Heidenau K60

I was just talking to one of our inmates about the K60's sidewall strength. He was amazed when he experienced a slight "wobble" at speed, pulled over to have a look, and discovered a .45 cal sized hole in his rear sidewall. No clue what caused it but he felt he could have ridden the bike home that way. He trailered it home just in case.

I had a slow leak in my front that I only discovered doing a weekly pressure gauge check after mounting the tire (I always squeeze them before hopping on though - felt stiff). Pressure was zero. I don't know how long I had been riding on the sheer strength of that tire. Obviously my squeeze check method has been shelved while I run these tires.

Beat the piss out of my Scout today in Holly Shelter Gameland. After doing a very hard 350 miles (200+ street, near 150 off road), I wanted to give some feedback.

The tire went on brand new 2 days ago. @ 400 miles I have almost completely worn the center lugs flat to the stabilizer strip. But, it must be said, that this is the first time I actually rode the tires as aggressively as I feel comfortable riding. My previous Scout and it's 6,000 miles was worn out in a relaxed "touring" style.

Today I ran ralleye style on a bike as light as I could make it. Took the tire up to 95 mph in the sand, sliding around corners, wheeling through mud holes, kicking up gravel. It did fine in all conditions till about 45-55 mph at which time it couldn't keep up with the torque of the bike and started to wash out causing rear shimmying as it tried and failed to grip in the sand/loose gravel.. By about 75 mph I was throttling back, keeping a strict eye on terrain, and wishing I had a real knob on the rear. It sux to get smoked in the straight away by a 650 thumper.

The other issue I had with the Scout in the fast sand was it's center vs side lug differential. The center would slide around at high speeds, unable to grip (duh) but as soon as I'd lean the bike over the side lugs would connect and my power-slide would turn into a torque ridden jolt.

We also did several miles of tight single track, tree fall jumping, and deep mud hole crossing. The Scout did exceptionally well in this environment and I kept up with the 400s/450s no problem. The only issue with it's performance was in the pine forest. It didn't like running on a pine straw carpet. Washed out all over the place like it does on wet grass. Learned to master the power-slide turn in the tight forest LOL>

In the mud the Scout rear out-performed the Shinko front, but then again, we were burying the bikes and only the best knobs perform well in that environment.

Overall I was fairly impressed with the Scout under the conditions of the ride, though I want to burn this tire up quickly now so that I can go back to a true knob. Since summer riding is here, and seeing how quickly I burned through the first 5 mils, I"m guessing I'll burn this tire up around 4,000 miles.

I'm still gonna wait and give the 150 "Scout" a try assuming it ever arrives. My hope is that it'll be as good a tire for what I do as the TKC80 but give me more than 2000 miles on the rear. For my trip this summer, I'll hit that TransLab at around the 2500 mile point and I'll need some bite for the ride across Labrador.

Right now, as I look for a backup, I have a Kenda Big Block ready to go on. Will see how it does.

Guys,

Applogies in advance for a nooby question. I was hoping to get a 150 rear for my 800GS (doing part of the TAT in June), but as everybody has said they're like rocking horse sh*t at the moment, few and far between .

Whats the difference between 140 and 150, something to do with the profile??? They seem to be easier to get hold of than the 150's, (again, noob question so dont shoot me!).

I'm not an agressive rider but need something bit more substancial than the stock tires for the TAT, could I get away with the 140 on stock rims or no.....??

All questions and p*ss taking replies welcome

I'm not an aggressive rider either, but I've ridden the CDR, some of the White Rim Road, a lot of eastern Oregon, northern Nevada, and Death Valley on 140s mounted to stock rims. No doubt I was risking catastrophe.

Shit David... you are lucky to be alive.

Screw it. I can't win with all this. I'm filling my TKC80s with concrete.

Fred

It's funny reading this thread because it's the same questions from all the other K-60 threads;

When will they be available? The 140/80 is fairly easy to come by. The 150-70 is the "be DAMNED" tire at the moment.


