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Tire Recommendation for Commuting and Light Off-road

Naked_Duc

Naked_Duc

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Looking for recommendation on which tires for my NC700X. In past, I've bought Michelin Pilot Road and Condi Motion for my street bike. I've been very happy with them. Now with the NC700X, I am looking to replace the OEM with something that can handle both commuting (40 miles daily, rain or shine in PNW) and a little bit of light offroad (logging roads in the Cascades). Nothing too crazy, just compacted dirt and gravel.

Any recommendations?

I did a quick search online to see which "adventure touring" tires come in right sizes. There are a few that kinda fit the bill - Pirelli Scorpion Trail Dual Sport, Metz Tourance Next, and Conti Trail Attack 2. Any thoughts on those?
 
I am waiting to hear more from a member here that is using the Pirelli MT60. I think that is the way I will go if he is getting any kink of mileage out of them. So far the best I have found for being in stock and the sizes I want is Chaparral Motorsports. I wanted a little more dirt capable tire as these are 60/40.
 
Naked_Duc said:
Looking for recommendation on which tires for my NC700X. In past, I've bought Michelin Pilot Road and Condi Motion for my street bike. I've been very happy with them. Now with the NC700X, I am looking to replace the OEM with something that can handle both commuting (40 miles daily, rain or shine in PNW) and a little bit of light offroad (logging roads in the Cascades). Nothing too crazy, just compacted dirt and gravel.

Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

I was taking a serious look at the Bridgestone Battle Wing, they have a 80% street, 20% Dirt thread.

I have a Spidmarx Rear Wheel Hugger and I'm conncerned if I can run the 70-Series tire where the OEM Metzeler Roadtec Z8 on the bike now, which is a 60-Series tire. Anyone know if I can run the Battle Wing with the Skidmarx?
 
Brillot2000 said:
I was taking a serious look at the Bridgestone Battle Wing, they have a 80% street, 20% Dirt thread.

I have a Spidmarx Rear Wheel Hugger and I'm conncerned if I can run the 70-Series tire where the OEM Metzeler Roadtec Z8 on the bike now, which is a 60-Series tire. Anyone know if I can run the Battle Wing with the Skidmarx?
Click to expand...

What do you do for the size on the front. Would you run a tube in the 130 rear tire on the front? I ask because I see several tires that are like this.
 
Mine got the Dunlop Trailmaxes, 120-70-17 and 160-60-17, I'm still at low miles but read that they will be burning off soon.
 
Brillot2000 said:
I am still on the OEM Metzeler Z8s that came with the bike, which are "Tubeless". I think the front is a 120/60/17 and the rear is 160/60/17.
Click to expand...

I was looking at the link you provided. I did not see a tubleless tire that you would use other than a tube type 130 rear in that brand tire.
 
let me know how the MT60 works out for you, Cigar Mike. They might be a bit too aggressive for commuting and may wear out too quickly. Might be an excellent option when I do make it to Prudhoe Bay some day.

As for the other suggestions, I don't see them in the right sizes.
 
My front end seems really stiff for off road. Is it an issue for you guys or is it adjustable with lighter fork oil? I weigh about 220lbs and I am happy on road, but considering a little fire road action. My NC has about 10k miles on it right now, and the slab gaps are pretty jarring on my arms and shoulder at low speed. Maybe I am just a wimp.....
 
Naked_Duc said:
let me know how the MT60 works out for you, Cigar Mike. They might be a bit too aggressive for commuting and may wear out too quickly. Might be an excellent option when I do make it to Prudhoe Bay some day.

As for the other suggestions, I don't see them in the right sizes.
Click to expand...

Another member has them on his bike. I would have to search to find out who it is. I am hoping he will post with some information on his mileage. I like that they say they are good wet weather tire for pavement.
 
Maybe the Avon distanzia (think I spelled it wrong) might be worth looking at.they are a 90/10 tire.the adv guys that run light dirt and off road seem to like them.
 
Jguarfn28 said:
My front end seems really stiff for off road. Is it an issue for you guys or is it adjustable with lighter fork oil? I weigh about 220lbs and I am happy on road, but considering a little fire road action. My NC has about 10k miles on it right now, and the slab gaps are pretty jarring on my arms and shoulder at low speed. Maybe I am just a wimp.....
Click to expand...

To make the square edge bumps better and help off-road, you need to upgrade the front forks with something like RaceTech Gold Valves or emulators. I forget the brand of emulators LBS used. Also several people have sent their forks off to suspension specialists. Do a forum search on "racetech" or maybe "suspension" for several threads on upgrading. I did the Gold Valves and staid with stock springs. Made a major difference on and off-road.
 
