| Author | Message | ||
     Super55 |
Tried the search option with no luck in finding the answers I need, so forgive me if this is the bazillionith time you've had to endure this thread. I picked up a used 08 Ulysses about 3 months ago. It came with Pirelli Angels, which have worked great. Tried it off-road and wasn't impressed. I'm looking for a good all around tire that will work on unpaved roads/fire trails that will still give me good mileage on the road. I have looked at a lot of threads and from what I can tell it's good road tires with poor off road performance or good trail tire with short road life. Anybody found a good hybrid? At least 90% of my riding will be on the road, so I don't need nobbies, just something I won't kill myself with when I do some light trail riding. Thanks in advance. | ||
| Zane |
For the road, I've been very happy with my Michelin Road Pilot II's. I have just over 10,000 miles on them and while the back is kind of flattened out in the center, they still handles better than I can ride. I expect to get another 5k out of them. I do ride pretty gently most the time. I can't speak to how they would do on gravel or dirt. I suspect not all that great. But if 90% of your riding is pavement, give them some thought. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Pirelli scorpion trails. They are spendy but probably your best bet. | ||
| Dave186 |
I just put PR2's on my Uly. First thing I did was take it down some gravel roads, only about 5 miles but they seemed to do just as good as the dunlops I took off. I mostly use the bike to commute to work so a long lasting tire was more important than off road. In my search for the perfect tire I came across the Metzeler Tourance Next, looks like a great choice for the Uly but its not available yet. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I've had Dunlop D616's on my Uly for 30k miles now (not the same set, obviously...). Pavement, gravel, dirt, sand, mud, wet grass, moderate rocky trails...love 'em. Very little need to adjust riding style when changing terrain, other than your basic "hey, I'm on gravel...". They are also AWESOME in the rain - I've hit standing water and haven't lost it with these tires. They're inexpensive...and they handle the Dragon just fine as well   | ||
| Super55 |
Thanks guys. Ratbuell, what type of life are you getting out of the D616's? From what I've read that's the downside to those. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I get 10-12k out of a front, 5-7k rear. Solo/unloaded I run 38/40psi f/r and don't have any of the dreaded "cupping" issues. All three bags and/or a passenger, I up it to 40/42 f/r. My all-pavement bikes, I do run Pilot Roads - the S1W has PR3's and the S2 has PR2's (the S2 was re-shod before the S1W). The CR will probably get PR3's when its tires wear out. I won't ride the others on wet grass with the PR's...but I'll do 50 on gravel on the Uly with the 616s without a second thought. For the Uly, I go for thick carcass, good tread, and not having to think twice when I find "that road"...and it happens to be unpaved. That's what a Uly is for, right? If the only tradeoff is some tread life...I'm good with that. | ||
| Super55 |
Thanks for the info Ratbuell | ||
| Zane |
Does anybody know story on PR2's verse PR3's. Are the 3's a replacement for the 2's or do they do the fill a different need? I'm 100% on the road use my XT for daily commute, errands and torque therapy. The only time I've been off road was when I set up for a left hand curve, misjudged and ran off the shoulder of the road. I stayed up but my ego got laid down hard. | ||
| Tootal |
The Pirelli Scorpion Trails are a dual compound tire, like the PR2 and 3's, that last much longer. The carcass is much thicker than the Pirelli Syncs were yet not as thick as the Dunlops. They handle rain really well and off pavement they've done well for me. You want to stay away from deep sand and mud but you want to do that anyway with a Uly! | ||
| Ratbuell |
PR3's are the "updated" PR2; a replacement. | ||
| Luftkoph |
How come froggy hasn't chimed in, I thought his I phone had a 616 alarm. Me like 616 to esp. In wet | ||
| Reepicheep |
I really liked the Pirelli Scorpion Syncs on my XB9SX, but they were used up way to fast on my Uly, and when gone have a carcass with less strength than some candy wrappers. I switched to the PR2's for the Uly because I found some cheap, and love them. I'd take them on gravel, carefully, but not on wet grass or mud. If I got another set of Pirelli's (and I might), I'd get the Scorpion Trails for the Uly. I'd still do the Sync's if I had another 9S though. Never tried the Dunlop 616's. I was thinking of taking the Uly on a long dual sport in the Upper Peninsula in MI, for that I would have gotten the very expensive new continental light knobbies (forget the name). But even then, it's in the "enjoy it because it is such an ill conceived adventure" category, not the "good idea" category. Ultimately, I decided I'll just take the KDX-200 on the UP ride. $1000 for the bike, $150 for the tires, and I can lift the entire bike over a fallen tree by myself if necessary. | ||
| Dtaylor |
