[dawagh]

I'm just coming over from a K1600 GTL to a 1250 GSA. Have tried a few different brands on the K. Dunlop RS3's have proven to be the best for wear and equal best with Metzler for grip. I get between 8-10K miles of Dunlops and 7-8K on the Metzler's. Ditched the OEM Bridgestones as useless early on in proceedings. I'm holding out for RS4's but no luck here in Europe yet. The K1600 are known for eating tyres and I always ride heavily laden and do not hang around, if you're only getting 3k miles out of RS3's you must be really, really pushing the boat out bearing in mind the weight of the GTL + me + camping equipment etc as opposed to that of the GS. Enjoy, keep it blue side up and out of the tree's ;-)

Interesting topic, have had a bunch of different tyres, but changed to the TKC70's quite a while back, have now done 18,000 miles on them, mainly on road but have done some light off road too, still have a lot of tread depth left, but now beginning to get small crack appearing in the tyre so am buying a new set of the same, performance is excellent on road and off and havent seen anything better yet from me. Guessing these are not for everyone as I ride an adventure.

 

[G9T]

I love the tyre debate you never get tired of it !
Sorry treadful I know 😁

 

[Rick92040]

I like tire threads. As new tires are introduced we need to keep informed. I'm currently running Dunlop Mutant tires. These tires are amazingly sticky on the street and handle dirt roads very well. The back tire wore out at around 5k but the front looks great. I installed another Mutant back tire becuse I'm curious on how long the front will go. They are quiet going straight but the front does make noise when leaned over. I would buy these again.

 

[G9T]

That's interesting I was thinking of trying these on my 9T

 

[omnione1]

Another vote for the Metzlers from me, good compromise especially taking cost into account, they are one of the cheaper options here in the UK. Had a couple of sets Avon Trail Riders on a previous GS but they wore out a bit quicker and the grip was no better than the Metzlers..

I did have a K1600GTL a couple of years ago and it did not matter which tyres were fitted to that, I could still only get just over 3000 miles on the rear from any of them. Great fun though.

 

[Single T]

I’ve tried all
companies and types of
Tires, the best I’ve found are the Road pilot 5s by Michelin. I ride over a hundred miles a day on my GS and I’m just over 7,000 miles with these tires and about ready to buy a new set. All others like Dunlop, Metzler, etc I’ve gotten just over 3,000 miles out of them before rear tire is completely bald. If anyone has had any experiences with other tires, getting more miles, on road, please share.

I discovered Conti Trail Attack II's in 2014 (2014 R1200GS) when I replaced the Anakee III's (13,000 miles). Since then I have replaced four sets on Trail Attack averaging over 20,000 mile per set. Current set has about 13,000 miles and I ride year round in Phoenix, AZ

 

[Niiickjames]

Great thread! I've experienced poor performance and wear from the Anakee 3s a well, they grab every groove and tar snake like crazy and don't feel sticky anywhere. They're also wearing pretty fast but then again it's mostly the rear that's gone at about 5000miles and it's my first GS1200. I'll get a 50/50 tire when it's time to hit the BDRs but today I picked up some Scorpion II's. I replaced the stock Bridgestone's with them on my previous bike(DL1000) and they were confidence inspiring and long lasting so I'm really looking forward to the change. Also, in my area the BMW dealer wanted $515 for Michelin Roads(one of my backup choices along with roadmarts) claiming that was at 20% off while the Ducati shop sold me the Scorpion IIs with the higher speed ratings for $395. Now to get my tires off!

 

[big.ginge1.tc]

Does the front look as good? That's amazing getting that kind of tire wear. Do they stick in the corners?

Those tyres have never seen a decent corner by the looks of them

 

[Redcard]

Depends on your goals/needs as a rider. This is not to contradict anything already stated. There are great tires to be had today. Here's my experience so far:

Pirelli Angel GT: On my former K1600 GT. If you want sticky over longevity, these are great. I've run these on different bikes when my primary goal was to few life at an angle. I'm sure they'd be great on a GS. But probably not the right rubber for most use cases.

Dunlop RS4: On my current K1600B: All round tire. Great in the twisties, but can't run that hard with this behemoth of a bike. And great on the open road. Don't know about longevity yet, on my first set. And as mentioned the Big K eats tires. My habit has always been to change them early, when they start to underperform and way before they're completely wasted.

