We test the Continental TKC80 adventure tyre.
Continental TKC80
Price: 90/90×21 $159
150/70×17 $279
Where: Ron Angel Imports
ronangel.com.au
(03) 9464 3366
When Pablo’s Motorcycle Tyres in Melbourne fitted up our set of TKC80s, manager Rick said we’d get about 5000km out of them, and that turned out to be just about bang on. After the road-biased tyres we’d been running, it took a little while to get used to the vibration through the handlebar at low speed and to learn to trust the Conti rubber on bitumen, but it was worth it.
WE LIKED
FITTING:
Rick didn’t have too much trouble getting the tyres on and didn’t need a bucket load of balance weights. We ran 20psi in the front and 23 in the rear on the dirt.
RIDING:
Other than an increase in resistance to tip-in when cornering and a little vibration through the ‘bar at low speed, these tyres were surprisingly good on the tar and excellent on gravel roads. The wide and relatively short knobs didn’t make the bike squirm when cornering.
COMPOUND:
The rubber compound is a great compromise for road and dirt. It’s obviously fairly soft but great for longer adventure rides like the BMW Safari.
WE DIDN’T LIKE
CURFEW:
As usual, we didn’t get out in the bush as often as we would have liked, so the road-biased Conti TKC70s would probably have been a better bet. It still makes me angry to waste a good knobby like this one, though.
WEAR:
After 4000km, the tread depth on the rear is down from about 10mm to 6mm. It remains perfectly usable. You’d probably not be able to say that about a sticky road tyre on a superbike after 4000 clicks.
VERDICT
The Continental TKC80s have been around for years and there are several good reasons for that. The compound is a good compromise, the profile of the knobs resists flex on the tar and they’re pretty good value. There’s none of that sensation of sliding on ice you get with some ‘adventure’ tyres on gravel and we’d have no hesitation fitting them for longer adventure rides knowing that they will go the distance.