switched from Anakee 3s to Heidenau K76 on my V-strom. And I get the exact same front-end feeling you guys are describing, the slight wobble at low speeds, especially when coming to a stop or first few seconds when starting to move again.
Once I get to 30-40 km/h or above, nothing, maybe just a humming sounds from the tires, which I assume is normal, considering the thread pattern. So in city cruising speeds, nothing. Outside the city speeds, nada.. Highway speeds, zilch.

Only at "near a stoplight" speeds do I get the wobble.

I’ve run into this a few times with these tires. I concluded the problem was an improperly seated bead during installation. My solution was to break the bead, apply a generous amount of lubrication and keep adding air until I had a good pop. This is a thick tire and is more difficult to seat than others. Not all dealers take the time to get this right. Hope this helps.