On off road bikes the tires are part of the suspension. Being able to run off road tires at lower pressures takes a lot of harshness out. Bikes with short legs and 30+ psi tire pressures will have some harshness no matter how much you spend on suspension. It can help, but the tires are rock hard at those pressures and some harshness will be felt at the handlebars. I have seen the same thing on DS bikes. People that chose to run 30 psi or more in their tires feel the same harshness. I have had people riding exactly the same bike I have and they comment how planted my bike is compared to theirs. Once they lower their pressures they see that is the only difference.

I do not see and easy solution on the nc. I need to try a modified bike to see if it is really worth it. I am going to see how low I can lower the pressure on the nc for off road.
 
Come down to Arkansas Mike and try mine out!

I moved from PR3s to Full Bore/Shinko 705s. Taller tires and more sidewall. Running at the same pressure (35/38) as the PR3s the Full Bores were better on square bumps and off-road. Lowering the pressure to ~24psi and off-road is smoother. Did the Gold Valves and that made a huge difference. Square bumps, washboard, on road or off is a lot better.

I now have tkc80 front/Pirelli Scorpion Rally rear. They apparently have stiffer sidewalls. Also have lower max pressure (35psi) so I'm experimenting with tire pressure on them for on road since they are bricks set at 35/35. Off-road ran them at 22psi this weekend. Still stiffer than the Full Bore but OK. The increased traction is worth a little more harshness.
 
I agree with Bamamate on the suspension. 5 1/2 inches is not enough in the dirt. I also agree with Cigar Mike, take the psi in the tires down to 25 lbs. in the dirt, no bouncy- bouncy that way. Don't forget to fill the tires pressure back to road pressure when you get back on pavement, or you will go though tires real fast.
 
bamamate said:
Come down to Arkansas Mike and try mine out!

I moved from PR3s to Full Bore/Shinko 705s. Taller tires and more sidewall. Running at the same pressure (35/38) as the PR3s the Full Bores were better on square bumps and off-road. Lowering the pressure to ~24psi and off-road is smoother. Did the Gold Valves and that made a huge difference. Square bumps, washboard, on road or off is a lot better

I now have tkc80 front/Pirelli Scorpion Rally rear. They apparently have stiffer sidewalls. Also have lower max pressure (35psi) so I'm experimenting with tire pressure on them for on road since they are bricks set at 35/35. Off-road ran them at 22psi this weekend. Still stiffer than the Full Bore but OK. The increased traction is worth a little more harshness.
Click to expand...

I would like to ride it . It is nice to feel the difference before you make changes. You taken all the right steps to get the most out of the 6" of travel. It is good to hear that 24 psi worked. I will give that a try when I put the new tires on next year.

Thanks for the information.
 
Quick update on what I decided to get.

After doing some more research and talking to others, I narrowed down to the Conti TrailAttack2 and Pirelli Scorpion Trail. There are a couple deciding factors.

1) I don't want to go with knobbies for now. I want something that I can still commute on, with good dry and wet grips, while being able to get on some dirt trail to practice LIGHT off road riding. 90/10 tires will do. Once I am committed to a longer trip with more off-roading, I will get a set of 70/30 for that trip.

2) size availability. Man, I had the toughest time finding tires in sizes that fits the NCX. Even when I do find them, they are often out of stock.

After mulling it over a few nights, I made the purchase for Pirelli Scorpion Trail.
 
I'd love to know what you think after riding on the motorcycle for a while.. I just recently went thought the same decision making process. Eventually I came to the conclusion that all of these tires nowadays should be fairly decent if you picked the tire for the right use. We NC owners are a fairly practical bunch and probably good at that. After way too much research and angst I chose the Continued attack 2. Figured any tire I bought had a limited life span, and wouldn't last much more than a year or two.
Any... So far so good. Seems fine in the rain and on the twisty roads we have out here. The front tire pressure is higher than the original tires... But that doesn't seem to be an issue that I notice. Slight impact on fuel efficiency (went from 3 liters/100km to 3.1). They have no problem handling my driveway which is seriously steep is gravel and has a switch back (a number of cars have a great deal of difficulty driving up without spinning their tires.
 
Tbh most road tyres will perform respectably on forest roads and hard pack gravel. When abroad in France I occasionally encountered gravel roads on my previous GL1800 and there was no problem at all with it on the OEM Bridgestone tyres. I also tried my FJS 600 scooter on such roads to see how it fared and again there was no issue ( Bridgestones). The only problem will occur if you come across full on mud, and even then the so called intermediates such as Trail Attacks and similar styles in the other brands will fail miserably in such conditions. Michelin do the Annakee 3/4 which I have on my Triumph Explorer. It is still a road tyre to all intent and purpose, with deeper grooves and bigger blocks, but is marketed for light offroad. It definitely will not handle muddy conditions very well. I do not believe it would be any better on forest roads than the Michelin PR3's on my NC.

One of the aspects of offroad bikes that make life more pleasant is wire wheels. They give a much softer ride than cast wheels. However the other problem apart from short suspension on the NC, is the size of the wheels. They are just too small for bumpy roads at 17 inch.
 
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