OK, we are done with this “pseudo off-road” tire stuff and have gotten a little more serious about our off roading.  Mike found a cool deal on some Continental TKC80s and we ALL got them for our F650’s.  Big thanks to Zack’s up in Hyde Park, NY for doing our tire changes for us so quickly.

Knobbie Time

04.07.02

Dual Sport means off road as well as on road riding, so we opted for some better tires… and they made a MAJOR difference!

My ride with the new TKC80s

Mike and Josh hit the trails up in Hyde Park before coming over to my trails.  They had a sick time, and looked like hell when they got to my house.  They were still down for another ride, though. Mike, as always, wins the award for the most mud. (left)

Air Josh (left) and Air Mike (right).  You can see my tail light there in the foreground, which unfortunately came off on one of my landings.

Don’t ask me why, but we thought it would be fun to catch some air today — so we did — and it was fun.  You can’t tell from the pictures, but I won the “big air” contest today.

Me (left) on what might have been the award winning jump, but I doubt it.  As you all know, using a digital camera isn’t exactly easy when you want to capture an exact moment in time… especially when it isn’t your camera.

What would a dual sport session be without a few MPEGs to enjoy later?  As always, they are about 1.3MB each, so if you are on a modem don’t complain about the time it takes to download them.

Here’s one of Josh hitting a jump, and one of Mike and Josh playing on a smaller jump. You can see Mike’s back kick out a little on his landing because the jump isn’t lined up with the landing area.  If you miss, you end up in the trees.  Here’s another one that is similar.

 

Tire notes:  The TKC80s handle great in the mud and dirt.  We love them. We’re able to launch better, tear up steeper hills, and turn faster and more confidently.  They are even pretty decent on the road and in the “twisties” but I wouldn’t recommend them for heavy street use.  Also, they seem to be wearing VERY FAST. I have 750 miles on mine already and I think they’ll go about 2,500—3,000. We’ll just have to see.