Hey all. My 04 650 is the most road oriented bike I've owned to date.
(Klx, klr, T700 now strom)

I'm commuting about 100km/day, on mostly highway. And as such am interested in getting proper highway tires. However, I enjoy exploring backroads, and gravel performance (mainly braking) is important.
For anyone who has gone from or too a road tire, is it considerably worse in the gravel than say a 50/50 tire?
For mostly commuting do you think it's worth it?

Thanks,

Matt

Yes!

 

Hey all. My 04 650 is the most road oriented bike I've owned to date.
(Klx, klr, T700 now strom)

I'm commuting about 100km/day, on mostly highway. And as such am interested in getting proper highway tires. However, I enjoy exploring backroads, and gravel performance (mainly braking) is important.
For anyone who has gone from or too a road tire, is it considerably worse in the gravel than say a 50/50 tire?
For mostly commuting do you think it's worth it?

Thanks,

Matt

Yes!

Yes? To what? Yes it's worse? Yes it's worth it?

 

I would rather "commute" on 50\50 tires than ride gravel on street based tires. Pavement is mostly a way for me to get to where the pavement ends.

 

In the past I have always done similar, and tended to agree.. but the strom is not an offroad bike. And I won't be doing offroad. And I realistically do 95% highway. So the road certainly isn't a means to the dirt.

 

I'd rather have a street tire on a bike that is mostly on the street. I have a feeling that this is one of those things in the category of - try it out and see what works with your riding style on the various surfaces. I did about 15 miles on pretty loose gravel with my FJR last weekend and it was fine as long as I was not doing any strong front braking - but on gravel I tend to use rear and compression braking and pretty much leave the front alone.

 

Good advice old jeep, AND likely what I will have to do. But 😵😵 tires are expensive these days. It will be a several year commitment regardless of what I choose.

 

It's not easy to grab the concept of 50/50, 60/40, etc. Until you experience it. That kind of tire will be 50% worse on tarmac & 50% of optimum on gravel.
Which one do you want to sacrifice? I agree with oldjeep. Keep the street tire, for safety, & take it easy in the gravel.

 

I love these - Avon Trailrider AV53 and AV54 - Adventure Motorcycle Tyres. UK stock. FAST DELIVERY.

They should be perfect for what you want.

 

Have these on my CRF, fine on both, on my road only 650 road 6s ....

 

I took a vstrom 650 with an Anakee 3 front up and down the Dalton. Not a great idea, I thought all the reports of horrible slippery surface were like fish stories, but... it really is that bad.

Maybe you can do it, but you probably won't have much fun.

 

Just as a guide, I'm thinking of a k60 scout or trail max mission type tires, or do I run a road tire like a TKC 70 maybe anakee 3 type?

Not thinking of going pure street based.

 

Tires are a very personal thing, if you don't have confidence in them they are a waste of money.

I love my dirt rides and love my anakee 3's on all surfaces, yes they are a compromise on some dirt surfaces but I have confidence they will do the job, road and wet weather grip is great.

Some claim big miles but I don't get them, I prefer grip over longevity any way.

When I got my first strom I joined a multiday group ride, it was wet and dry on all types of surfaces, I sat behind each rider and when we stopped I looked to see what tires they were running, it was always the guys on anakee's they were doing the best that is why I tried them and I was impressed.

If you are getting the scout with the solid centre line don't, it stuffs up straight line gip.

I hated the TKC70 and dumped them at about half life, Metzler karoo are the only tires I hated more.

I have always been interested in the trail max missions but it would take a lot for me to give up on the anakee 3's

Many of my mates ride pure road bikes on dirt with me, yes they are slower and not as comfortable on the dirt but the amount of time spent on dirt is a fraction of the time spent on the hard stuff.

 

Take a look at the Shinko 705’s. They work pretty good on graded dirt and even stuff more goaty. Their pavement traction I like better than other so called dual sport tires like the Anakee III. Don’t last as long as others but for the price/performance I’m happy changing more often. (That was on my 650. I recently bought a 1050 and haven’t tried fireroads on it nor changed tires.)

For gravel I don’t think you are going to find anything good short of a knobbie tread.

Pig

 

Some street tires are passable. I wouldn't call them good, but it's allowed me to push through now and then when there's 20km of missing road surface.

Pilot Road 4/ Road 5. Not much use in wet conditions. Just air them down to 28PSI rather than leaving them at road pressures . That's a big help when you hit gravel.

