[Mark H]

Hi,

Let me apologise first for repeating my question, but first time I added it to an existing thread and it may not have had the visibility it needed. I'm just about to buy new tires for two GS and would appreciate the wisdom of this forum.

We have Anakee III on now and these are the second set. I must say I've been happy with these and can't say I notice the noise others talk about. For off-road (hard packed dirt or solid gravel type fire roads) they have been fine, but we try not to push them into soft sand or mud. I notice they do square off a little on the rear though.

With our next long distance trip in the US and Canada coming up in May (16,000 km / 10,000 mi over 5 weeks) I was thinking of switching to the TKC 70, but we will only be off-road for less than 500 miles (5%) so it seems like too much of a compromise for the more sport riding on the mountain twisties that we crave to be going for anything more than a 90/10 or even 95/5.

I had not considered the Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 that was discussed in the other thread, but had been looking at the Continental Trail Attack II as a possible option over another set of Anakee III.

Does anyone have an opinion on how the Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 compare to the Continental Trail Attack II?:nerd:
I'm interested in long wear (one set for the 10,000 miles would be great). We don't thrash our bikes and the roads in the US are so much better than those around most of Australia. We enjoy a sure footed sports riding experience (as much as you get on the GS) and will take these off-road for a little backroad adventure, so something that is at the very least equal to the Anakee III off-road would be fine.

I know it's all very subjective and hard to compare apples with apples, but the reviews for the Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 and their win in the enduro street tire comparison by German magazine Motorrad is compelling.

 

[justwant2ride]

you might compare the tread design and see which one you believe would be the better "rain" tire (which one will do a better job of flushing the rain off the tire quickly).

 

[miwal]

I recently installed a set of Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 tires on my 1200GSA and I am very happy with them. However, I do not take my GSA off road, unless you count crossing a section of gravel road to get to the next section of pavement. That said, I didn't purchase something like the Pilot Road 4's because I actually do end up off pavement here in Ireland every so often, just trying to get where I'm going.

While they may say that this type of tire is 95/5, to me that means "you can cross groomed dirt/gravel roads at a moderate speed". I would never consider such tires for any kind of serious off road riding.

If you have 500 random miles sprinkled throughout the 10,000 mile trip, they would probably work well for you. But if you have whole days of off road riding, they may not be very enjoyable. However, that may just be me, as I'm not really a fan of off road riding.

Hope that is of some help, though it didn't at all answer your question of Pirelli vs Continental...

 

[Ekoteko]

Pirelli

The Pirelli is great on dry and wet. A great mileage.
Really the tire for GS. I did 17000km with my last set with out any problems. I did even couple of track days with it and had fun..

Jussi,
Finland

 

[bmw_rider]

Friend with a Ducati 1200 Enduro with OEM Scorpion Trail 2's. He has done 10,000km and there is probably another 5000km in rear and more in front. We went on the same 3500km trip. My Anakees lasted 9000km F & 8000km R and now near 5000km into a rear my Tourance Next tread depth is 1mm off what his rear tire is at 10,000km. WTF
I put my tire wear down to the bottom end torque of the GS and my right wrist but i am deliberately taking it easy with the Tourance Next (riding it in 'Rain' mode even FFS) but it does not seem to be working.
I shall have to try a Scorpion Trail 2 methinks.

I have read varying reports on the Trail Attack 2, some saying it is a better road tire and some saying it is a better unsealed road tire than Metzeler or Pirelli.

So many tires to try and so little money to do so :frown2:

 

[OldButNotDead]

I have the Scorpions on now but only have about 3.5K miles but they are looking good for a lot more. Had an Attack on the rear which I changed out for the Scorpions at 4.4K but it should have gone to 5K without any problem. My Anakee III went about 7.5k on the rear and still had a lot of miles to go. A Michelin PR4 Trail on the rear was toast at 3.5K. The Attack and Scorpion both handle great on the road with the Scorpion probably having the edge.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I really like the Scorpion Trail 2 s; this is my third set, first on a GS, though I ran a rear with an Anakkee front prior to this pair. I had 8800 miles on the rear with tread left before wear bars. Just did a 6k mile trip to Nova Scotia, complete with dealing with Nate on the way home. Very sure footed in the wet. I felt 2 tar snakes on the entire trip, both on the rear...that's it!

I did the new set on the way up, an had a good 5k on them since. I looked at the Trail Attack just to look at something different. Read reviews, etc. Nothing I read suggested to me that they were BETTER than the Scorpions, and I had good experience with the scorpions, so I just went with them. Happy customer.

I came across a bit of dirt along the way, and I did Meat Cove and Mt Washington, both have sections of hard packed dirt, but with a fair amount of round marble sized rocks on top. Yes, there was some dancing, yes, there were tightened sphincters, but nothing close to a spill. But they are not knobbies, right?

I faced the choice you propose and chose the scorpions and do not regret it.