I bought my '08 Uly in the Autumn of 2011, and have gone through three rear tires and two front tires. I safetied the bike with a Pirelli Angel on the front and a Pirelli Diablo on the rear; the shop didn't have any dual-sport tires in my size. I rode a lot of gravel with those tires, and didn't mind it one bit, but that's the gnarliest stuff they saw. I changed them both at 10,500 km (~6500 mi). The rear was done, and the front *might* have gone 1/3 more. The replacements were Dunlop D616s. The rear lasted a paltry 5400 km (~3300 mi), probably on account of two days of slabbing it to Kentucky and back last summer in very hot weather, packed to the gunwales. The rear could've gone a *little* longer, but was swapped out for a trip. The front is still going at 12700 km (~7800 mi). I swapped in a rear Scorpion Trail for a trip to Nova Scotia last fall. It was in use for 7300 km (~4500 mi). From the reports of others, I expected this tire to wear a little better than it did. It still has enough tread for a couple thousand km, but a slow leak (embedded nail) prompted me to install my new 2010 wheel with a fresh D616. I like the appearance, the grip, and the price the D616's. Their potential on the pavement and on dirt far exceed my skill level. I think I'll stick with them for awhile. (Message edited by dtaylor on March 18, 2013) | ||
| Luftkoph |
sorry to hiack reepicheep if your going in the eastern end of the U.P. let me know we go dirty every weekend from late april till snow | ||
| Hughlysses |
I found this interesting ADV tire comparison a while back: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=pt_PT&h l=pt_PT&key=0AlnwXcsYa4QXdENrSTgwOEJfVGQ3Q1ctTHpBb 0k4V3c&output=html | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Dunlop D616 | ||
| Arcticktm |
hijack alert #2: Reepi - good call on taking the KDX, I think. I did much of the Carolina Corner Carvers UP dual sport many years ago (pre-Buell) on my '01 KTM 640. That was a great ride and bike for it. The KDX might be a bit short on legs for some of the road, but nothing a lower speed won't cure. Would not have been happy on the Buell, though I supposed I would have survived. And taken MUCH longer! Oh yeah - I currently run Mich PR3's and they seem excellent, but I would not consider them for extended dirt/gravel unless it was dry out. I did not like the short life or street handling of the D616's as well, but they are certainly a good choice for a lot of mixed riding. Better in dirt roads than the Scorpion Syncs, and certainly better than the Trails, IMHO. I have run all of these tires, as well as PR2's and Dunlop Roadsmarts on my Uly. Now it's not a hijack! | ||
| Wbrisett |
Those who are serious about taking their Uly into unknown territories might want to consider the Continental TKC 80 for the front (now made in a 120/70-17 size!) and something like the Pirelli Scorpion Trail for the rear. I use a similar setup on GSA for long distance touring where I knew I would also be taking it in the dirt. I used the syncs before the trials pretty much exclusively on the Uly previously, but you did wear them out pretty quickly. I don't know how the Uly will handle such a mix of tires, but I would think it would handle them about as well as the BMW. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Thanks Luft and Arctic. We will see how the trip pans out. The guy planning it is married to a woman that grew up there, and she pointed out that there will likely be places on the trails blocked by fallen trees that could be hard or impossible to ride around. So you pretty much need a bike that three guys can lift over a 4 foot high obstacle. Trying to bring the Uly would have made for some great photo ops and laughs though! | ||
| Hoover_uly |
I just installed scorpion trails and they are nice tires but I may regret not getting the Dunlop 616 instead. Dirt roads around here are hard pack clay when dry and are often covered with small pebbles. It's a little like driving on marbles. It's OK when going slow but that's not much fun is it? Even paved country roads that intersect with dirt roads usually have gravel or pebbles in the intersection and if that happens in a curve it gets a little scary. I think I would prefer a more aggressive tread pattern. | ||
| Idaho_buelly |
Trails for me!!  | ||
| Super55 |
Think I've settled on a tire. Metzeler just came out with the Tourance NEXT, which from what I can tell strongly resembles the Scorpion Trails, with more of a dual compound makeup. I like the tread pattern better than on the Scorpion Trails. Thanks for all the help guys. | ||
| Super55 |
http://www.metzeler.com/site/uk/products/tyres-cat alogue/Tourance-next.html http://blog.revzilla.com/2013/03/next-up-metzeler- tourance-next-tires.html | ||
| Wbrisett |
FYI, the older Tourance is what a lot of folks who run the TKC on the front of their GS's run on the rear. I haven't used the full set of Tourances, but the rear seemed to wear very well under heavy loads and stood up well in the dirt. Wayne | ||
| Tootal |
Super55, thanks for letting us know about the new Metzeler. I've run Metzeler's for years on all my bikes but they didn't make what I wanted for the Uly so I ended up with the Pirelli Trails, which I do like. Now Pirelli owns Metzeler so I'm sure there is a little inner office competition going on, nice to see Metzeler finally make exactly what I was looking for! | ||
| Super55 |
No problem Tootal. So far it looks like bike bandit is the only vendor that has them. Now I have to figure out how to pay for them. |