R1250 GS now: TKC 70 up front and Dunlop Trailmax Mission in the back. My first tires on my first GS. Well, the bike did have Bridgestones when I first bought it, but those are Barney Rubble tires. They don't count. The Big K is my all-road bike. And the GS is used on and off-road. These are surprisingly good on the road. I don't scrape my knees in the twisties, but I don't hold back either. All I can say is they're much better off-road tires than I'm a rider. I've run them at full pressure as well as 10-12 psi in a motopark. So far, so good. Why the different tires? The front TMM wasn't in stock at the time, so I chose what I determined to be the best match for my goals. Good decision so far.

 

[scootertrash213]

I’ve tried all companies and types of Tires. The best I’ve found is the Road pilot 5s by Michelin. I ride over a hundred miles daily on my GS, and I’m just over 7,000 miles with these tires and about ready to buy a new set. All others like Dunlop, Metzler, etc., I’ve got just over 3,000 miles out of them before the rear tire is completely bald. If anyone has had any experiences with other tires getting more miles on the road, please share.

i was wondering if you change just the rear when it wears out, or both tires at once. it seems I usually have to change 2 rears b4 the front needs new shoes, not on beamers but other bikes thru the years. One was a set of Q3 sport rubber on my 08 1400 concourse. From sac to Kalispel, montana and back was bald, front was fine. Good thing someone there had a road pilot3 on hand, or I was done.
The other was a vtx1800c. I changed out the rear while front was still good, then went sacto to Yosemite and the front was bald, On the sides. The center had tread so I made it home.
2 thoughts. First don’t put sticky sport rubber the back of a loaded 700 lb bike with 100 ft lb. Of torque and a happy throttle, and Vtx honda‘s shread front tires when riding hard in twistiest.
I could have checked the tread depth but no, way to lazy for that.
so change tires in sets? Or never leave for trip without fresh tread?
What do you think?
Rog out[/QUOTE]

 

[Krons]

My preference is changing both at once but sometimes on the GSA it works for two rears to one front. Kind of depends on tire and type of riding. As long as they behave somewhat similarly don’t think it matters.

 

[bosnjo]

In last 40 years it has never happened to me to change both tires on the bike simply because they have never matched their ware degree. And I have always changed more rear tires then front.
My 2021 GS was my first bike that got both tires changed at the same time because they were Anakees that i didn't like. However, after a months of problems with front tire (Road 6), the front Anakee went back onto the bike and Scorpion Trail 2 ordered as a replacement (I made a separate thread about it here) . So, it's again only one tire replaced.

 

[RuckedUp]

Good thing the OP did not state what oil is the best Ever!
⁷

 

[Rick92040]

Good thing the OP did not state what oil is the best Ever!
⁷

I know you're making a joke but tires are changing so fast it's a good idea to ask people who ride a specific way what tires they prefer.
You want to start riding in the dirt ask the people who do that all the time what tires they use.
The guy who started the thread uses street tires. While I don't like Michelin because of the soft sidewall he wanted to know what others think.
Bottom line is it's a valid thread.

 

[speedvision]

I just put Michelin Pilot 6 tires on my '07 GSA. Way to soon to judge wear (only 250 miles on them at this point), but I really like the handling! Plus they are much better than the 8 year old tires that were on it! I'll post some wear info once I have the mileage.

 

[bosnjo]

I just put Michelin Pilot 6 tires on my '07 GSA. Way to soon to judge wear (only 250 miles on them at this point), but I really like the handling! Plus they are much better than the 8 year old tires that were on it! I'll post some wear info once I have the mileage.

Try letting go handlebars for few seconds and see if the bike goes in a straigh line. I've had a problem with Road 6 (they're not called Pilot anymore) because bike would pull left.
If you don't have that problem it means Michelin had a bad batch of Road 6 that I was a victim of. They didn't want to refund or replace. I'm done with Michelin for good.

 

[speedvision]

Try letting go handlebars for few seconds and see if the bike goes in a straigh line. I've had a problem with Road 6 (they're not called Pilot anymore) because bike would pull left.
If you don't have that problem it means Michelin had a bad batch of Road 6 that I was a victim of. They didn't want to refund or replace. I'm done with Michelin for good.

I'll check it out and let you iknow.

 

[Gmachine]

I have a 2014 R1200GS with 78,000+ (s)miles and have been very happy with Conti Trail Attack II (2 sets over 20,000 miles each) and currently have Conti Trail Attack III. The IIIs were installed in May 2019 for a trip from Phoenix to Austin, Texas. From Austin rode to Sacramento, California. For my riding needs, the Contis are incredible. The Conti's are a dual compound zero-degree radial and have good warm-up characteristics, are very stable on diagonal pavement transitions, have good wet grip, and are decent on maintained dual tracks. The rear tire pictured below has about 15,000 miles.

Yes all that and very low tread noise.