Heidenau Tires

[SR1]

Originally Posted by '05Train

The K60 was freaking awful on-pavement, and everyone on a GS/A spends more time on-pavement than off. If you're happy with the K60's level of on-road performance, then I'm happy for you. A well-ridden Burgman will run rings around a GS/A with K60s on it.

I'm sure riding style and suspension have a lot to do with this. So far I couldn't disagree more. I grew up in Western NC and nearly all my motorcycling has been there...and thus far the K60's are sticking just fine.

Maybe there's a difference in the rubber between the 140 and the 150? I'm on the 140.

[slowoldguy]

lol about the well-ridden Burgman. SR1, you might be that much better rider guy I was talking about. I can't ride them for shit. I still want to follow a fast guy riding them, to see wth he is doing differently. ;)

[viperh]

If you ride in the rain on the road skip the Heindenaus I've drifted the bike so many times in the turns by accident it really makes me wish I didn't get these tires. Pucker factor every time. Off-road performance I don't know I'll find out this weekend. I have 1k miles on them and its hardly used any tread and I can tell they are going to last a while.
To give you an idea on the hardness of the rubber once I got them on the rim with 2psi of air it looks like it is fully inflated. I run 42psi as I always have load on them and thats manufacturer recommended. I feel more bumps in the road due to the hardness of the tires than with my old tires. I am still running 42psi as I usually have load on the bike but I'm thinking of running lower psi because of the tire hardness.

Specs
2010 GSA
I'm running 150/70 on the rear with the support strip. I'm thinking the 140's would be much better due to the tread pattern differences.

YMMV

[joenuclear]

Your opinions have been noted.....

Originally Posted by '05Train

Nope, but 90% of my riding is on pavement, and a good portion of that is carving corners through the Appalachians. I took my 900 pound Harley with street Dunlops off-pavement plenty of times, my 600 pound BMW with PR3s does just fine. If I really wanted a dirt bike, I'd buy one.

I have no intention of pretending to be Ewan McBoorman. I ride 30,000 miles a year and I need a comfortable bike that's fun to rip through corners. The GS/A fits that bill as well as anything for the moment.

The K60 was freaking awful on-pavement, and everyone on a GS/A spends more time on-pavement than off. If you're happy with the K60's level of on-road performance, then I'm happy for you. A well-ridden Burgman will run rings around a GS/A with K60s on it.

[SR1]

Originally Posted by slowoldguy

lol about the well-ridden Burgman. SR1, you might be that much better rider guy I was talking about. I can't ride them for shit. I still want to follow a fast guy riding them, to see wth he is doing differently. ;)

I dunno...I seem to be able to keep up or pass most guys if I want. I'm not quite a death-defying as I used to be, but they are doing fine by me.

I don't push in rain at all and haven't had the K60's in rain anyway. No clue on that one. I usually have the rule that if it's raining in the morning, I'll do something else, but if it's sunny, I'll ride. So far, no opportunity to test them in the rain, and don't expect one for the rest of the season.

['05Train]

Originally Posted by SR1

I dunno...I seem to be able to keep up or pass most guys if I want. I'm not quite a death-defying as I used to be, but they are doing fine by me.

I don't push in rain at all and haven't had the K60's in rain anyway. No clue on that one. I usually have the rule that if it's raining in the morning, I'll do something else, but if it's sunny, I'll ride. So far, no opportunity to test them in the rain, and don't expect one for the rest of the season.

I didn't like the feel of the K60s at parking lot speeds, much less at "fun" speeds. YMMV. The K60s were no good in the rain at all. On the plus side, it looks as though it would have gone over 10,000 miles, which is far better than any other rear tire I've tried.

I'm happy for those people who are happy with the K60s. There's a reason there are so many tires available, and not everyone likes the same thing(s). You certainly can ride fast with the K60s (Lord knows I did), but it's like driving a nail with a pair of pliers......Sure, it'll do the job, but there are far better tools available.

[SR1]

At risk of beating a dead horse, it seems our opinions (and the differences) are not unique to this thread. If you search here, you'll find about a 50/50 split on the matter. Some love 'em, some hate 'em.

[wbrisett]

Originally Posted by SR1

At risk of beating a dead horse, it seems our opinions (and the differences) are not unique to this thread. If you search here, you'll find about a 50/50 split on the matter. Some love 'em, some hate 'em.

Haven't put the 60s on my bike, but I have put the street oriented 76s on my bike. My only complaint with those was how long the mold release agent took to scrub off. What should have taken 20-50 miles, instead took nearly 300 before the tires started really gripping the road. Last night I was chatting with a buddy who just put the 60s on his Husky that he commutes on. I asked how long he has had them on his bike and he mentioned he had about 200 miles. I asked him how the tires felt on the road, and he said he still fills them squirming at times. Not sure why Heidenau tires seem to take longer from that perspective, but at least it doesn't seem that I was the only one having those issues with them. Other than the squirm, he was very happy with the 60s, but he hasn't taken his bike off road yet.

