Everytime Im tempted to spoon on the knobby's, I ride twisties and..

[Cruizin]

These stock STR's are so good on the road. Yesterday I took a beautiful route home from the trails that is full of corners. I was taking corners as fast as I used to take them on my FZ09. Leaning fully over , scrubbed the pegs a couple of times and man, these are ADV tires! 

 

I know that I will not get as good peformance on road with knobs. The offroad experience will improve bigtime, but then again the STR's haven't caused me to miss any of the trails that I wanted to ride, I just take them a lil more cautiously on the STR's. But honestly, Im having a blast on these tires.Stock tires usually suck, but these Pirelli STR's are not cheap to buy. And now I see why. 

 

I had em aired down to 26 front and rear the other day and that made a huge difference on hardpack and rocks. . Just no lateral traction at all.  Do not sidehill on loose gravel with these tires. That is the only drawback. 

 

But still, Im not in a hurry to be replacing the STR's.  On the highways home from the trails, I'm passing sport bikes in the corners , shaking my head and laughing my ass off. Way more than I expected from both the bike and these tires. 

[Lupan]

I like a lot these tires also, the bike seems almost a Supermoto, on my old TÉNÉRÉ 660 with the mitas E07 i can't do the same, it's easy to cornering on this bike, not even once in 2500 km commuting almost every time i didn't had any fear to ride the bike because the tires.

And my last bike was this one...

[Noel McCutcheon]

Seeing / no, trying them out for yourself is true believing.

[tenerecanada]

Next weekend will be my first full day offroad outing, and I am still on the STR's. A lot of my questions will be answered by Sunday and I will know whether to make the tire upgrade this season or burn these babies down all summer long.

[Cruizin]

48 minutes ago, tenerecanada said:

Next weekend will be my first full day offroad outing, and I am still on the STR's. A lot of my questions will be answered by Sunday and I will know whether to make the tire upgrade this season or burn these babies down all summer long.

Air em down a lil bit 

[UtahJack]

@Cruizin

The stock tires do seem nice, although after some research I am thinking I would like to try the Dunlop Trailmax Mission tires they appear to have similar on road performance and possibly better off road performance in spite of how they appear. The only negative thing I have heard is the rear tire has a little hard of a compound to improve durability resulting in a little poorer performance on road during wet conditions.  But all reports are that they preform exceptionally well off road and people are getting 8k plus out of them.

[tenerecanada]

1 hour ago, Cruizin said:

Air em down a lil bit 

Thanks, yeah I was going to give your 26 PSI recommendation a shot.

[Seventh Son]

4 hours ago, Cruizin said:

These stock STR's are so good on the road. Yesterday I took a beautiful route home from the trails that is full of corners. I was taking corners as fast as I used to take them on my FZ09. Leaning fully over , scrubbed the pegs a couple of times and man, these are ADV tires! 

 

I know that I will not get as good peformance on road with knobs. The offroad experience will improve bigtime, but then again the STR's haven't caused me to miss any of the trails that I wanted to ride, I just take them a lil more cautiously on the STR's. But honestly, Im having a blast on these tires.Stock tires usually suck, but these Pirelli STR's are not cheap to buy. And now I see why. 

 

I had em aired down to 26 front and rear the other day and that made a huge difference on hardpack and rocks. . Just no lateral traction at all.  Do not sidehill on loose gravel with these tires. That is the only drawback. 

 

But still, Im not in a hurry to be replacing the STR's.  On the highways home from the trails, I'm passing sport bikes in the corners , shaking my head and laughing my ass off. Way more than I expected from both the bike and these tires. 

Do you have a set of knobbies ready to go?  If so, which ones? 

[Cruizin]

15 minutes ago, Seventh Son said:

Do you have a set of knobbies ready to go?  If so, which ones? 

I got the Bridgestone AX41 tires. Chapmoto did a big ADV tire test and they won the 50-50 portion. 

 

Plus, follow the links below and you can get front and rear for $210 total!  Mega good deal. 

 

 

[sbeck09]

6 hours ago, Cruizin said:

These stock STR's are so good on the road. Yesterday I took a beautiful route home from the trails that is full of corners. I was taking corners as fast as I used to take them on my FZ09. Leaning fully over , scrubbed the pegs a couple of times and man, these are ADV tires! 

 

I had em aired down to 26 front and rear the other day and that made a huge difference on hardpack and rocks. . Just no lateral traction at all.  Do not sidehill on loose gravel with these tires. That is the only drawback. 

^^ this! They are solid as hell in anything dirt as long as you take it easy in corners. I was saying this all weekend long. Running them at 22psi helps a bunch, but isn't a perfect solution to corners.

 

I'm willing to lose a tiny amount of road grip to help make sure I don't bite it off-road as easily. My plan is TKC80 front with a Motoz Tractionator Adventure rear. I'm talking myself into ordering them sooner rather than later because now that I've been off-road on this bike I am anxious to do it again. This decision is purely based on reputation/reviews and not price.