Where can I buy these? I purchased mine from Moto Amore 408-295-3004.


What's the difference between the K-60 and a TKC80? Price and wear. Bring the right gun to the fight. If you need a pure mud bogging tire or as much traction as possible off-road then a TKC80 is your option. The K-60 however is getting a lot of attention because it seems to provide 85% of a TKC80 grip with almost double the wear (depends on rider and conditions). It's a tire that IMHO is a true 50/50 tire. It blows the doors off a Tourance off-road but has almost the same wear on-road!


What's the difference between the 140 and the 150 rear? 140 is the tire width. 140 is narrower then the 150. The other aspect that's different is the height of the tire. The 140/80, which is what I've been using, is a narrower and taller (sidewall) then the normal 150/70. What's the difference in handling....I must be too much of a noob to know. They handle the same to me.


What's the difference in the compound? Not sure. I only know they changed the center thread blocks to decrease wear on road.


How much wear will they withstand? Depends, my set is near 6,000miles, mixed 75% road and 25% dirt and looks like it can last another 3,000miles!!! That's outstanding in my opinion for a true 50/50 tire.


I hear/read they have three versions of threads? Pictures here --> http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15231246&postcount=37
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=660802&page=3


What's the price? Personally I paid $134 front and $155 rear back in late November. I purchased the 140/80 rear because the 150 was in limbo with it's thread redesign. No problems and almost 6,000miles later I would still buy the 140/80.


Why are the prices so high? Supply and demand?! Have you looked at the price of gas lately? It affects every aspect of just about everything. I really don't know


How are people finding these? Their are several online shops, might be cheaper then buying from the distributor directly. The distributor doesn't discount the tires to undercut his vendors (makes sense from a business stand point).


Why are they so popular now, I never heard about these before? These tires have been available for a long time however it wasn't until the last year or two that their popularity spiked. It never had/was a widely distributed tire in the states. Dealerships didn't help the cause, they didn't want to stock a tire to have it sit on the shelf....if nobody ask's, why should I stock it! <----This is what I encountered from several dealers who just didn't want to listen to a guy who did a little research on the web and just wanted to try a different tire! I would always get the same response....."OH, you don't want those/I never heard of those, better stick to something that's been proven/Oh, so you want knobbies, get the TKC80/I don't think they import those/You can't buy those in the states/I'll look into it.....never heard back/Everybody just buys [ ] instead"


Is their any problems with these tires? The most common problem I've heard from SOME people is that the front tires loose a little air pressure over time. Why, nobody seems to know? I personally seem to loose about 3-5lbs a week (AT MOST). It seems worse (closer to 5lbs every 3 days) IF the weather is very cold?! Why? I have no idea! (pressure and temperature) The dealer told me they had a problem with a couple people having this accrue in the wet northwest but that was about it. Personally, very small inconvenience if you ask me. It's a weird thing but like I said, seems more noticeable with cold weather then warm. This problem can be remedied buy simply buying a TKC80 front it you really need a front knobby.


Why are people so mad? Because people just like to be mad at something? No sense in getting mad because it never goes anywhere. Fix it and move on......to something else you want to be mad at.


Why do I care and why do I know so much about the K-60's? I was in the same boat as everyone but I finally got off my ass, off the internet, and on the phone talking to dealers then a vendor, then bought these for myself! I didn't regret it!! I would buy these without a doubt again! I'm just reporting my findings and hoping it's solves the worlds problem and I get a Noble Peace Prize for it. .


Did I leave anything out? I'm sure someone will tell me.........after all it's the internet and we're all self proclaimed experts, or a glorified noob like me.

Well done, Pcfly! I guess we can pretty much retire this thread now.

Blasphemy! What would I do for my daily entertainment?

Thanks, now I don't have to read from post 1

You guys kill me........that's why I love this place!!

