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KTM Big Bike Tire Thread

Bigtallbastard

Voice of Reason
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May as well get this one started. These are the tires I have used on big bike and why I like them or dislike them. I go for tires with a stiffer sidewall because Central Oregon is full of sharp baby head rocks, lots of lava and gnarly shit out here.

TKC80s
Decent offroad traction, lasted about 900 miles on the rear of the 1090, great road manners and pavement traction, front is terrible in the mud, sidewall is made from Japanese rice paper

Dunlop 908RR on the rear
The original gnarly big bike tire, able to throw roost into your neighbor's yard, stiff sidewall, stiff tread, was only available in a 140 for years so it was square on the rim. It was really expensive but the price has come down. Still kind of expensive. Did not last long and was not confidence inspiring on wet pavement. I never ran a 908 front because I thought it would kill me on wet pavement.

Motoz Tractionator Adventure rear
Great tire, great traction, great wear properties, stiff sidewall to protect the rim, pretty long life but I can't remember exact mileage before I took it off. This would be my go to for TAT or Baja.

Motoz Tractionator Rallz rear
Same as above, great traction, stiff sidewall, great road traction and manners but it is wearing a little faster. Performance wise the Rallz and Adventure are close enough to each other I would run whichever is available, the Rallz gets the nod for dedicated off road prowess and the standard Adventure get the nod if there is going to be more long distance pavement as well as off road.

Motoz Tractionator front
The dirt performance is excellent and it has a great stiff sidewall. I had to ride one of these more than 12 miles of sand and gravel after it deflated and came off the bead. (bending KTM front rims will be another thread). The initial high speed pavement handling was a little sketchy. It would start shaking its head and was not confidence inspiring. A friend experienced the same thing with the Rallz front on his 790R. Once the tire had some wear it settled down and quit doing that. The front is just starting to cup but any knobby used on these bikes will do that.

Pirelli Scorpion MT 90 front and rear
These were the stock tires on the 990 Adventure R and I am actually still a big fan. Decent sidewall but not nearly as tough as the Motoz. Good wear properties, good traction in dry conditions, not a mud tire but would do as well as any of the current crop of 70-30 tires like the TKC70, etc. They were great on the pavement but the front did have a funky little oscillation if you let go of the bars. The minute you put your hands back on the bars it was enough to stop it. Its an older tire but still a player.

Mitas E09 Dakar front
Its in my garage waiting for the Motoz to wear out. The knobs are smaller than a TKC80 but the sidewall is as stiff as the Motoz maybe more so. I've been told it won't last long so we will see.
 
Ran tkc 70s for awhile and liked them went in for new tires a couple months ago they didn’t have the tkc so I ended up with pirrelli scorpions mt90 and absolutely love them good traction on and off road no problems with vibration and so far holding up good on wear. Will definitely consider another set!
 
Ran tkc 70s for awhile and liked them went in for new tires a couple months ago they didn’t have the tkc so I ended up with pirrelli scorpions mt90 and absolutely love them good traction on and off road no problems with vibration and so far holding up good on wear. Will definitely consider another set!
I'll be curious how many miles you get out of them. I changed mine before they were done
 
TKC80s
Decent offroad traction, lasted about 900 miles on the rear of the 1090, great road manners and pavement traction, front is terrible in the mud, sidewall is made from Japanese rice paper
My front rim wants to let you know that the TKC80's sidewall is actually made from moist Japanese rice paper.
 
I bent my KTM front rim with a Rallz on a dirt road at street PSI. It's the rim that's made of rice, not the tire. Well maybe the tire too.
 
I bent my KTM front rim with a Rallz on a dirt road at street PSI. It's the rim that's made of rice, not the tire. Well maybe the tire too.
The rim is made of playdoh. I ended up with a 2.15 tube type rim on the front after bending the front rim. I didn't hit anything in particular, my rim got a couple "Wows" in it from a mile long stretch of 1 foot whoops at 50mph. The 2.5 inch tubeless rim is too wide and soft to hold up to hard off road use. I ride with 3 guys, two on 990s and one on a 790R. Three of us have replaced the front rim while the last guy has a tube in it and runs it bent.
 
I was ready to sell the SE until I tried a 150 shinko 805. Transformed the street handling.

