'Winter Tyres' - do you mean tyres that are OK for riding in the winter ? Or marked winter tyres ?

Normal road tyres don't work well in the cold (anything below 5c I think, but could out a few degrees), they don't flex enough to grip and therefore they don't keep you on the straight and narrow. 'Winter' tyres have different compounds that work well in sub-zero conditions as they still flex enough to grip. Car tyres are easy to identify but it appears that motorcycle ones are not, probably because many motorcycles are tucked up warm in a garage over the cold months, until there are more of us out there in the cold there will be no market and therefore no choice in winter tyres.

Winter tyres usually suck in the summer, they will shed rubber and loose grip quickly in higher temperatures.

A search around the web gives the impression that the 'M+S' marking on the side of the motorcycle tyre is an indication of a winter tyre, or certainly according to the Germans (maybe one of the European <mainland> guys can add something here?). My car has M+S markings on the tyres, but they are not considered winter tyres, although they are much better than most in the snow. My gut feeling is M+S markings are not actually winter tyres, just a half way house, so-to-speak (but better than summer tyres)

TKC's do have the 'M+S' marking, and they certainly work very well in the winter, at low temperatures, even in snow. Some people have used a rear tyre on the front of XTX's and I saw a post about 17" front sizes being available - didn't pay too much attention to that so I could be wrong.

Oddly, TKCs still work well in hotter temperatures which goes against the mantra of a winter tyre - can't explain that one.

Don't be afraid of using a knobbly patter on the bike, many people wrongly believe that they offer less grip.... not always. As Keith mentioned, he noticed an increase in grip when he (finally !) moved to TKCs. I get better grip from the TKC's on the Tenere than the Pirelli Trails on the Tiger (of course that's not very scientific given two completely different bikes!)

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