Adventure tires comparo

[davidmarquez]

Hey!





From your experience which would be the best all arround adventure tire among:

Michelin Anakee 2
Metzeler Tourance
Continental TrailAttack
Bridgestone BattleWing

I am wearing down my Japanese pair and wonder which ones you guys recomend

My rides are: commuting, highways and back roads in bad conditions....

Ride safe!

[knobbyjoe]

Hola Dave,
For my KTM 990 2008...
OK not on your list but worth the consideration
I am happy with Mefo's Super Explorer 150 on back and Mefo Explorer on front. Good tires for all around riding. I feel the traction on high speed mountain turns to be very good and still can take rocky loose off road trails. Mud and deep sand are a challenge but with a 990 being about 500 pounds that is to be expected. I am putting on my second set as soon as the weather gets bad up here in Northern Nevada. Storms in the forecast so might be soon.

One thing that got me to stay with the Mefo's is that I can ride aggressively in the mountain paved roads and highways. I can burn and turn with any sport bike. I don't think I would feel as confident with knobbies and the Mefo's do just fine in the dirt. Rider 50/50 dirt/street. One more thing, I have about 7,500 miles on my current tires and could get more out of them if I had to. Well worth the price.
KJ

[zen rider]

Knobbyjoe,

Have you tried the Heidenau K60 Scout (in 150/18) also. To me it seems the Mefo SE looks to be a bit more off road based on aggressive knobbies on the edges of the tires, whereas the K60 Scouts seem to have larger/smoother tread at the edge and maybe a rounder profile? Actually I want the one with slightly better road manners at full lean.

My 908 at full lean does not feel very stable. The 908 also spins up too easily on wet roads under throttle. My last bike was a V-strom with a Tourance EXP front and regular Tourance rear and it handled on road better than my KTM 990 Adventure with 908 rear and TKC80 front. I am convinced the handling difference is 95% the tires. With the knobbies it is a bit slow to turn in and then at full lean at speed it lacks that planted feel. On the other hand the EXP front was truly dangerous in mud.

[Snowbound]

Originally Posted by zen rider

knobbyjoe,

have you tried the heidenau k60 scout (in 150/18) also. To me it seems the mefo se looks to be a bit more off road based on aggressive knobbies on the edges of the tires, whereas the k60 scouts seem to have larger/smoother tread at the edge and maybe a rounder profile? Actually i want the one with slightly better road manners at full lean.

My 908 at full lean does not feel very stable. The 908 also spins up too easily on wet roads under throttle. My last bike was a v-strom with a tourance exp front and regular tourance rear and it handled on road better than my ktm 990 adventure with 908 rear and tkc80 front. I am convinced the handling difference is 95% the tires. With the knobbies it is a bit slow to turn in and then at full lean at speed it lacks that planted feel. On the other hand the exp front was truly dangerous in mud.

+1

[davidmarquez]

Hey Joe

thanks for the advice! they seem worth to try!

Some of the mountain roads we do have dirt or gravel from the side hills so they seem even better that the options I listed

David

Originally Posted by knobbyjoe

Hola Dave,
For my KTM 990 2008...
OK not on your list but worth the consideration
I am happy with Mefo's Super Explorer 150 on back and Mefo Explorer on front. Good tires for all around riding. I feel the traction on high speed mountain turns to be very good and still can take rocky loose off road trails. Mud and deep sand are a challenge but with a 990 being about 500 pounds that is to be expected. I am putting on my second set as soon as the weather gets bad up here in Northern Nevada. Storms in the forecast so might be soon.

One thing that got me to stay with the Mefo's is that I can ride aggressively in the mountain paved roads and highways. I can burn and turn with any sport bike. I don't think I would feel as confident with knobbies and the Mefo's do just fine in the dirt. Rider 50/50 dirt/street. One more thing, I have about 7,500 miles on my current tires and could get more out of them if I had to. Well worth the price.
KJ

[levain]

I always had Tourance on my GS. It was a long wearing tire that I thought was great all round. I recently swapped the stock Battlewings on my XC for Dunlop Trailmax 91. I have about 3,000 miles on them and love them so far! Hardly any wear. Great in wet weather. Turn in much faster than the battlewings. If they continue to wear well, I'll replace with the same.

[EKIN]

Anyone running the Conti Trail attacks? I am considering these for my GS. Currently running road attacks.

[what car??]

