Road tyres
 

Ok so the rear sirac is starting to wear thin and square off so looking at new rubber. I'm kidding myself if I think I'll ever get off road with it so looking at full road tyres. I've always liked the Bridgestone bt021s on the nakeds/sports bikes and I see they do a bt45 sport touring tyre in xt sizes. The bike does get out in the cold and wet.
Has anyone tried the bt45s or similar?

Oh and would tubes be required still?

I've used the BT45 Battlax in the past and they are my favourite of the road-only tyres I've tried on the XTZ. You won't be disappointed in their performance wet or dry, hot or cold. They last reasonably well too.

You will still need tubes.

Excellent thank you, I'll make sure and order new tubes too.
I do prefer the look of knobbly tyres but there is no point sacrificing on the road if there is no chance it'll be off road

I have BT-45s on my old bandit and can't fault them!

Sounding like a winner then cheers. I do like the bt021s so hopefully these will be as good or better.
The other option was the battlewings 501+502

I've now done about 500 miles on the Avon Trekrider's and they are brilliant! , they really seem to suit the Tenere. They give great confidence in corners.....excellent straight line stability. In fact I'm preferring them to my beloved Distanzia's! . Great wet weather grip too. Steve

The avons certainly do get a good write up and don't seem to lose any road ability for being a 50/50

Yes, I can't believe how good the road grip is considering it's sold as a 50/50....I was worried I was sacrificing my precious road grip. I'm actually riding the Tenere in a way I used to ride my Supermoto XR650R. .! Looking forward to trying the tyres off road as well. Steve

I'll maybe look into them more if the road grip is that good in that case, just incase I find some rough roads in and around here.
I'd love to get a second set of wheels for it but the x is only single disc then I could have road and off road wheels

Great tyre that it is, I really don't quite understand why Avon claim the TrekRider is a 50/50 tyre? It quite clearly isn't! A TKC80 or Michelin T63 are reasonable examples of what a 50/50 tyre is. Neither of those is in any way, shape or form are even remotely comparable to the TrekRider.

I agree. ..just looking at the tread it's more 70/30. The only off road I've done is the quarter mile of farm track to where I work!. Hopefully try it out properly at the weekend. But as I've said. ...road-wise it's excellent. Steve

This is going to be a tough call I think. At least the trek riders will give the option of light off roading, which is probably still outwith my capabilities and I live in Scotland where there are no green lanes, but 45s are that touch more expensive and fully Road designed

Thing with tyres is you can cogitate, procrastinate, deliberate and listen to the ramblings and opinions of others for hours, days even weeks and never get any closer to a decision! The only way to find out what you like/what works for you is buy them and try them. The best tyre is almost always the one you haven't tried yet! ;)

Thanks, I know everyone's opinions will be different as everyone's roads and abilities will be different but it's just nice to hear opinions to help narrow down the field

Here's an opinion.....

I tried road rubber on the Ten years ago, hated it. Just didn't feel right, maybe the soft suspenders and long travel just don't marry up with the road rubber performance, I don't know, but they didn't last 1000 miles before I ditched them.

Today I'm running TKC70's and I have to say they are impressive, wet, dry, frost, melting roads don't seam to change the performance. OK I'd say for light trails/gravel but certainly no grass or mud. The road though, the performance is good, with a little insurance for those middle-of-a-narrow-road-grave moments. Excellent wear rate too, I reckon I'll get 10k (miles) out of them.

One thing I never ever cut corners (in terms of quality & cost) is the one component between my bike and the road....

Thanks for the reply GULG, it's good to hear another option.
I'm very much the same, I'm happy to spend the money on the tyres, just want to make sure they are the right tyre, don't think I explained my last post that well.
I had been well impressed with the siracs until the last trip home and there was just no feeling in the front, and that's why I had thought of the full road rubber

After going through almost 10 sets of different tyres on my Tenere TKC 70 are one of the better. Handles good on paved roads and have also handled the Careterra Austral in Chile and bits of the R40 in Argentina which both are quite rough gravel roads relatively well - so definetively good tyres although I wishedthe rear one had more rough pattern while doing the gravel roads.

But for onroad use and even firm gravel I have one favourite tyre and thats Anakee3. They are great! Fantastic grip on paved roads and much better on reasonably well gravel roads that what one think by looking on them. And they lasted forever.

For me the Avon Trailriders are a real revelation! After several sets of Metzeler Tourances and Heidenau K60 Scouts, I now run the Trailriders and I like them a lot! More road orientated they have very good grip&handling, give you a lot of trust, on dry and wet tarmac! I don't do a lot of offroad ridin', so I didn't need the more knobby pattern of the Scouts(which I liked a lot too, hope the Trailriders also last as long, around an average of 20.000km's !). I understand the Trekriders are a more knobby tyre then the Trailriders, so I think the Trailriders are more suited for you Mark.