K60 scout the worst tyre for fitting ever
 

Hi folks decided to change my rear TKC80 for a Heindenau T60 scout, removed the Tkc 80 no problems then the fun began! after a struggle managed to get one side of the scout on the rim. inserted the tube then tried to get the rest of the tyre on the rim got to the last 10 inch of tyre and now way was it going on :rocketwhore: It got so tight that the bead began to tear at the lever so eventualy I had to release the tyre all the way round and try again in another place. tried again and soon hit the same problem at 10 inch again. After totaly runnig out of swear words, i had a cup of tea and a ponder decided to Geeclamp the tyre opposite the levers to ensure the beads where in the well of the rim as much as possibleand tried again got a bit further this time but found the thickness of two tyre irons stopped the tyre from going on, used one lever only, and finaly got the tyre on and collapsed in a heap.:hello2:Using my electric pump I put 36 ibs in the tyre but noticed the tyre was not on the rim evenly:rocketwhore: put 50ilbs in the tyre and still no change.:rocketwhore:

Did a tour of the garages, Shell, wasted 50p as the the air adapter wont quite fit the tube valve, ditto for Tesco, finally got Sainsburys to fit and put 65ibs in the tire and one side popped out:sad10:. That was as high a pressure as I was prepared to put in so back home deflated the tyre and sprayed wd40 down between the rim and tyre where the tyre dipped. I noticed that the rim has a step between the well and the rim wall which seems to be for holding the tyre bead in place. back to Sainsburys and up to 70Ibs still no difference!!! back home took the tyre out of the car boot and eureka it had centred its self on the way home:blob9:. This only took 5hrs to fit one tyre!!!!!

I have to say, the K60 is the most challenging tyre I have ever fitted to my Ten; they just seem to be harder and less flexible than any others. The fact the Ten has a tubeless "safety" rim on the rear doesn't help matters either. Plenty of tyre soap helps a lot. I fully understand your frustrations!

Worst thing for me was, I didn't even like the damn things!

Yes i know exactly what you mean.
They must be the most challenging tyre i have ever fitted


I run the K60 Scout on the rear and the K60 Scout with silica on the front of my Tenere.
The rear did take 75 psi to seat the bead on the rear with plenty of soap.
The front was ok 40 psi seat it no problem.

The rear must be fairly hard compound,6500 miles around europe and morocco and i would say.not even half worn.

I had a similar experience getting my K60 rear to seat. Mine just took time for the bead to seat. I too put about 50psi in it and with lots of lube, left it about half an hour or so and bit by bit it seated itself. The lesson I learned was to be patient with it rather than keep on deflating and re inflating. As long as it is close to being seated and well lubed, it will seat, eventually.

What is the best lube for tyre fitting folks?

Lucky you, I've done about 4000 on mine and it's well past its best.

I use this tyre paste . The main reason is it's called 'honest johns' and it has a picture of a bloke with his thumbs up, so it must be good! Actually it is very good. I've had it for a year and changed around 8 tyres - hardly used any.

I used to use cheap window cleaner from the supermarket and that seems to do the job also. In fact on a difficult bead, i'll still use window cleaner and spray around the tyre whilst pumping it up to get ti to seat.

Oh and I feel for you with the K60!! I wrecked my first ever rear K60 by exerting too much pressure trying to get the last bit on - ripped the bead. An expensive lesson! but I managed the replacement after being a bit more patient.

Removing it is another pleasant experience!!! I had a puncture on the trail and could not break the bead - tried all sorts of methods (mates sidestand trick). We managed to get it to a truck mechanic who couldn't break the bead on his tyre machine - until his bike mate turned up and did some little trick and off it came. Don't know what the trick was! I won't fit another K60 as I know I'd struggle to remove on the trail. Shame as it's a cracking tyre.

I only got 5000 on my Previous Tenere which had the K60 Scout with Silica fitted on the rear.

I did have a struggle with the rear. Took me about 2 hours, partially because the axle gave me some trouble to get out.
And my tire irons aren't the biggest.

It is much harder to get on, compared to the Anakee3, which was easy to get on/off on the trail with a flat. So hopefully no flats on my next trip!

k60 scout update
 

Well I have now done 1300 miles on the k60 130-80 rear tyre and now have a good idea how the tyre performs. Bearing in mind i have a TKC80 on the front i find the overal handling is brilliant plenty of grip in the dry and no moments!! so far in the wet. As mentioned in other posts the K60 is very hard and feed back is minimal until you are really pushing it in the dry, i think this could be my personal ideal combination for my tenere. With 1300miles on the k60 there is virtualy no visible wear on the tyre which i run at 33 psi (i am 120kg in bike gear) One thing though i would be uneasy with a K60 on the front wheel, in my opinion the tyre compound would be too hard in cold temps and wet roads for safety. I prefer the nice soft sticky KTC80 up front.:happy5:

urm so what on earth did I do wrong. Just taken the utterly knackered dunlop trailmax off the rear after about 2500 miles :( struggled like hell to break the bead.

2 days later refitted a k60 with ease :/

Plenty of tyre soap. Long tyre leavers,,, didnt actually take too much persuading

70 psi, one side popper onto the bead. stuck it in the back of the van back from the petrol station and on the way heard a pop as the other side popped in..

miracle tyre soap maybe?? sorry to hear the trouble everyones had. thats usually me!

+ went for a quick spin down a greenlane and it handled beautifully!

I agree that that the rear k60 can get you pulse up and sweat running when you wrestle it on... Can't remember another tyre being so hard a fight.

It was also hard work fitting 140/80 on my super tenere that did not have the extra tubeless lib as 130/80 on the pony

My K60 will probably last this summer (don't ride much) and if anakee wild is available before next spring i'll try that next as i mainly ride roads.

Try mefo explorers. Same tread same massive mileage but easier fitting. Very happy with mine

I too have heard good reports on mefo explorers, might try them next.

Allthough ive never used the k60 scout ive had pretty much every other tire in the back of the Ten. Tried mitas C02s, E10s, E09s, Army specials, plus a bunch of road rubber. And also TKC80s.

To facilitate tyre changes i ground the "safety" lip off both of my rear rims. (i have dirt wheels and road wheels now as i was sick of changing tires twice a month.)

Ive ridden around 20,000 miles with no lip and never had a problem and i fairly abuse my Ten on road, offroad, 2 up, towing the trailer.. Tyres bead easily at max 40psi. And punctures are much easier too deal with at the roadside. Can bead a tyre with my hand pump.

Ive no idea why the Ten has that stupid lip. It aint on my friends 990adv wheel, or his 640 ADV.
Obviously u do this at your own risk.

I might try that jon, it's bloody tricky trying to get an E10 on with that lip in place,the front just slips on.Must be there for a technical reason.Do you know if it's on the exel rims?.

k60 scout
 

[QUOTE 70 psi, one side popper onto the bead. stuck it in the back of the van back from the petrol station and on the way heard a pop as the other side poped in![/QUOTE]

Exactly!! 70 psi and good lube is the answer, evidently the tube was up to the pressure. I assume it was the rear tyre.

I believe its there too stop the tyre dropping into the bead well if you get a puncture. But numerous punctures later and ive never had a problem with that happening.

It isnt on any of the excel rims i have on my other bikes, or the ktm front wheels i use with my WP conversion. Infact Ive never seen it on any other tubed rim before.

I found the easiest way too remove it is with a very course file. I believe its called a ******* file. (b-a-s-t-a-r-d) And then smooth it off with a finer file. Ill take pics next time i have a tire off.