Wayne

[SJSharkfan]

I got the K60s for my Alaska trip last summer. I wanted a tire with good off road traction and enough mileage to make it there and back, about 7500 miles.

At first I hated the tires. Noisy compared to the Tourances I took off. Also I didn't like the way the bike would fall into turns.

Then I read about tire pressures and adjusted them down to 34F/36R. This seemed to help a lot. Also around 2000 miles they felt like they were breaking in and getting more pliable.

To date I have 8000 miles on them and they look like they will go another 3-5K. For my regular style of riding (mostly street) I will get the Tourance. But if I ever do another trip where there will be a lot of gravel and dirt I would get the K60s.

[Snowbound]

The K-60 s aren't for everybody .The fastest I have been is 95 . Usually don't go faster than 75. They are a good tire for me since I ride as much dirt as I can in Colorado and Northern New Mexico . If you want a thrill go out and ride a road with lots of tar snakes going around a curve , with a K-60.
Just mounted a new rear yesterday . I got almost 8,000. All I could get was 5,000 out of a set of Tourances.
IMHO.

[jachard]

Originally Posted by viperh

If you ride in the rain on the road skip the Heindenaus I've drifted the bike so many times in the turns by accident it really makes me wish I didn't get these tires. Pucker factor every time. Off-road performance I don't know I'll find out this weekend. I have 1k miles on them and its hardly used any tread and I can tell they are going to last a while.
To give you an idea on the hardness of the rubber once I got them on the rim with 2psi of air it looks like it is fully inflated. I run 42psi as I always have load on them and that's manufacturer recommended. I feel more bumps in the road due to the hardness of the tires than with my old tires. I am still running 42psi as I usually have load on the bike but I'm thinking of running lower psi because of the tire hardness.

Specs
2010 GSA
I'm running 150/70 on the rear with the support strip. I'm thinking the 140's would be much better due to the tread pattern differences.

YMMV

The tire pressure load stamped on the side of the tire is NOT what you should be going by, no wonder you are getting poor performance in the rain. You should use the tire pressure recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, in your case BMW. I run these tires at 32F/34R HOT and they are great. Loaded I run 36R/34F HOT. I air down to 26F/28R HOT for off-road.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, James

[maxscycle]

Originally Posted by GSANVH

I have a 2012 BMW GSA, with stock tires. I want better bite for off road adventuring but I don't want to lose my ability to be agressive in the twisties. What do you guys think of Heidenau Tires.

I have no experience with Heidenau's, but I am curious in the discussions of 50/50, or 80/20, or 90/10 tires why is it that radial vs bias ply is rarely mentioned.
The tourance is a radial, the heid's are bias ply, as are the conti's.
max

[Core10metal]

Just put about 2000 miles on k60's. My previous was tourance exp. Here's my take:
Stiff tire but i mounted it myself no problem, just a little sweat. Took 80psi to pop a seal on rear
No leaks at all
Not as good as a road tire on pavement
Not as good as a knobby on dirt
Squirmy when hard breaking
I take the twisties just as hard as street tires but feel it squirm at a real angle. Does over 100mph no prob.
Noticeable vibe at lower speeds.
All the above is exactly as expected. I think it's a decent tire but don't expect it to replace your street or dirt tire

[Lime]

After several sets of TKC's, I bought a set of K60's for a 7000 mile trip that I didn't want to have to replace tires while on the road. I don't ride on the edge but have had no problems. They still have an estimated 2,500 miles to go before replacing.

[Core10metal]

Originally Posted by Core10metal

Just put about 2000 miles on k60's. My previous was tourance exp. Here's my take:
Stiff tire but i mounted it myself no problem, just a little sweat. Took 80psi to pop a seal on rear
No leaks at all
Not as good as a road tire on pavement
Not as good as a knobby on dirt
Squirmy when hard breaking
I take the twisties just as hard as street tires but feel it squirm at a real angle. Does over 100mph no prob.
Noticeable vibe at lower speeds.
All the above is exactly as expected. I think it's a decent tire but don't expect it to replace your street or dirt tire

Just an update after about 4500 on the k60's. it's winter and very cold here in north jersey but that hasn't stopped me from riding. Here are a few observations:
Almost no grip in snow but probably better than street tires.
Does well in wet, sand and salted roads but I'm also not pushing it at all. Lowest temp so far has been 14 and riding felt fine.
Losing 6 psi per week on front tire. No loss on rear at all.

Before the treads get too low, I wanted to try and stud them out see how it feels.