 

 

[Great Escape]

Totally agree about the standard Pirelli tyres being  good  on the road...the T7 corners like it's on rails...it's brilliant!. I hear the Motoz tractionator is also a decent road tyre but much better off road.  Another plus point with the OEM Pirelli's is their high speed stability...if you have to munch up some miles with luggage on at 'decent ' speeds you need that rock solid stability.  Most of my off roading is done at fairly sedate speeds along green lanes and sections of the TET...I would rather struggle a bit off road tyre wise , but be super confident in my tyres when I peel into a wet busy roundabout!!  Each to their own...but one thing I'm sure we agree on is that we have a great bike in the T7.  Cheers,  Steve 

[Louis]

Which tyre the biggest conundrum for the T7!  It's got such good  road performance and works so well offroad. Tyres type enhances the performance to better  on or off road conditions!  Regretting street  oriented tyres in mud or sand. Regretting nobbies in the twisties.  Just get a  second  set of wheels, or a second  T7! 

[T7-Dave]

I've had the exact same thoughts. I've ridden a few other bikes ( Ducati ) with STR's and I didn't like them at all. On the Tenere though, totally different thing all together. They are amazing road tires for this bike. Trailmax Mission or the AX41  were going to be the likely next choice. Who knows, I may stick to STR's !

[tj3089]

I went with knobbies right away, no regrets.  I'll keep the str's for spares or mostly street trips.  They impressed me off-road as well. 

[Seventh Son]

On 6/21/2020 at 10:34 PM, Cruizin said:

I got the Bridgestone AX41 tires. Chapmoto did a big ADV tire test and they won the 50-50 portion. 

 

Plus, follow the links below and you can get front and rear for $210 total!  Mega good deal. 

 

 

Yep, I've been following Chapmoto's very thorough and impressive Youtube tire comparisons.  They also have me sold on the AX41.  Thanks for the link!

Edited June 24, 2020 by Seventh Son

[sbeck09]

Just to further the proof, for those of us that have ridden off road, here is a Chap Moto review of the STR. I'd say it's pretty spot on.

 

 

 

Excellent on-road with the front tire not being very confidence inspiring off-road, especially if the top layer is loose sand. That being said, I think Yamaha made a great choice for a factory tire and don't hold this against them in any negative way. 

[Aleksandar13]

8 hours ago, 29er said:

Looking at my tyres today - i am still running in and have 480 miles on it so far but the front concerns me a little.... I am off edge the rear tyre on the tarmac around the Welsh twisties but i am also off the edge of the front and with the block pattern being staggered with only ever other block on the tyre placed at the edge  - the tyre is rows of 5 blocks then 4 blocks alternating - only the rows of 5 blocks reach the outer edge of the tyre -  that isn't much rubber in contact with the tarmac where there is a big gap between the rows of 5 blocks - i think i am right on the limit of lean for the front so i am  changing for something where all the tread blocks go to the edge - i don't want to loose the front... 

Get yourself some 17 inch wheels and supermoto style tyres ... No worries to have after that...

[Noel McCutcheon]

On 8/5/2020 at 10:10 PM, 29er said:

Looking at my tyres today - i am still running in and have 480 miles on it so far but the front concerns me a little.... I am off edge the rear tyre on the tarmac around the Welsh twisties but i am also off the edge of the front and with the block pattern being staggered with only ever other block on the tyre placed at the edge  - the tyre is rows of 5 blocks then 4 blocks alternating - only the rows of 5 blocks reach the outer edge of the tyre -  that isn't much rubber in contact with the tarmac where there is a big gap between the rows of 5 blocks - i think i am right on the limit of lean for the front so i am  changing for something where all the tread blocks go to the edge - i don't want to loose the front... 

it will not slide out... Buy a MT-10 

[Idarex]

I'm not disappointed in these tires and I'm going to run them out.  I've got 2600 miles on them about 800 of that is dirt/gravel.  Dirt and gravel roads, these tires shine.  On the street I like how quiet they are compared to my dual sport tires.  So far, I would consider getting them again in the future.

 

I do not care for them  on paved twisty bits.  They have a more abrupt shoulder and not a radial carcass like a street tire.  I found the rear slips fairly easily when you push it.  I know better riders than me like that but I don't.  I had to dial it back accelerating hard out of corners while still heeled over.  I'm sure the rear would behave better if I aired down but I'm not into airing up and airing down.

 

I'm finishing the IDBDR this week from Missoula MT to Porthill ID on the Canadian border.  I'm estimating 350-ish miles of dirt and 650-ish miles of pavement over 6 days before I get home.  The STRs seem to be made for a trip like this.  Based on my first 2600 miles on STRs, I expect they will shine and I won't be wishing I had something else.

[Louis]

Yes, I found that the rear tyre would give you plenty of butt pucker moments, even when not pushed hard. 

[Team FTB]

On 8/6/2020 at 4:10 AM, 29er said:

Looking at my tyres today - i am still running in and have 480 miles on it so far but the front concerns me a little.... I am off edge the rear tyre on the tarmac around the Welsh twisties but i am also off the edge of the front and with the block pattern being staggered with only ever other block on the tyre placed at the edge  - the tyre is rows of 5 blocks then 4 blocks alternating - only the rows of 5 blocks reach the outer edge of the tyre -  that isn't much rubber in contact with the tarmac where there is a big gap between the rows of 5 blocks - i think i am right on the limit of lean for the front so i am  changing for something where all the tread blocks go to the edge - i don't want to loose the front... 

Prey tell, what did you choose as a replacement? I push hard on the street, used to road race and race desert.  I will have two sets of tires, one strictly for mostly pavement and another set for primarily dirt.  So what is the best 18 X 21 pavement tire from a performance criteria?