Distanzias on XTR
 

I had to replace the part-worn part square tyres fitted to the bike when I bought it second-hand because my time here is limited and I had no intention of waiting for them to reach the limit. (Burn out do I hear?) So after doing the BSB run to Donington end of May I sent off for a pair of Distanzias for the R.

A gentle(ish) run on roads that even my Tom Tom couldn't remember from Banbury to Kington (Herefordshire) - about 90 miles normally but 124 miles on the least straight roads I could find took from 2:15 (after the MotoGP) 'til 4:30 and I did not notice any misbehaviour from the new tyres. Not only that - but I filled up in Kington and it took 7.11 litres - about 27 kpl or 79 mpg.

Coming back was a similar story except that I had enough confidence in these new tyres to 'make progress' to the embarrasment of several 'superbike' riders. Can't give you the figures for the last trip on the forum but I was highly impressed with the grip on the dry warmish roads.

Wow! That's some serious economy youv'e got going on there.

I'll have to go and have a look at the tread pattern...

... ah more road biased than the Siracs I have on.

Keep us posted as to how you progress with them they look like a nice tyre.

Has anyone found a tyre that does not grip on dry warmish roads :bigwink:or is that the :devil[1]:in me

Colin

ROFL!

I've had a pair that pretty much melted on warm dry roads though. (VFR with Sprortmax D208's)

Yes - the squared off tyres that I took off.

I bet they still gripped, just the Step from the Flat middle to the outsides was like falling off a cliff.:tongue5::icon_wink:

From what I have read so far looks like you have went for the tyre of choice. I collect my XTX tonight, not sure what tyres were on it they were blank and round, the rear was new when I had the test ride but the front looked more worn, I will find out tonight. By the way I am a cheeky :sign4:

Colin

no probs - don't ask and you don't find out.

I am looking forward to finding the level of grip on wet/greasy/gritty roads. Although there was a couple of stretches of new laid tarmac but they came and went so quickly I didn't have time to form an impression.

Dear Motonacio,

How are your tyres going?

My XT came with a Perilli Dragon on the front and a Diablo on the rear. I dont have any confidence with them or the Bike yet still getting used to the change.

Colin :icon_sunny:

Hi Colin - after my trip to Kington I have done no road miles at all. Tuesday 10th I prepped it for MOT (passed) on Wednesday. Thursday I prepped my son's TRX for MOT (passed) on Friday(13th!). Thursday I went down with flu-like symptoms :Nurse_KGBJ5I: and the doc grounded me for two weeks because of the hallucinations. Had hoped to be able to go to the National meet on Sat but got up and promptly vomitted at 6:30 sat a.m.

Shall post again when I get chance to sort them in the wet. You do realise that my bike is an R which is why I am making a record of how the :avon: Distanzias suit the R.

Having over-slept slightly I got up to a light drizzle on Sunday and needed to 'make progress' to reach the start-point for Ryansryde. This took me along roads that had a fair amount of rain overnight and were still quite wet where no sun/no wind reached to dry them.

I can only comment that I did not even consider the tyres to be anything other than trustworthy from chicken edge to chicken edge. Full marks for allowing me to concentrate on the disappearing points and even use a little gutter gravel when I was cutting it fine. One 'rapid stop' alongside a non-indicating tractor/long trailer combination saw me on the white lines with no slippage and only the smoothness of the paint felt through the forks (with spacers!) made me look down to see the lines.

Arriving at the Evesham destination of the ride we were shepherded onto a large grassed field which had absorbed the rain overnight leaving wet grass as a surface. Whilst one or two 'easy-rider' layout had a bit of slip 'n' slide the thinner tyres on my R gave a good solid feel whilst being steady on the throttle.

The surface not tried yet is UK mud. I shall leave that pleasure to someone else being satisfied that the Distanzia is an excellent choice for the R for mainly road-biased travel with a competence on light track and trail work not a worry.

The slightly hasty first part coupled with the procession riding and throttle blipping and clutch slipping gave the many people waving and smiling at the side of the roads a CCC carbon oval longs greeting - some sound and a few flames - contributed to a reserve light mileage of 113 mls. - approx. 17.1 kpl or 50mpg. Very acceptable to someone who is 'two-up' without a passenger.

