Adventurer
Gentleman Dog
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2006
- Messages
- 17,108
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Kempen Germany
- Bike
- KTM 1290 Super Adventure
As some of you know, I have been testing a 150/70-18 K60 tyre for a while now, this is what transpired:
I fitted it to my KTM 990 in March, and after a quick shake down run left for a 4000km trip to Namibia, with pillion and luggage. The trip was around 3000km tar and 1000km dirt, during this time I pumped the tyre to normal road pressures, 2.5 bar, deflated to 1.8 bar for dirt use, stayed at 1.8 bar for the tar stretches inbetween dirt stretches, rode at speeds of 140+ with soft tyres, lots of heat build up, completed the trip, then did a high speed run to Durban and back, tyre pumped to 2.5bar, totally abused the tyre as any KTM can, hard acceleration, high speed cornering, just no burn-outs.
I then did another 4000km trip through Zimbabwe, mostly tar, with pillion and luggage again, tyre pumped to 2.5 bar, We did some dirt, left the tyre pumped hard. Since my return I have done about 1000km more, thrashing it at every opportunity. The tyre has now done a bit more than 10 000km, mostly tar, (Tar testing is the best way, tyre failure is mostly on tar, no use testing on dirt all the way, unless you want dirt grip results, we were looking for tyre wear and tar road grip)
The tyre started out with 12mm tread depth, there is now 4mm tread left, still good for another 2-3000km, (I throw a tyre away at 2mm tread depth) it has been removed because I'm testing a different tyre at the moment.
My impressions were that the tyre lasted well, (I prefer faster wear and better grip to less grip and slow wear, I kill a Scorpion in 4000km riding the same way I have been riding with the Heidenau) tar grip was very good, with 'catchable' slides under duress, wet weather grip was far better than I expected, and dirt traction was very good, we encountered some very thick sand in Namibia, never got stuck once.
As seen in the pictures, there is a lower bridge between the big blocks, once the tyre wears to about 60% the centre section becomes continous, and wear appears to slow down.
The 150/70-18 tyres that arrive soon will have the same pattern, the 150/70-17 tyres will have a slightly different pattern to the 18" tyre, which have also been successfully tested on various big bore bikes recently.
All other trips I have done cost me a tyre a trip, never before have I been able to do two long trips, loaded as I was, on the same tyre, with rubber to spare.....
Pictures below:
Varios places in Namibia as the tyre wore down
The bike as it was loaded.
The tyre as it is now, with vernier measuring tread depth.
I fitted it to my KTM 990 in March, and after a quick shake down run left for a 4000km trip to Namibia, with pillion and luggage. The trip was around 3000km tar and 1000km dirt, during this time I pumped the tyre to normal road pressures, 2.5 bar, deflated to 1.8 bar for dirt use, stayed at 1.8 bar for the tar stretches inbetween dirt stretches, rode at speeds of 140+ with soft tyres, lots of heat build up, completed the trip, then did a high speed run to Durban and back, tyre pumped to 2.5bar, totally abused the tyre as any KTM can, hard acceleration, high speed cornering, just no burn-outs.
I then did another 4000km trip through Zimbabwe, mostly tar, with pillion and luggage again, tyre pumped to 2.5 bar, We did some dirt, left the tyre pumped hard. Since my return I have done about 1000km more, thrashing it at every opportunity. The tyre has now done a bit more than 10 000km, mostly tar, (Tar testing is the best way, tyre failure is mostly on tar, no use testing on dirt all the way, unless you want dirt grip results, we were looking for tyre wear and tar road grip)
The tyre started out with 12mm tread depth, there is now 4mm tread left, still good for another 2-3000km, (I throw a tyre away at 2mm tread depth) it has been removed because I'm testing a different tyre at the moment.
My impressions were that the tyre lasted well, (I prefer faster wear and better grip to less grip and slow wear, I kill a Scorpion in 4000km riding the same way I have been riding with the Heidenau) tar grip was very good, with 'catchable' slides under duress, wet weather grip was far better than I expected, and dirt traction was very good, we encountered some very thick sand in Namibia, never got stuck once.
As seen in the pictures, there is a lower bridge between the big blocks, once the tyre wears to about 60% the centre section becomes continous, and wear appears to slow down.
The 150/70-18 tyres that arrive soon will have the same pattern, the 150/70-17 tyres will have a slightly different pattern to the 18" tyre, which have also been successfully tested on various big bore bikes recently.
All other trips I have done cost me a tyre a trip, never before have I been able to do two long trips, loaded as I was, on the same tyre, with rubber to spare.....
Pictures below:
Varios places in Namibia as the tyre wore down
The bike as it was loaded.
The tyre as it is now, with vernier measuring tread depth.
