Tires for BMW GS

[Jeff McDonald]

I was interested to know ,what tires the gs riders use .I have been using duel sport or adventure tires for the last 20 years. Mostly because I ride alot of
dirt roads.
For the past few years I have been riding more IBA type rides and would like to know what other like minded riders think.
I know tires are a personal choice ,depending on how you ride.
I now ride a
2020 1250 GSA

 

[EricV]

Beautiful Wife was *very* pleased with the mileage, traction wet and dry and overall handling on and off pavement with MotoZ tractionator GPS tires. https://pacificpowersports.com/shop/tractionator-gps/ Well over 12k from rears.

The only caveat was we saw some cracking at the lugs on the 170 width. After some conversations with MotoZ they felt the GS rim width didn't really support the 170 width adequately for their tires and suggested a 150 width, (bonus, cheaper and more readily available in other brands too, and the same size I was running on my Super Tenere). We never had anything get bad or cause issues on the 170, but did change to a 150 when it wore out. Zero issues of cracking on the 150 width on the GS.

 

[nudihjn]

I have used the Michelin Anakee Adventure tires for a while. On my 2nd set - 2020 BMW R1250GS. Ran 2-3 sets of the same tire on my Yamaha Super Tenere prior to purchasing the GS. Happy with the tire & its performance. Light off road only - gravel & compact dirt roads.

 

[Jeff McDonald]

Beautiful Wife was *very* pleased with the mileage, traction wet and dry and overall handling on and off pavement with MotoZ tractionator GPS tires. https://pacificpowersports.com/shop/tractionator-gps/ Well over 12k from rears.

The only caveat was we saw some cracking at the lugs on the 170 width. After some conversations with MotoZ they felt the GS rim width didn't really support the 170 width adequately for their tires and suggested a 150 width, (bonus, cheaper and more readily available in other brands too, and the same size I was running on my Super Tenere). We never had anything get bad or cause issues on the 170, but did change to a 150 went it wore out. Zero issues of cracking on the 150 width on the GS.

Thanks for the info
That is the tire I have ben interested in, and I will be able to ride the BDR routes wit.

 

[Jeff McDonald]

I have used the Michelin Anakee Adventure tires for a while. On my 2nd set - 2020 BMW R1250GS. Ran 2-3 sets of the same tire on my Yamaha Super Tenere prior to purchasing the GS. Happy with the tire & its performance. Light off road only - gravel & compact dirt roads.

Thanks for the reply
That is the tire that came stock on my bike. I only was able to get about 5000 mile on it.Was looking to get alot more milage.

 

[nudihjn]

Thanks for the reply
That is the tire that came stock on my bike. I only was able to get about 5000 mile on it.Was looking to get alot more milage.

Yea - they do not fair well mileage wise. I may need to switch myself. Would like to get 9-10K on a decent tire…

 

[RoadWraith]

I have tried Michelin Anakee Adventure, Road 5, Road 6 tires and all have been fine. More recently I have been doing more Ironbutt type rides and so I wanted to find a tire that would go to 12,000-14,000 miles. This would allow tire changes at every other BMW service interval. I have been able to easily get 6000 miles out of all 3 of these tires but I tried with the Road 6 to push on to 12,000 miles and I was not successful. It made it about 11,500 miles and was paper thin when i road it in for a change. I resolved to simply start swapping them out at each service interval every 6000 miles. If someone is aware of a long distance road tire for the GSA then please feel free to let me know. I would love to have something that does last 14-15,000 miles.

 

[MidTNJasonF]

Dunlop Trailmax Missions. Many are running them 10k+ miles without issue even on big heavy adventure bikes like the GS. I know a couple folks who ran them for their entire Alaska trips, up and back, totaling 10K miles or more. They were able to avoid preordering tires or drop shipping tires to somewhere in Alaska and spending a day getting them swapped.

 

[RoadWraith]

Thanks for the advice Jason. I will try to get a set and try them out. Iron Butt distances demand sturdy rubber!

 

[Crafty_rider]

That was a big question prior to the 2023 IBR in the Private Rider's Forum.

