I wonder if anyone can help. We are riding two KTM 990 Adventures from Cape Town to Shanghai and presently in Nairobi after 10,000+ KMs so far through southerne, western and eastern africa. We have some bad roads ahead... as bad as anywhere and have little tyre selection.
We have been running Pirelli MT90 Scorpions on front and rear and have option to keep front or replace with a Pirelli MT21. We will put new MT90s on rear for durability which is going to be more important than motorcross -esque performance.
Anyone any views or experience on the MT21 just for the front. Current MT90 fronts look good and have another 8000kms on them.
Thanks
Rupert
www.bigbiketrip.net
Autism Research Trust
Tyres for KTM 990 Adventures from Nairobi to Cairo... stones, gravel and sand
Tyres for KTM 990 Adventures from Nairobi to Cairo... stones, gravel and sand
Can't comment on the mt21's, I haven't tried them yet. Really depends on what you think the majority of the terrain is going to be like?
Tkc is reasonable good on gravel and sand and pretty good on the road (long life) but is truly terrible in mud.
Michelin desert is good in the mud, not so bad on gravel, twitchy on the road (dry) and doesnt inspire confidence on wet roads. Oh and won't last very long.
Tkc is reasonable good on gravel and sand and pretty good on the road (long life) but is truly terrible in mud.
Michelin desert is good in the mud, not so bad on gravel, twitchy on the road (dry) and doesnt inspire confidence on wet roads. Oh and won't last very long.
Re: Tyres for KTM 990 Adventures from Nairobi to Cairo... stones, gravel and sand
Hi Rupert..
not got a ktm but a 200kg Ta which is used a lot off road..I`ve used the Mt21 for a few trips now and its great in the mud , gravel we dont have sand..use it at 30psi and the knobs still flex okay..but the heavy gravel/rocks on salisbury plain may be its undoing as any softish tyre will take a hammering..
on the road okay to 80mph no wobbles etc,,fine in the wet if your carefull and brill in the dry..
What about the mitas E09/E10 very hard compound and must wear longer than the TKC..
hope this helps.
not got a ktm but a 200kg Ta which is used a lot off road..I`ve used the Mt21 for a few trips now and its great in the mud , gravel we dont have sand..use it at 30psi and the knobs still flex okay..but the heavy gravel/rocks on salisbury plain may be its undoing as any softish tyre will take a hammering..
on the road okay to 80mph no wobbles etc,,fine in the wet if your carefull and brill in the dry..
What about the mitas E09/E10 very hard compound and must wear longer than the TKC..
hope this helps.
Re: Tyres for KTM 990 Adventures from Nairobi to Cairo... stones, gravel and sand
I've tried the mt21 like them but they don't last. I ripped knobs clean off the back one up some rocky stuff in the peak district. The front one was replaced after about 1000 mile due to wear after heavy road braking. I've tried e10 mitas and tkc and think the e10 is better, on the ktm forum a lot of guys swear by dunlop d908r but i've not tried them
Re: Tyres for KTM 990 Adventures from Nairobi to Cairo... stones, gravel and sand
Hi all, thanks for advice. 
It seems we have had some good luck as some of our Chinese forum supporters are sending us TKC80s from South Africa that should do the trick for sand, gravel, rocks, mud, rivers and whatever else there is on our way up. We intend to take the west route of Lake Tukana to border and cross river at Omarate in Ethiopia using wooden dugouts canoes strapped together (what could go wrong). I read many reviews on tyres and its seemingly impossible to find tyres that tick all boxes for all the conditions ahead. We will keep the MT90 Scorpion front tyres for later as they are not so heavy to carry and change all tyres back to Scorpions when we hit Egypt for Jordan, Syria (?), Turkey, Greece, Albania, Italy, France and west to England, North Wales and Ireland. It'll be northern hemisphere winter by then so no doubt rain, sleet, snow and ice will be thrown in the mix.