Scorpion Trail was the best I found, reasonable road behavior, reasonable on gravel. Survivable in the wet provided there isn't deep mud.

I found K60's to be O.K., but that's me. A lot of riders found them intolerable on the seal. Those are the tire you'd run on a long trip with a lot of seal and gravel roads.

 

Scorpion trail is on the radar

 

exploring backroads, and gravel performance (mainly braking) is important.

My regular ride is commuting/travel, including highway and dual carriageway, with occasional backroads/gravel but no mud or sand. I have had the Mitas Terraforce-R since March (ca. 6000 miles). They are a 90/10, behave very well on the road and their grooves provide some place for looser surfaces to get some grip.

 

B'stone AX41's FTW!! Had them on mine for the last few years...

 

Living in Vermont, I rode dirt roads on street tires for almost two decades on my Harley before discovering ADV bikes. You can break just fine on gravel on any tire, using mainly the front, when going straight. Of course if it’s really slimy and muddy, in the rain, a 50/50 such as a TKC80 gives more confidence all around.

I rode many gravel miles on Anakee 3 and Metzeler Tourance tires. This includes over 1500 miles of gravel up in Canada in the last three years and four long trips in sometimes soft conditions. These kinds of 80/20 tires are a good compromise, in my opinion. No problem in the twisties or even on the track.

 

My $.02 worth. I have lots of miles on "street" tires on non paved surfaces. Grew up with knobbies and there is NO substitute for them in gravel, soft dirt, grass, etc. "Adventure" tires are pretty much all more of a street tire than a knobby and give up a lot of good street grip to do even that. There are a few tires that are not full knobbies, yet are DOT legal and if I rode more off pavement than on ( meaning use pavement to get to where I wanted to ride) they would work fine.
NOTHING works all that well in several inches of loose gravel ( or sand ). Higher speed and transferring weight to the rear help there, but in the end you will have to slow or stop eventually. That is where some regret going into soft or loose areas.
In most cases dirt or gravel roads have packed areas to travel. Tire tracks for instance. Street tires work just fine there. But in NO case do street tires want to be anywhere near a wet off road surface or a couple inches of mud! You CAN do just fine with street tires as long as you stay out of the wet or muddy areas. My RT likely has more off pavement miles than many GS do!
Note "off road" is not mentioned till now. "Off road" is not a happy place for the typical V Strom...or its rider.

 

My $.02 worth. I have lots of miles on "street" tires on non paved surfaces. Grew up with knobbies and there is NO substitute for them in gravel, soft dirt, grass, etc. "Adventure" tires are pretty much all more of a street tire than a knobby and give up a lot of good street grip to do even that. There are a few tires that are not full knobbies, yet are DOT legal and if I rode more off pavement than on ( meaning use pavement to get to where I wanted to ride) they would work fine.
NOTHING works all that well in several inches of loose gravel ( or sand ). Higher speed and transferring weight to the rear help there, but in the end you will have to slow or stop eventually. That is where some regret going into soft or loose areas.
In most cases dirt or gravel roads have packed areas to travel. Tire tracks for instance. Street tires work just fine there. But in NO case do street tires want to be anywhere near a wet off road surface or a couple inches of mud! You CAN do just fine with street tires as long as you stay out of the wet or muddy areas. My RT likely has more off pavement miles than many GS do!
Note "off road" is not mentioned till now. "Off road" is not a happy place for the typical V Strom...or its rider.

 

You’ll cuss the bike’s weight long before you reach the limitations of ANY tire you choose.

 

Well.... to be fair, I DO have a record of taking heavy bikes foolish places.
This is EXACTLY what I want to avoid with the strom. I don't want to hurt her😅

 

The nearest I've come to a true dual purpose tire was the K60, I rode with those on a 650 on single track, deep sand, mud without problems. However, it has some quirks that make it a less than ideal tire on seal. Virtues were that it did do O.K. on dirt and it had a decent life. TKC80's were 'better' on dirt in that I could corner faster but wore out really quickly on seal and caused handling issues I found worse than those of the K60. I liked Scorpion Trails, but they didn't handle tough offroad as well as the K60's.

The essence of this is:

Pick the tire that'll get you through the worst conditions you REALISTICALLY expect without causing you to crash, and put up with the limitations elsewhere. There is no unicorn tire.