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I went through a few different tires on the Aprilia looking for a good all around tire. I had a lot fewer to choose from, because it takes a 180 wide rear.

Pirelli Scorpion Trail: Basically a street tire. Slightly better due to carcass strength, but still basically like riding on ball bearings off road.

TKC80: Much better traction off road. Terrible braking traction on asphalt. Decent road handling when new. As it wore down, however, it began to cause serious speed wobbles while leaned over at any significant speed. I took them off early for safety reasons.

Pirelli MT60: I finally found the Goldie Locks of tires. They handle like a street tire on asphalt, especially on poor condition roads like we have in California. Patches, old pavement, etc they just eat it up. Drop 3 psi, and they become an excellent dirt tire. Very good traction, braking etc. With their small knobbies, they are not great in sand or mud, but certainly usable. They do wear out fast, as they were originally designed as a rain tire. I get about 3000 miles from a rear tire, which is actually better than I got from the TKC80.

1645018333065.png
 
I went through a few different tires on the Aprilia looking for a good all around tire. I had a lot fewer to choose from, because it takes a 180 wide rear.

Pirelli Scorpion Trail: Basically a street tire. Slightly better due to carcass strength, but still basically like riding on ball bearings off road.

TKC80: Much better traction off road. Terrible braking traction on asphalt. Decent road handling when new. As it wore down, however, it began to cause serious speed wobbles while leaned over at any significant speed. I took them off early for safety reasons.

Pirelli MT60: I finally found the Goldie Locks of tires. They handle like a street tire on asphalt, especially on poor condition roads like we have in California. Patches, old pavement, etc they just eat it up. Drop 3 psi, and they become an excellent dirt tire. Very good traction, braking etc. With their small knobbies, they are not great in sand or mud, but certainly usable. They do wear out fast, as they were originally designed as a rain tire. I get about 3000 miles from a rear tire, which is actually better than I got from the TKC80.

1645018333065.png
I ran one of those on the back of my 1st Gen Multi Strada. I am a fan but you are correct about the wear, not a long lasting tire but very competent.
 
I bent my KTM front rim with a Rallz on a dirt road at street PSI. It's the rim that's made of rice, not the tire. Well maybe the tire too.
Excel rim bent! I unfortunately went with the tubed version of the TKC80 not knowing that it was even floppier than the tubeless one.
 
I had to break down and add a tube to my front rim on the 1290 r, too many dingers to hold air tubeless…

My question is what is the goto rim to look for if I wanted to go back to tubeless, narrower, fits well with brakes and hub….. is there one that fits perfect? I remember with another KTM the spokes were laced oddly and was harder to find the right rim.

Thanks
 
When I was sorting this out in 2020 I had a long discussion with Woody's Wheels and several other wheel people and the unfortunate answer is there isn't one. The 2.5 inch wide front rim is just too wide and soft for serious off road work. No one makes a narrower tubeless 21" rim with the safety beads needed to run tubeless safely.

What I was told by Woody's is they can seal a narrower rim so it won't leak but you have to run higher pressures so it doesn't unseat with the lack of safety bead. They have you sign a waiver if they build one of these for you. Lots of people have sealed these narrower rims and run them tubeless but you will need to run close to street air pressure all the time. We air down to the mid 20s when off road and I was told that probably wasn't a good idea with the narrow 21 tubeless set up.

Lots of guys go the 1.85 width rim for better off road performance and rim protection but you are running a tube. I went with the Excel Takasago 2.15 width because it is a much stronger rim and I didn't want to compromise the on road handling. I had it laced to my stock hub but it has a tube in it.
Some will say the narrower rim has no effect on handling some say it does. You'll have to do your own interpretation of that. Final answer, If you go to a stronger rim it will need to be more narrow and you are going to have a tube in it.
 
Ya man. I’m headed down the continental divide from Salida to Mexico in a couple months. I know the e07 rear will do the job but alternatives never hurt. Thinking about another Shinko 705 rear and my current Michelin Anakee Wild front as they get like 10k for a front. Looking at a 7k mile trip.
 
I was tempted by the price of the Shinko, the big lug one, so I put one on my 1290….
It’s half as much money because it lasts half as long, bottom line.
 
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