- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
- Messages
- 10,814
- Reaction score
- 4,572
- Location
- Cape Town, deep in the lentils
- Bike
- KTM 990 Adventure
Initial impressions;
It sits a little narrow on the rim compared to other tires I’ve had, but it is a 130. It is a good looking tire.
There might be a few rocks that sneak onto the rim. The tire is perfectly round; I spun it up on the centre stand in 6th and there was nothing untowards. Most others that have such big knobs don’t do this well.
It stays very slippery on the tar for longer than any other I've tested. Even after repeated burn offs it is very slippery. The road was wet on the way there, a combination that needs a lot of respect.
First ride was at a higher pressure just to preserve the knobs and break it in. 2.6 kpa.
Did 90k’s on Saturday. I rode through various offroad stuff mostly very thick sand and very loose gravel, not a lot of rocks. In sand it bites really well, as good as anything I’ve tried. I could easily make it up really steep stuff with little effort. It allows less focus on keeping momentum as it accelerates in any type of sand. The big 950 is hard to lift the front when the going is soft, this tire at least tries hard.
On hard pack gravel, it seems to be much more loose than TKC’s, 908’s and Deserts? Maybe it is a function of the pressure rather than the tire. I still have to ride more as I had very little mileage on it so will have to see.
Once back onto the tar I took it up to 200kph for an instant to see how it behaved. It was very stable. Rock solid even. However for the first 100k's it is not very grippy and can easily be provoked into spinning. I can’t wheelie the bike off the throttle unless the tar is really rough. The big KTM’s have a really sharp rear brake that can easily skid any tire. This one is the worst of any I’ve tested. Even the Michelin Desert when new was better. Time will tell if it gets any better. But I am not going to go scratching round tight tar with it yet.
It has a lower profile that others I’ve tested so the rpm’s sit slightly higher. 148kph gps = 6k rpm
In its first 100k’s it’s not good on tar, but great on sand, undecided on gravel.
For the next 180k's on Sunday I rode to Grabouw, kept it at 130kph and 2.6kpa for the ride there and then once on the gravel came down to 2.1kpa.
It is not as noisy as a Desert. I like the way it rides on tar, very neutral and doesn't provoke "flop" or "standup" in corners.
However once on the gravel everything was much the same. Again it was pretty squirrelly on the gravel and can be provoked, but that particular peice of road has lots of marble type stuff on it. Also as stated above harder pressures, even though I had aired down, don’t really allow for better grip. I would put it just behind the 908 and Desert and ahead of the TKC.
Once on the single track and jeep tracks I didn’t spare it. It dug in and did its job.
Back on the sand it was pretty impressive, I like it there.
What it looks like now;
Even at my slower than normal speeds you can see the tar wear.
I can get it to move about on corners but it is predictable and progressive and it takes some ham fistedness to get to the limits. Worse than a TKC and 908, about the same as a Desert.
Sadly after only 300k’s about 6 of the central knobs have this starting. I can accept all the other wear but this is not good.
On the tar the longest distance I did was 70k’s, pretty hard acceleration from the lights but keeping it below 140 on the way there and mostly between 110kph and 120kph on the way back.
Also it has lost a bit around some of them from chunking.
I am not impressed, I have have tried to baby them on tar (way more so than any other type that I have tried) so that I could have the performance for the offroad. But maybe they just can't handle the liter class.
So overall out of 10
7 Grip in dry conditions
4 Braking in dry conditions
Not tested yet Grip in wet conditions
Not tested yet Braking in wet conditions
8 Steering behaviour / righting moment - Very neutral.
8 Driving comfort
6 Internal damping / feedback
7 Driving stability / cornering stability
3 Tyre wear
310 How many kms did you do?
Not yet Would you buy another one?
Lets see what it looks like at 1000k's.
It sits a little narrow on the rim compared to other tires I’ve had, but it is a 130. It is a good looking tire.
There might be a few rocks that sneak onto the rim. The tire is perfectly round; I spun it up on the centre stand in 6th and there was nothing untowards. Most others that have such big knobs don’t do this well.
It stays very slippery on the tar for longer than any other I've tested. Even after repeated burn offs it is very slippery. The road was wet on the way there, a combination that needs a lot of respect.
First ride was at a higher pressure just to preserve the knobs and break it in. 2.6 kpa.
Did 90k’s on Saturday. I rode through various offroad stuff mostly very thick sand and very loose gravel, not a lot of rocks. In sand it bites really well, as good as anything I’ve tried. I could easily make it up really steep stuff with little effort. It allows less focus on keeping momentum as it accelerates in any type of sand. The big 950 is hard to lift the front when the going is soft, this tire at least tries hard.
On hard pack gravel, it seems to be much more loose than TKC’s, 908’s and Deserts? Maybe it is a function of the pressure rather than the tire. I still have to ride more as I had very little mileage on it so will have to see.
Once back onto the tar I took it up to 200kph for an instant to see how it behaved. It was very stable. Rock solid even. However for the first 100k's it is not very grippy and can easily be provoked into spinning. I can’t wheelie the bike off the throttle unless the tar is really rough. The big KTM’s have a really sharp rear brake that can easily skid any tire. This one is the worst of any I’ve tested. Even the Michelin Desert when new was better. Time will tell if it gets any better. But I am not going to go scratching round tight tar with it yet.
It has a lower profile that others I’ve tested so the rpm’s sit slightly higher. 148kph gps = 6k rpm
In its first 100k’s it’s not good on tar, but great on sand, undecided on gravel.
For the next 180k's on Sunday I rode to Grabouw, kept it at 130kph and 2.6kpa for the ride there and then once on the gravel came down to 2.1kpa.
It is not as noisy as a Desert. I like the way it rides on tar, very neutral and doesn't provoke "flop" or "standup" in corners.
However once on the gravel everything was much the same. Again it was pretty squirrelly on the gravel and can be provoked, but that particular peice of road has lots of marble type stuff on it. Also as stated above harder pressures, even though I had aired down, don’t really allow for better grip. I would put it just behind the 908 and Desert and ahead of the TKC.
Once on the single track and jeep tracks I didn’t spare it. It dug in and did its job.
Back on the sand it was pretty impressive, I like it there.
What it looks like now;
Even at my slower than normal speeds you can see the tar wear.
I can get it to move about on corners but it is predictable and progressive and it takes some ham fistedness to get to the limits. Worse than a TKC and 908, about the same as a Desert.
Sadly after only 300k’s about 6 of the central knobs have this starting. I can accept all the other wear but this is not good.
On the tar the longest distance I did was 70k’s, pretty hard acceleration from the lights but keeping it below 140 on the way there and mostly between 110kph and 120kph on the way back.
Also it has lost a bit around some of them from chunking.
I am not impressed, I have have tried to baby them on tar (way more so than any other type that I have tried) so that I could have the performance for the offroad. But maybe they just can't handle the liter class.
So overall out of 10
7 Grip in dry conditions
4 Braking in dry conditions
Not tested yet Grip in wet conditions
Not tested yet Braking in wet conditions
8 Steering behaviour / righting moment - Very neutral.
8 Driving comfort
6 Internal damping / feedback
7 Driving stability / cornering stability
3 Tyre wear
310 How many kms did you do?
Not yet Would you buy another one?
Lets see what it looks like at 1000k's.
