Tire Strategy.

[jay.money]

Planning a Trans Lab trip this summer. Leaving from Toronto. All my previous trips have been 100% blacktop.

My question is regarding tires. I haven't figured out exact mileage yet, but there will be considerable distances of both paved highway and gravel. I'm guessing 1/3 gravel, 2/3 paved.

How do you folks manage your tires on such a trip?

Run road tires on both sections?

Run knobbies on both sections?

Swap tires?

[markbvt]

I'm planning a Trans-Lab trip this summer too, and will continue through Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and Maine to get back home.

What kind of bike are you going to be riding? This would have a pretty major impact on your tire choice, I would think.

I'm going to be riding my Honda XR650L, and I'll probably be running Conti TKC-80s. Or I may go with the TKC rear but a more aggressive front tire; perhaps a Dunlop D606 or Pirelli MT21. In any case, I'll be putting a fresh set of tires on for the trip and will just stick with the one set.

--mark

[r2adv]

I made a similar trip two years ago on my 12GS with TKCs. Baie Comeau to Goose Bay to Cartwright to Red Bay then through Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

My partner had an 1150RT with Metzler road tires. He struggled. I cruised. I did have a flat just outside of Goose Bay. The granite is really sharp - actually gashed the tire and it was not repairable. I was almost stranded and missed the ferry.

If I did this again I would run TKCs and carry a spare tube in case of catastrphic flat.

[davep]

I ran a TKC front,a Avon Gripster rear and carried a TKC rear with intent on changing it in Cartwright( ran counter-clockwise starting in Maine). Ended up not changing the tire after all. Had heavy rain every other day. At least there wasn't any dust and only mildly bothered by bugs. Can't wait to do it again!
Dave

[jay.money]

I'll be riding an '08 1200GS. Haven't picked it up yet and this is my first enduro. Grew up on dirtbikes, and graduated to street bikes and haven't really been back off road in a while (with the exception of ~50kms of unexpected gravel in Quebec last year - not too fun on my Sprint).

Glad to hear nobody (so far) really changed tires for the gravel sections. I was hoping to avoid changing half way.

Also sounds like people seem to prefer a more dirt oriented tire, overall....

Looking forward to more feedback....

[markbvt]

r2adv makes a good point -- I'll definitely bring spare front and rear tubes, and I'm planning to run heavy-duty tubes to begin with.

The 1200GS takes tubeless tires, of course, so bring a good tire repair kit. And a tube might still be a good idea, just in case.

--mark