Many GS/GSA riders did the entire IBR on a set of Dunlop TMMs...but they also commented on how hard (read: not sticky) the rubber was and how it was unsettling in the rain. They may wish to chime in here...

Personally, I tried a set of Continental Trail Attack 3s in 2022 when I did my 48/10 Challenge preparing for the IBR and was very satisfied (dry, wet, hot, cold, wet, track day...you name it...) so I had a set mounted in Pittsburgh before the start and completed the IBR on that set (10,700 miles or so) and then rode home (about another 600 miles) but when I got home, they were done...

How done, you ask...?


(but there was still plenty of meat on the sidewalls...).

I liked the performance and feel so unless some tire manufacturer wants to sponsor me, I have found my new favorite tire...YMMV (literally...!).

 

[Brian Bumpas]

These are Motoz tractionator gps "150" with aprox 8500 miles on a 2022 R1250GSA, I've switched to "170" not enough miles yet to see if there is a difference

 

[keithu]

Not a GS rider, but my Multistrada is similar and uses the same size tires. I ran TMMs in the IBR and they weren't even close to done. I finally replaced them at 15k miles, not because they were worn out but because I hated them. They are the worst rain tires I've used in at least 20+ years. Dry traction wasn't great either. I'm back to Road 6s which are outstanding wet or dry. I wish they lasted longer than 9k miles on my bike, but I guess that's the price of decent traction.

Here are my TMMs after 15k miles:

 

[RoadWraith]

Thanks for all the input here. I have TMMs on right now and they only have 6000 miles so far and look fine but very little experience in the rain. I have always loved the Michelin's mentioned above in wet or dry and the traction on them is incredible.

From what I gather Keith, if you rode another IBR you would go Michelin and get tires replaced once during the rally? I mean that is one of my primary considerations is trying to survive a rally and minimize maintenance DURING the rally and then a secondary benefit would be replacing tires every other service interval...

 

[Gatey]

EricV I would be interested to know what pressure you run the Motoz on your S10 please.

I have experienced a few rear lockups since install. Distinguishing feature is all occasions on tar with a day above 22 degrees C which is not at all hot for down here.

I suspect I may be a tad high in the tyre pressure.

 

[EricV]

EricV I would be interested to know what pressure you run the Motoz on your S10 please.

I have experienced a few rear lockups since install. Distinguishing feature is all occasions on tar with a day above 22 degrees C which is not at all hot for down here.

I suspect I may be a tad high in the tyre pressure.

I liked 38F/42R psi for fully loaded tar riding. Dropping 10-12 psi for dirt/trail riding. Usually not dropping pressures for gravel roads. Temps in the desert ran from 20C to 45C+ for my riding conditions. Note that MotoZ marks their tires differently, the sidewall marking is not max pressure like other tires, but the pressure used for testing. It's not the max pressure for the tire.

@RoadWraith - I'm not Keith, but for the IBR I ran Heidenau K60 Scouts and did a rear tire change at checkpoint 2. I actually had the take off rear shipped back home and wore it out later. I could have finished the rally on one set of tires, but did not want to ride the last 10% of the rally on the last 10% of my rear tire. Considering the high winds and torrential rain on the last day with a hard push against the clock, that was a sound move on my part. I would not have wanted to ride that last night in the rain on a nearly worn out rear tire.

Generally speaking, the staff recommended shop is worthless. (every year is different) In '13 they were unwilling to be available off the clock for riders and asked us to make reservations for service times that would have been on the clock. I found a small Indi shop and shipped my tire and some other supplies there well in advance. That shop serviced many bikes and worked late into the night on a Sunday, thrilled to be making good money. Regardless of which checkpoint you decide to do a tire change at, find a shop willing to be available off the clock for your needs.

FWIW, I shipped my tire in a box, tossed in some socks and other supplies I would need, AND a return UPS label for the tire/box weight. I made a point of telling the shop to keep the box, as I'd be re-using it to ship the take off tire home. Worst case, if the tire was shot, I'd grab the label and get it refunded after the rally. That worked well for that time. Another time the shop tossed the box and I ended up paying some extra to ship the bare tire, IIRC.