+1 on the Mefo tires. The ones mentioned don't really look like 'adventure' tires IMO, more like street tires. OP you mentioned dirt roads in bad conditions.... The Mefo tires are great for all conditions, rain, tarmac, dirt, fire lanes, some mud.... Wear pretty good and I'm getting about 7-8k miles on a set on my KTM990. They were my first choice of tire to put on the bike to come to Central America. A choice I absolutely do not regret and will buy them again. I also tried the Kenda Big Block, great on the dirt etc.... But wear fast when doing a lot of tarmac riding...

[1911fan]

+3 on the Mefos, I ran them front and rear on my 990. Excellent manners on good/bad/no roads, and long lasting. Best tire choice for big bike and aggressive rider on rocky roads I've found. Good in rain and mud, too.
Don't think i'd run them on a smaller bike though, the compund's pretty hard and I think they need weight on them to work best.
Currently running MT21's on my Dakar.


1911fan

[sailah]

Originally Posted by EKIN

Anyone running the Conti Trail attacks? I am considering these for my GS. Currently running road attacks.

Running them on my fz1 hybrid. Fantastic grip on road, even in wet very confidence inspiring. I have another set ready to go on. They are 90/10 tires however. And the 10% is dirt road type stuff. Worthless in mud.

They last awhile I think I have 4000 hard road miles and they are still good.

I've heard good things about the mefo so I might try a set on my cbr as that bike is more off road worthy.

I do like the trail attacks but def a road tire

[jonz]

Originally Posted by EKIN

Anyone running the Conti Trail attacks? I am considering these for my GS. Currently running road attacks.

I have a set I've used on my 950SE. I consider them a street tire. They worked great on Hwy 58 going to/from Laguna Seca. Of the dozen or so riders I rode with, none dropped me and only one hung with me. The tires could have probably given more than i was willing to ask of them. The only dirt I've ridden with those tires was in the dirt lots at Laguna Seca - not much of a test.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[knobbyjoe]

Knobbyjoe, Have you tried the Heidenau K60 Scout (in 150/18) also. To me it seems the Mefo SE looks to be a bit more off road based on aggressive knobbies on the edges of the tires, whereas the K60 Scouts seem to have larger/smoother tread at the edge and maybe a rounder profile? Actually I want the one with slightly better road manners at full lean.
My 908 at full lean does not feel very stable. The 908 also spins up too easily on wet roads under throttle. My last bike was a V-strom with a Tourance EXP front and regular Tourance rear and it handled on road better than my KTM 990 Adventure with 908 rear and TKC80 front. I am convinced the handling difference is 95% the tires. With the knobbies it is a bit slow to turn in and then at full lean at speed it lacks that planted feel. On the other hand the EXP front was truly dangerous in mud.
Kevin '08 KTM 990 Adventure, '07 KTM 300XC plated

Dang Kevin just was delivered Mefo's this week. I was thinking about trying the K60 Scouts but didn't hear about the edge tread making a better profile. I burn and turn with the Mefo's but as they have worn I have notice some square edge feel. Nothing serious though and expect the good wear and handling with this set...but next time!

kj

[Loutre]

Originally Posted by zen rider

Knobbyjoe,

Have you tried the Heidenau K60 Scout (in 150/18) also. To me it seems the Mefo SE looks to be a bit more off road based on aggressive knobbies on the edges of the tires, whereas the K60 Scouts seem to have larger/smoother tread at the edge and maybe a rounder profile? Actually I want the one with slightly better road manners at full lean.

My 908 at full lean does not feel very stable. The 908 also spins up too easily on wet roads under throttle. My last bike was a V-strom with a Tourance EXP front and regular Tourance rear and it handled on road better than my KTM 990 Adventure with 908 rear and TKC80 front. I am convinced the handling difference is 95% the tires. With the knobbies it is a bit slow to turn in and then at full lean at speed it lacks that planted feel. On the other hand the EXP front was truly dangerous in mud.

+ whatever.

k60 are just a nice mix. If you put a TK80 front you won't even have the weird wobbling. If you don't want a 50/50 tire and you'd like a more street oriented tire I'd go with the TR91 from Dunlop. Best tire (except knobby stuff) I've ever owned. The only tire that sticks better on wett than on dry.

[396427454]

I'm very pleased with the K60 scout on both the 1150GS and the F800GS on the road in high speed turns at big bank angles. I used to run and love Avon Distanzia for the sporty road performance, and don't feel like i have lost anything. The k60 tread pattern varies considerably by size - Both of these bikes use the 150/70-17 on the rear, while fronts are 90/90-21 on the 800, and 110/80-19 on the 1150. The front patterns are very similar in these sizes. So far this tire seems to be the ideal 50/50 tire.

[Typhon]

+1 on the K60's , great tire in all conditions and they last forever.