NC700X Photos

[Hondalf the Grey]

View attachment 45882

Up on the Kimsey Highway last Friday.

The scenic yet remote Kimsey Mountain Highway in TN

Kimsey Mountain Highway is the name of a scenic drive through a t

www.dangerousroads.org

What kind of tires are you using on the rougher roads? I don't trust the stock tires on gravel roads, and I'm looking for something a tad more aggressive.

 

[Hondalf the Grey]

I have a 2015 NC700X DCT. Bought it a year ago with only 1,400 miles on it. I have added a Madstad Shield, Shad seat, and a center stand.

Was the center stand reasonably easy to install?

 

[dduelin]

What kind of tires are you using on the rougher roads? I don't trust the stock tires on gravel roads, and I'm looking for something a tad more aggressive.

My bike is on 100% street Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires.

 

[melensdad]

What kind of tires are you using on the rougher roads? I don't trust the stock tires on gravel roads, and I'm looking for something a tad more aggressive.

Michelin Road 5 tires on both of our NC7--X bikes. NOT the best choice for gravel.

And we have quite a bit of gravel roads in my area. I'd actually like to try the new MUTANT tire from Dunlop.

Mutant | Dunlop Motorcycle

Mutant is what you might expect: A mutation of unique components that create one of the most versatile street tires Dunlop has ever produced.

www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com

The Michelin Road 5 tires I have are too new to change out. The Road 5 is superb for wet and dry asphalt but pretty much crap on gravel. While I have a lot of gravel roads around me, I always figured I could CHOOSE to ride on gravel or avoid gravel, but I have very little choice about avoiding rain. Rain happens, even when the forecast says it is not supposed to happen. Gravel is a known thing, it is well established. Rain is not. So I opted to choose a tire that is great (actually absolutely fantastic) in wet/dry conditions but got a tire that is also pretty much a slow speed tire on gravel.

Sadly our county road department just poured gravel on top of several of our asphalt roadways! My guess is they plan to resurface those roads with new asphalt in the spring, but for now they have been transformed into slippery roadways for bikes using road tires. I'm now surrounded by gravel but my street is asphalt.

 

[CapeMan]

What kind of tires are you using on the rougher roads? I don't trust the stock tires on gravel roads, and I'm looking for something a tad more aggressive.

I'm inclined to ride a fair amount of graded dirt/gravel when I can & have been running Conti TKC-80s for some time now, with good results. Next I'm gonna try some TKC-70 (f) and TKC-70 Rocks (rear) and see if they're any better ... or not.

 

[Hondalf the Grey]

Michelin Road 5 tires on both of our NC7--X bikes. NOT the best choice for gravel.

And we have quite a bit of gravel roads in my area. I'd actually like to try the new MUTANT tire from Dunlop.

Mutant | Dunlop Motorcycle

Mutant is what you might expect: A mutation of unique components that create one of the most versatile street tires Dunlop has ever produced.

www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com

The Michelin Road 5 tires I have are too new to change out. The Road 5 is superb for wet and dry asphalt but pretty much crap on gravel. While I have a lot of gravel roads around me, I always figured I could CHOOSE to ride on gravel or avoid gravel, but I have very little choice about avoiding rain. Rain happens, even when the forecast says it is not supposed to happen. Gravel is a known thing, it is well established. Rain is not. So I opted to choose a tire that is great (actually absolutely fantastic) in wet/dry conditions but got a tire that is also pretty much a slow speed tire on gravel.

Sadly our county road department just poured gravel on top of several of our asphalt roadways! My guess is they plan to resurface those roads with new asphalt in the spring, but for now they have been transformed into slippery roadways for bikes using road tires. I'm now surrounded by gravel but my street is asphalt.

Thanks. I appreciate that info. A lot of the roads through the countryside around here are really beautiful to ride on, but almost all of them are "tar and chip", which is a solid road base with ooey, gooey, sticky, nasty road tar/oil with "pea" gravel dumped on top. The local municipalities around here typically put up signage when they do it (summer), so I do get a warning, but you never know when you leave the house which roads are recently "oiled". After a week or so, these roads are not bad for bikes with street tires, as long as you stay in the tracks made by the car tires. My KLR250 loves stony rutted gravel roads, I just stand up on the pegs. I'm pretty sure the tires on my NC700X are the OEM's. They are Bridgestone Battleax. If they're the OEM's, they are almost ten years old and need replaced. And, it looks as though they are at least 75% worn. So, I'm going to look into new ones, with a little more aggressive tread. And, just because I want to replace them with something different than what they were wearing when they rolled off the line doesn't mean I'm disrespecting Honda. Honda is amazing, but they aren't mind readers. They have a very good idea what kinds of roads many of the NC700 riders will be on, but they don't claim to know my particular needs. Thanks!

 

[melensdad]

Thanks. I appreciate that info. A lot of the roads through the countryside around here are really beautiful to ride on, but almost all of them are "tar and chip". . .

Here in the corn belt we refer to those as "chip & seal" roads.

We have asphalt, chip & seal and gravel.

• Gravel being exactly what it sounds like.
• Chip & seal being a step up from gravel, where they typically use slag and other waste materials from the steel mills, plus crushed stone, to form a roadbed that is alternated with spray tar. If used by lighter vehicles it compacts very well and becomes a pretty good roadbed. It can't take weight from heavy traffic or trucks, but it holds up pretty well and road tires are usually fine on these roadways.
• Asphalt. But it seems like a year before they are going to rebuild the asphalt roadways in the rural areas they will spray the surface with light tar and then drop crushed stone on top of it. Which is the situation on several North/South roads around my property. The first 2 weeks it is miserable for riding. And for a solid month+ all the corners where asphalt roads meet these newly crushed stone topped roads intersect, the corners are hazards with loose stone scattered about.

As noted, I love my Michelin Road 5 tires but they do have some shortcomings. If you end up with Mutants please give us a full review. Actually if you end up with anything new, please give us a full review.