Wilsons Sandbox

Martin, I followed Kawi's recommendation on the stock Dunlop on my '08 and as a result had to replace a bald rear tire at 3K miles. Anyway, I made the TKC80 my next rear tire and kept it inflated to 36psi unless I knew I was going offroad. I replaced the TKC80 after 8K miles. Much better. Of course, YMMV, offer void where prohibited, etc, etc. Don+ _____ From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Martin Gunderson Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 3:32 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Tire Pressure Question Question: Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with tubes. The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico and Guatemala and Honduras. Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably should have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I should run, and what PSI might help extend tire life. Martin [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

28/28 works for some people. I would let those more experianced than me chime in. Ernie Campbell http://www.oldskoolklr650.com

----- Original Message ----- From: Martin Gunderson To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:31 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Tire Pressure Question Question: Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with tubes. The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico and Guatemala and Honduras. Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably should have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I should run, and what PSI might help extend tire life. Martin [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sorry i didnt catch the 150lbs gear part. Ernie Campbell http://www.oldskoolklr650.com

----- Original Message ----- From: Martin Gunderson To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:31 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Tire Pressure Question Question: Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with tubes. The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico and Guatemala and Honduras. Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably should have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I should run, and what PSI might help extend tire life. Martin [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Big K's recommendations are for the originals. I put 18,000 km on a set of Michelin Anakees, all pavement, doing the 4 Corners USA M/C Tour in 06 on my A13. Front 36 psi, Rear 42 psi. Works for me. DC Martin Gunderson wrote:

> > Question: > > Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be > run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with > tubes. > > The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded > as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). > > As it tur > > . > >

Doh! Me either. I think I said that I ran 36 in mine, but that wasn't with 150lbs of gear. I would hazard a guess and go with 40lbs on the rear. Don+ _____ From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ernie Campbell Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 3:43 PM To: Martin Gunderson; DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Tire Pressure Question Sorry i didnt catch the 150lbs gear part. Ernie Campbell http://www.oldskool http://www.oldskoolklr650.com> klr650.com

----- Original Message ----- From: Martin Gunderson To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogro ups.com Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:31 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Tire Pressure Question Question: Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with tubes. The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico and Guatemala and Honduras. Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably should have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I should run, and what PSI might help extend tire life. Martin [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Martin Gunderson" wrote:

> Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be > run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with > tubes. > > The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded > as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). > > As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico and > Guatemala and Honduras. > > Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? > > I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably should > have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I should > run, and what PSI might help extend tire life.

When I run TKC-80's on pavement, I pump the rear to 40PSI and the front to 30PSI. This seems to preserve its life best and prevent as much scalloping of the front. The center knobs wear down fairly fast on the center of the rear, but there's still plenty of knob on the sides to get me out of mud and such. Offroad, I air the front down to 15psi and the rear to 18psi. So far so good. Note that, because these are "tubeless" tires, you should not run a heavy duty tube in the back -- it causes too much heat to be retained inside the tire, thereby causing fast tire wear. At these pressures you should get around 5,000 miles out of a set of TKC-80's. Note that the back tire wears down rapidly for the first 1,000 miles, then settles down to wear much more slowly, so don't panic if your back tire seems to have worn a lot during your first 1,000 miles -- it slows down from there. -E

There is only 170 pounds of me on my KLR. Usually I am running about 32 psi in both tires. Makes for a much more stable ride on the pavement at speeds above 50. If I take it down a gravel road or loose stones - otherwise off road - the bike gets pretty squirmy. Then, I'll air down to the low 20s. If I then ride like that on pavement, it is not nearly as stable as with the higher pressures. Higher psi in the tires almost certainly increases tread life. The owners manual is a compromise between highway and off road. Mike Martin Gunderson wrote:

> > Question: > > Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be > run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with > tubes. > > The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded > as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). > > As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico and > Guatemala and Honduras. > > Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? > > I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably should > have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I should > run, and what PSI might help extend tire life. > > Martin > >

You've got a pretty good load there, so I would say go with Fr. Don's recommendation of 36 psi. The 40psi is a for a maximum load, which on the TKC is probably more than you have. The owner's manual is irrelevant, it only pertains to the stock tires. What pressure have you been running? __Arden --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Fr. Don Pendergraft" wrote:

> > Martin, > I followed Kawi's recommendation on the stock Dunlop on my '08 and

as a

> result had to replace a bald rear tire at 3K miles. Anyway, I made

the TKC80

> my next rear tire and kept it inflated to 36psi unless I knew I was

going

> offroad. I replaced the TKC80 after 8K miles. Much better. Of

course, YMMV,

> offer void where prohibited, etc, etc. > > Don+ > > _____ > > From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com

[mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On

> Behalf Of Martin Gunderson > Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 3:32 PM > To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Tire Pressure Question > > > > Question: > > Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be > run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running

with

> tubes. > > The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear.

(Loaded

> as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). > > As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico

and

> Guatemala and Honduras. > > Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? > > I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably

should

> have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I

should

> run, and what PSI might help extend tire life. > > Martin > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >

I base tire pressures on the pressure-increase when riding. I go for about 10% increase from cold to warm. With the TKC80s, that ended up with about 32psi front, 40 rear when loaded and/or traveling on the highway (quoted measurements are taken when cold, then checked when hot for no more than a 10% increase. Don't exceed the max. pressure listed on the sidewall, when measured cold). Down to 20/25psi on gravel/dirt, or 15/20 in mud. No lower than 15psi ever to keep the tire from spinning on the rim, and to mostly eliminate pinch flats from hitting rocks. YMMV, Chris -----Original Message----- From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Martin Gunderson Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:32 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Tire Pressure Question Question: Changed OEM tires to Continental TKC 80 s. Tires are designed to be run tubeless and are stamped 40 PSI on the sidewall. I am running with tubes. The KLR owners manual calls for 21 PSI front and 28 PSI rear. (Loaded as I am riding myself 180Lbs and about 150 Lbs of gear). As it turns out, I am riding 95% asphault on roads through Mexico and Guatemala and Honduras. Follow tire sidewall or owners manual? I am suffering from severe wear on the rear (I know....probably should have gone with less agressive tire), but need to know what PSI I should run, and what PSI might help extend tire life. Martin