We have just got our Sudanese visas and are waiting for our Ethiopian visas which have been very tricky to get hold of as no African countries will issue them to us. While waiting for Ethiopian consulates in our home cities to process them (the only way) we are going to fully service our KTMs and make sure seals, gaskets, fluids, pumps and filters are sorted as we have seen some sorry bikes of all makes limp into Nairobi from the north with problems resulting from bad fuel and bad roads. So we intend to spend our waiting time doing some "off roading" in the sand around Lake Magadi in Rift Valley on 125cc Chinese bikes belonging to our host Chris at Jungle junction; go to the baby elephant sanctuary in Nairobi, ride to Masai Mara game reserve as great migration is now in the north of the Serengeti; and write up Tanzania chapter of our blog, (prehaps/maybe).
Again thanks for advice...
Rupert & Fanny
www.bigbiketrip.net
It seems we have had some good luck as some of our Chinese forum supporters are sending us TKC80s from South Africa that should do the trick for sand, gravel, rocks, mud, rivers and whatever else there is on our way up. We intend to take the west route of Lake Tukana to border and cross river at Omarate in Ethiopia using wooden dugouts canoes strapped together (what could go wrong). I read many reviews on tyres and its seemingly impossible to find tyres that tick all boxes for all the conditions ahead. We will keep the MT90 Scorpion front tyres for later as they are not so heavy to carry and change all tyres back to Scorpions when we hit Egypt for Jordan, Syria (?), Turkey, Greece, Albania, Italy, France and west to England, North Wales and Ireland. It'll be northern hemisphere winter by then so no doubt rain, sleet, snow and ice will be thrown in the mix.
We have just got our Sudanese visas and are waiting for our Ethiopian visas which have been very tricky to get hold of as no African countries will issue them to us. While waiting for Ethiopian consulates in our home cities to process them (the only way) we are going to fully service our KTMs and make sure seals, gaskets, fluids, pumps and filters are sorted as we have seen some sorry bikes of all makes limp into Nairobi from the north with problems resulting from bad fuel and bad roads. So we intend to spend our waiting time doing some "off roading" in the sand around Lake Magadi in Rift Valley on 125cc Chinese bikes belonging to our host Chris at Jungle junction; go to the baby elephant sanctuary in Nairobi, ride to Masai Mara game reserve as great migration is now in the north of the Serengeti; and write up Tanzania chapter of our blog, (prehaps/maybe).
Again thanks for advice...
Rupert & Fanny
www.bigbiketrip.net
-
Matt Roach
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:50 am
Re: Tyres for KTM 990 Adventures from Nairobi to Cairo... stones, gravel and sand
It seems you have already made your choice with the TKC80s , but for what its worth, I used MT21s on front & rear for the stretch from Nairobi to Egypt (via Marsabit / Moyale, rather than Turkana) and they performed fine.
Although you didn't mention in your post, I assume you also know that Ian Duncan runs a KTM workshop in Langata? Their spares are pricey, but the guys in the workshop were fairly good.
Although you didn't mention in your post, I assume you also know that Ian Duncan runs a KTM workshop in Langata? Their spares are pricey, but the guys in the workshop were fairly good.
Re: Tyres for KTM 990 Adventures from Nairobi to Cairo... stones, gravel and sand
The choice was made for us as we are being sent TKC 80s for free. First free thing we have had and as you know these trips dent savings.
Our bikes are being serviced at Ian Duncan's place and we will get hold of some more fuel filters as all the bikes are limping in. The world seems a real mess in north africa and one of the issues is contaminated fuel which is causing all the south bound bikes heaps of problems just now. Care is needed selecting, checking, filtering and perhaps adding Octane booster. Can't think of anything else.
We are going to try the west side of Turkana. How was your ride to Moyale? What were you riding and how did you get north from Egypt?
d
Our bikes are being serviced at Ian Duncan's place and we will get hold of some more fuel filters as all the bikes are limping in. The world seems a real mess in north africa and one of the issues is contaminated fuel which is causing all the south bound bikes heaps of problems just now. Care is needed selecting, checking, filtering and perhaps adding Octane booster. Can't think of anything else.
We are going to try the west side of Turkana. How was your ride to Moyale? What were you riding and how did you get north from Egypt?
d
Matt Roach wrote:It seems you have already made your choice with the TKC80s , but for what its worth, I used MT21s on front & rear for the stretch from Nairobi to Egypt (via Marsabit / Moyale, rather than Turkana) and they performed fine.
Although you didn't mention in your post, I assume you also know that Ian Duncan runs a KTM workshop in Langata? Their spares are pricey, but the guys in the workshop were fairly good.
