Karoo 3 for 990?

Probably 205, but any idea when 150s will be widely available in the US? I've been on the "notify me" lists for a month or so.

i want the 150 as well, but just bought the 140 just to try it out. i will post up pics and comparisons to the k60 as soon as i get it.

just ordered a set from Americanmototire.com- the 150 is $181.12 and the front 90/90-21 is $82.59.

AMT are good folks, always prompt, free shipping.

Nope. Just got a back order notice from them on the rear tire.

Grrrrrrr....

just rode the bike. i like it much better then the k60. brakes and accelerates better, and much smoother when leaned over. very impressed so far, i cannot wait for the 150. i only rode it 20 miles on pavement. i will do a good mixed surface test tomorrow. :d

150 k60 vs 140 karoo, both dismounted. i did not measure them dismounted, only mounted on the wheel. the 140 k3 is 1/4" narrower then the 150 k60, both inflated. nearly the same.



as you can clearly see, the 150 k60 is molded for a much wider wheel. it took 3x and a lot of lube to seat the beads.



the sidewall bulges a bit because the tire is stretched on the 4.25 wheel. it is not quite VW stunna stretch, but i can picture it cutting a sidewall if you are spinning while leaned over on a sharp rock. no biggie, 150 will fix that.



even stretched, the k3 is much more curved then the k60.



mounted on the bike

Nice pics Rodney. Thanks for posting.

I recently removed a set of K60's from my bike as well... not a fan.

I typically run knobbies (Pirelli Rally front & rear are a hard deal for me to beat right now), but I bought a Karoo 3 rear to see if I can make it last the 4,000 ish miles I try to get out of the front knobbie. I'd go through 2 rears to a front w/ the Rally. If it does, I'll be thrilled , especially for the price of the 140.

Unfortunately most of the riding I do is lame... commuting, gravel grids in the midwest, etc. But when I have the chance to hit the trails, sandy river bottoms, and other areas, I hate having a 50/50 tire on. For street use, the knobbies offer enough grip for me to ride to the edge of the knobs. I am lacking street binder power on the SE anyway, so the knobbies keep me in check.

The jury is still out as of now... only 1,200 miles on the rear right now, but I can say:
-Road grip is no worse than K60.
-Forward drive on gravel/dirt/sand is much better than the K60. The knob spacing I'm sure has everything to do w/ this.
-Side to side role is easier & more progressive with no surprises (yet).
-Lateral stability/traction isn't as good as knobbie but much better than the K60 or Mefo.
-Noise is not obtrusive for me at all. I'm use to knobbies though, so I dont expect it to be a Cont. TA.
-They are wearing evenly w/ minimal cupping

No feedback on sidewall stiffness, mud, or slab w/ heavy load yet.

If I had any balls, I'd run this set for my upcoming trip, but a part of me doesn't feel like trying to be conservative with my right wrist... 3,000 or so miles w/ lots of slab, twisites, and dirt/rock. Dare me? I'd kinda feel like a guinea pig, but it would be a good test. I'll probably be packing an extra rear along.

I'll post an update when I have more time on it.

i will mirror jrod's assessment of the 140 karoo. i put 180 miles on mine today, on a lot of mixed surfaces. seasonal use roads, big gravel, sand, small gravel, dirt and asphalt. there was wild spinning in the beginning, but i tapered that down as the day wore on. the tire is a marked improvement over the k60 offroad, at the expense of wear. the tire sticks WAY better then the k60 on the road, especially leaned over. last 30 miles was all pavement, as it was getting late and i needed to get home. i am fairly happy with it, especially for the price. i would have to see how the 150 wears, but if it wears at the same rate, i will run 140's instead.

10 miles


40 miles


80 miles


180 miles


the only issue i had, was leaned over in the dirt she felt a tad odd, most likely my fault since i am stretching the tire on the 4.25" wheel. all in all, i am very happy with the tire. as soon as i get a 150, i will post up.

We finished a 2800 mile, 95 percent slabbing it trip to Ak last week. My tire is done. We ended up driving to Prudhoe Bay in the car due to no tires and snow in the pass. Still was an amazing time.

The front tire is fine. I really liked these tires. On road they hum, and above 65 they scream! On road manners are great. The hundred miles or so of gravel we did they were very predictable and excelled. I am going to throw another one on the back for next year. Hopefully the trip south will have a much larger amount of mud and gravel.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

We saw a 990 heading North to Fairbanks on roughly the 22nd as we were heading south......maybe it was you.....?....

We made it to Prudhoe..lots of ice coming back....