 

Hey all. My 04 650 is the most road oriented bike I've owned to date.
(Klx, klr, T700 now strom)

I'm commuting about 100km/day, on mostly highway. And as such am interested in getting proper highway tires. However, I enjoy exploring backroads, and gravel performance (mainly braking) is important.
For anyone who has gone from or too a road tire, is it considerably worse in the gravel than say a 50/50 tire?
For mostly commuting do you think it's worth it?

Thanks,

Matt

You ask a valid tire question, but you'll likely get so many different responses that it may not be helpful. We all have different riding styles and abilities. My father, trained as a WW2 motorcycle courier and later a THP motorcycle patrol man never felt the need to change tires from road to dirt, just adapted his electra-glide riding style.
Me, I'm not near as skilled so I use Michelin Anakee tires on my 2018 VSTROM 1000 and am content. I was comfortable with the OEM trail wings on my 2006 VStrom 650 for what you have in mind. Deep gravel just plain sucks, whether on my trail bike, vstrom or Jeep Rubicon. You need to accelerate to get on top of it then half the time you're back into slowing down in squirrelly substance for the next phase. Love dirt, hate (deep) gravel...

 

Thanks all. I'm not looking for a specific tire recommendation, more so a general guideline.

Regardless, after reading through the many responses, I think i will try something in that 80-90% road range. Maybe even go to a dual compound rear to get and get some milage from it.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

Hey all. My 04 650 is the most road oriented bike I've owned to date.
(Klx, klr, T700 now strom)

I'm commuting about 100km/day, on mostly highway. And as such am interested in getting proper highway tires. However, I enjoy exploring backroads, and gravel performance (mainly braking) is important.
For anyone who has gone from or too a road tire, is it considerably worse in the gravel than say a 50/50 tire?
For mostly commuting do you think it's worth it?

Thanks,

Matt

I have gone to a 90/10 Michelin Anakee Road. They are great on pavement which is primarily what I do on my 2012 Vee. But they also handle gravel roads well. I wouldn’t go and do the Colorado bdr on them or anything but for just messing around they seem to be great.

 

For anyone who has gone from or too a road tire, is it considerably worse in the gravel than say a 50/50 tire?
For mostly commuting do you think it's worth it?

** OPINION** Yes, it is worse. Do you care? If you are a road rider, and somewhat competent, then gravel roads won't hurt you - just be cautious.

Up here in VT/NH, gravel roads are EVERYWHERE. If everyone put 50/50 tires on, it would be crazy. I ride with a guy who takes his FJR with street tires on all of the gravel roads. We just don't turn at the Class IV (unmaintained) roads. No worries.

Is it worth keeping a 50/50? In my opinion - Nope. I LOOK for gravel roads and light Class IV/Class VI, so I really go between knobbies and Trailmax Missions. If I were mostly commuting on asphalt, I would absolutely put on a road tire (but an "all season" with some tread). I would want better traction on the road (dry and wet) and better wear. Just take it easy on the gravel, and stay out of the mud!

 

For anyone who has gone from or too a road tire, is it considerably worse in the gravel than say a 50/50 tire?
For mostly commuting do you think it's worth it?

** OPINION** Yes, it is worse. Do you care? If you are a road rider, and somewhat competent, then gravel roads won't hurt you - just be cautious.

Up here in VT/NH, gravel roads are EVERYWHERE. If everyone put 50/50 tires on, it would be crazy. I ride with a guy who takes his FJR with street tires on all of the gravel roads. We just don't turn at the Class IV (unmaintained) roads. No worries.

Is it worth keeping a 50/50? In my opinion - Nope. I LOOK for gravel roads and light Class IV/Class VI, so I really go between knobbies and Trailmax Missions. If I were mostly commuting on asphalt, I would absolutely put on a road tire (but an "all season" with some tread). I would want better traction on the road (dry and wet) and better wear. Just take it easy on the gravel, and stay out of the mud!

Sounds like very solid advice. And most likely what I'm planning. My main concern is loosing significant braking ability in the dirt. I live in farm country, surrounded by cottage countries. Backroads tend to have lots of intersections, and be stocked full of people looking at the scenery instead of the road.
The trailmax missions definitely fit the bill, but i think i need even less offroad prowess.
I currently have a shinko 705 on the rear, and it more than enough traction on the dirt. It's just simply a horrible, horrible tire to live with on the street. (A scorpion Mt 21 is literally better in cold or wet)

The scorpion rally STR i had on the Tenere worked wonders on the road, dirt and lasted a very long time. But still, way more than I need. I'm definitely thinking of going mostly (80-90%, whatever) street based.👍👍