This is my bike, as it currently sits. I ran the OEM Trailhawks or whatever. They were perfectly fine in all on-road conditions. They were hairy on gravel. I switched to a TKC80 front and a K60 rear. It was fantastic in and around the many routes I took in the Yukon and Alaska. Where it wasn't awesome was on wet pavement. The K60 rear is not super confidence inspiring. I know your mileage may vary. But I had multiple times where the back end just got loose, even in straight lines, cruising at 60mph. Now that I'm back from my long trip, I need a new set of tires for the season. I would say that 80% of my riding is paved. With 20% being weekend trips on fireroads and such with a full knobbie equipped friend on a KTM 690. I don't expect to be doing aggressive riding on fire trails. So I'm curious what I could get away with. My biggest concern is confidence on wet pavement. Followed by some stability in gravel conditions. I have no desire to swap tires for weekend riding. Karoo 3? Tourance? Yes. I know what I'm getting into with this question. The hate and vitriol that's likely to be spewed, but I truly do respect all the information I glean from the folks here.
If you were fine with the K60 in most conditions you should have a look at reviews for the Mitas E-07.
Thanks. Did some reading. Here's what Loutre said: Onroad: Very grippy when dry, not loud at all (actually surprised me), cornering is just a bit worse than with 80/20 tyres. On wet surface they are slippery. Not awfully but you feel the difference with a good road tyre, especially on these "repaired" road sections you know where they fill the holes on the road with some kind of tarmac glue. Belgium is filled with that and I hated doing 350kms of highway on my trip home under rainy conditions. No signs of wear yet after 3000kms. Keep you tuned on that one. Reviews like that lead me to not want to consider as a serious contender.
You want good wet weather performance, 80-20 split, and no need for "aggressive" performance on graded fire roads. Sounds like you're looking for something like the Anakee II (3 now I guess), Tourance or other pavement biased dual sport tires. If you're not hung up on having a knobby tire for the looks, realistically they will let you "get away with" quite a lot on gravel. Pretty tough to beat on the pavement, and very good in the rain. If you don't want to swap tires and spend most of your time on the pavement, this only makes sense.
Use the Karoo 3 as my everyday tire and weekend basher. Commute on the bike on highways, then take her to the national parks on the weekends. Will get close to 10,000km from the rear, great cornering, good on dirt, haven't noticed any straight line slipage when wet as you mentioned with K60. Having said that I've never run a K60 yet. I may do as next tire just for comparison. Good luck with your decission. Might try Mitas as well....
I just picked up a Sava MC60 today. I still have 50% of my TKC80 left, so it will be awhile 'til I change it out. Will report more when I have something to report. Carry on.