That sounds about right. Couldn't of missed me, hid headlight, white helmet, orange coat, and lots of reflective tape. My buddy had a bright yellow helmet on his green kawi.

We heard it was a snow storm! Then it cleared up. Then it snowed again so we decided to take the car up. The the motorcyclists we meet up there were miserable haha

Any luck on the 150's? I'm waiting on one now.

BG

nope. did you actually order one and was it shipped? from where?

I'm getting a 150 fitted tomorrow here in Ireland ahead of me taking part in the Paddy Dakar this coming Saturday. I'll keep you posted.

2800 miles seems pretty poor to me... My Mefo's (SE) are at 8.000 now, and they're not nearly done. Have some funky characteristics now, but no need to replace them anyway.

Only thing I hate about them is that they're reaaally crap in the wet.

i would rather swap tires every 3k then have a bike that is scary to ride in the wet.

eric, when you get it mounted, post up some pics. i would like to see the profile of the 150, thanks.

Well yes that is a consideration. Still though, there has to be some middle way. 3k is pathetic

150 Profile.

depends on use. i kill rear tires on the 990 in a 1000 miles or less. i know others who get 10k out of the same tires.

eric, looks good! could you get a measurement of the tread width? also, please keep us up to date on wear rate and riding style/conditions. thanks!

FWIW...

I now have about 1800 miles on this Karoo 3 140/80-18 rear mounted on my 950SE w/ stock rear rim (2.5"). I have not tried a 150, nor have I tried mounting a 140 to a ADV rim.



The tire has basically only seen the road. I put on about 1000 commuting miles with some light off road and gravel mixed in around KC. Then, I used the tire to slab home from Gunnison, CO to KC, KS after a 2 week off-road stint in Colorado (on knobbies, of course).

The twisty mountain roads that I encountered on the way home before hitting flat land were unfortunately wet, so I couldn't really push it too hard. Then, once I hit Pueblo, the straight and boring hit, and the tire fell into the utilitarian use of highway duty @ 80mph. It wasnt too noisy by my account (like some complain of), but certainly not as smooth as a more street oriented tire.

Additionally, I rode with a new great friend on the trip, & he mounted a Karoo 3 front on his Adventure for the trip. I have not tried the front Karoo 3 and was interested in his feedback. He was putting twice the slab miles on as me and needed something that was gonna last. He didn't like it: it wouldn't hold a line in a rut, rather just fall to the bottom, not good in sand, no bite in mud & grease... the opposite of my experience w/ knobbies. Funny... we had several conversations about how we love that Pirelli Rally front. :)

After having done 1500 HARD miles on & off road on knbbies, with very predictable and favorable results, I like these "compromise" tires even less. The Pirelli Rally front & rear railed through hard pack, rocks, sand @ the Great Sand dunes, mud, greese, and twisty pavement (Cottonwood Pass was such a blast!) Then, when mostly worn, I rode some (gnarly for a big bike) goat trail single track and 2 track (Tomichi, Hancock, Tincup, Snowblind, Canyon Creek) and it did amazingly well! Frankly, I was amazed.

I can't see the Karoo 3 doing near as favorable in those (mostly offroad) conditions. Granted... the knobbies were toast in 1500 miles, but I was trying pretty hard to be rough on them. $180 & 3 days later MSS had another set at my door ready for thrashing.

Anyway...

The Karoo 3, after having about the easiest life possible, is now squared off and worn to the point where I would not leave for an offroad trip with it mounted. It will do great for street duty for another 1500 miles, I would guess. I still like it way better than the K60's or Mefo's, on all accounts except tire wear.

So the dilemma in my head is this...
Screw mounting and remounting knobbies and "compromise" tires. I need to buy a second set of rims for street duty. It seems wrong to do this for an SE, but it makes sense for getting true life out of tires that will be mostly used for street duty with light offroad and gravel occasionally during my commuting and road trips. I hope to take a fall trip to Arkansas to ride Ozark mountain roads, and Continental TA's are in order for that trip. I just wish they had a 140 for my narrow rim. Any suggestions on a rear 140 mostly street tire (besides MT90's)?

BTW... this was not intended to be a knobbie review, but felt the comparison was good for reference. If you didnt know my feelings on those Rally's yet, you now do. They suck... don't buy them.

Anyone have a set of 19/17 rims they need to part with? :) Feel free to flame me or offer your thoughts. I'm no expert... just an enthusiast looking for motorcyling euphoria. I told my wife I didnt find it on this trip. "I felt like I was pretty close, honey, but there's gotta be more out there."

Where to now?