"Is their any problems with these tires? The most common problem I've heard from SOME people is that the front tires loose a little air pressure over time. Why, nobody seems to know? I personally seem to loose about 3-5lbs a week (AT MOST). It seems worse (closer to 5lbs every 3 days) IF the weather is very cold?! Why? I have no idea! (pressure and temperature) The dealer told me they had a problem with a couple people having this accrue in the wet northwest but that was about it."

FWIW I live in the mid-Atlantic region and this is happening to my front tire (tubeless on F650GS) ever since I had it mounted. Took it back and we discovered a very slight leak on both sides of the rim at the same place. Removed tire, scrubbed and wiped everything, remounted with no change whatsoever. Guess I'll just fill 5lbs every 3-5 days.

This thread is starting to smell like dynabeads cooked in a little 10w40 fully synthetic because it is better than mineral.

Hopefully I won't get my butt kicked for posting this
.....but suppose you cannot find or want to wait for the miracle K60 tire.

Are there any other good 50/50 tire?

There is a lot of information, sometimes these threads are their own worse enemy.

Thanks PcFly for the quick summary. You did forget one entry though - "What is the pressure that you are filling them up to?" Don't forget front and back.

I got asked this weekend over beers after a dual sport ride why BMW riders think they need to pay so much for tires, their comments were especially referring to the TKC. But they practically laughed me off the table when I mentioned the cost of the K60 as they admired it on my bike.

There are a lot of good 50/50 tires out there and there are a lot of decent mileage/low cost ones out there too. Like a previous poster said, all you need to do is get off the internet and go find them.

While it's on the dirt side of riding, here's a link to a Kenda Trackmaster forum that also has information on a host of other dual sport tires -> http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3107

Several of the DSers I rode with this weekend were on the track master. Great tire. Takes you where you need to go, even on a big bike.

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!! Why should we pay more?!! The problem/situation is that we have tubeless tires on most of our BMW's and most sizes available for typical dual sport bikes are not available for our bikes. I've looked and I'm always willing to try something new but nothing.....

Those Kenda tires from what research I've done (which means nothing) is that they wear way too fast. Until I see or hear otherwise I just haven't found a better 50/50 tire.

I will add this. A Dual Sport bike and a large Adventure bike are two different animals. It's not that one is better then the other but rather that manufactures focused on our type of riding look at it into exactly that; adventure bike or dual sport(an oversized or glorified dirt bike). Face it, we build a dirt bike into an adventure bike which is great but we do the hacking and building......not a manufacture. Thus the problem with finding a true 50/50 tire or for that matter, finding the size or finding something for less $$$.

Now, as for blaming BMW for the cost........why doesn't somebody else build as many big adventure bikes? I think with Yamaha's big S-10 and Triumph's 800XC the market flood gates are about to open and I see more choices and lower $$ on gear coming......plus more tire choices!!

Max pressure is 36psi, I usually keep it at about 34-35 although the distributor said 29-31psi would be fine. For off-road riding I decrease the pressure to about 22-25PSI.........but I have never been given any advice on off-road pressure.

A couple of points to this.
The sizes our bikes run are not very common in a good DS tire. Try to find stuff on 150/70B17. Not much there.
I would LOVE to get a set of Mefo Explorers. They look like what I am looking for in a tire.

On the other side of the coin, I also ride with a lot of DS'ers. First off, they can't believe I ride a bike that costs so much (in that environment). (They? KLR, DRZ, XR, generally small, cheap bikes, etc.). They also seem to hang out fairly local. Whereas I like to GO. Get away, ride. Not just go through a creek, stop, ride up a muddy hill...stop...zzzzzzz.
I find that my riding needs are very different than the avg DS'er. I don't want to worry about cheap ass tires when I'm a couple hundred miles away and have a fun (usually twisty) ride home. I need something I can depend on, on the road as well. Some of those 'less expensive' tires are fine for dirt bikes and local DS rides. And are often times much better when the going gets rough.

I think if I had an 18" rear wheel it would be a lot easier.

Tires are not something I want to cheap-out on. But I would prefer some better choices.

And for the record, I would love to get a 150 Scout. Doesn't look like that'll happen anytime soon.