Unless you wish to go mud-plugging these tyres are highly recommended for UK roads/tracks.

:hahaha[1]::hahaha[1]:
Congratulations:clap::clap:
When is the baby due???????

Is there really more grip in the avon`s than the OEM tire on fine tarmac?
I can read here that the life limit on the OEM tire is low.iaw softer rubber then the avon`s. And softer rubber is more grip , or am i wrong here?
On my rear wheel now , im like 3mm from the egde of the tire. and the side of my shoes is touching the road in sharp bends.(my feets are on the footstand)

If you compare the two tread patterns below

Attachment 2424

you can see the difference between the tyres in block sizes and therefore edges. My experience is that the Sirac (U.K. oem) gives excellent grip in the wet and when riding on steeply cambered roads. My summary of the Distanzia was "Unless you wish to go mud-plugging these tyres are highly recommended for UK roads/tracks."

To compare the two the Avon is marginally better on smooth dry surface level tarmac but the Michelin better on rougher and steeply cambered roads and tracks.

The Avons stay on my R for the UK roads with a spare set of wheels shod with TKCs or similar for off-road and my R in Spain will keep the Siracs until replaced with Metzler Tourance (the main European oem). Not having tried the Tourances I have no opinion on them yet.

Just ordered a set of these after reading motonacio review on them ,as i will not be doing any offroading for a while

price from busters motorcycles swansea �90 pair

Sorry but this but i meant the XTX Pirelli oem tire

I hope you are as happy with them as I am - as said in another thread only the Ron Haslams of this world can ride beyond the tyre's performance.

And at that price !

edit: this reply is to jasext/ex-davesoimtold.

Not happy , but satis. But if the Avon has better grip and more endurance , thats the way to go , or?

This thread is for the XT660R on Distanzias and was intended to be a personal view as no one else seemed to have tried them on the R. Not all sizes of the same tyre behave in the same way and the X and R sizes are very different.

I have also been well informed that the r size tyres have a harder compound to last longer ,i was just waiting for someone else to give them a go and thanks motonacio for doing just that

The x version is a softer compound offering more grip thus not lasting very long and more expensive

What is a good on/off road tire for a 660R as the ones that come with it are bad on grass?

There is no tyre which will give good grip on road and off road. Every tyre must compromise to pretend to do both well. The Siracs on my R here in Spain have done well on road and tracks of a very gravelly and rocky kind but I avoid grass. I have a pair of Annakees which I am hoping may give some benefit in wet off road conditions but have not yet tried them.

Following the discussions on trail riders suggests that TKCs will give the best off road performance whilst still being reasonable on road. Clearly any nobbly tyre will not be so good on tarmac but it is partly simply because they wear very quickly on road.

Maxwellnumbers will be along soon to tell you about his tyres and CaptMoto will sing the praises of Tourances but no keen off roaders have said anything special about them. Jasext is probably the best guy to give you advice as he is both on and off road enthusiastic.

Perhaps should mention that whilst people refer to off road as if it was all the same there is a lot of different kinds of off road from mud and slippery grass to fairly stable forest tracks and my local gravel and rocky tracks. They each need a different tyre to get the best performance.

Firstly what type of terrain offroad are you doing ? ie mud ,grass,wet,rocky

As for grass the you will have to fit a front tyre with very small knobblies as the larger knobblies tend to hover over the grass and not dig in to grip ,maybe try a michelin ac10

For the rear a pirelli mt21 is probably the best for mud,wet conditions (welsh ) and will grip brilliant on the road (i have actually scrapped my side stand in the wet ) but they only last for around 1000 miles at best

Been told that a michelin t63 is a very good compromise but havent tried them yet also a dunlop 908 rr but a bit pricey for me


DO NOT USE TKC80 IN BRITISH WEATHER IF YOU TEND TO GO OFFROAD

Hope this helps a bit more

Check out this thread for other people's opinions on TKCs and others

Tkc80

and note the different kinds of off road riding each poster has ridden.