Duro HF 904 Median tires in 130/90-16 on the rear and 120/80-18 on the front have been mounted on at least one C10. Not by me. Yet. Search on one of the Concours forums, that's where I read it, he had pictures an an evaluation posted. The C10 is a bit heavier than my old Suz GS1100G, which handled just fine on gravel even with all the gear I carry on extended trips. In fact, I sought gravel to roll over its 50K mile. I was relaxed on gravel on that bike. I haven't relaxed yet on the C10 on gravel. The presence of tupperware repair replacement looms in my mind. But the C10 feels very similar to the old Suz on the gravel. Look up Alcan Rider and and AK Diane's posts and read their experiences with C10s on gravel. Jathkajoe
So the last post was a while ago, and I remember asking the same question and getting a lot of replies about a guy in Alaska who rode his ZG1000 all over the place, snow and all...AlcanRider was the name as I recall... Anyway, I have steep hills and Mud season here in VT, and do it all on the Connie. I even ride my KLR in snow without knobbies, but that's different. I'm going to Darkside the Connie with a Dunlop Graspic DS 3 in 185/55-16, which according to yet another post here, fits and clears the swingarm. Not looking forward to even higher highway revs, but I'll be able to skip first gear entirely...
Getting used to riding a street bike on gravel: Within reason, the faster you go the more stable the bike will be. If you're just starting out then your natural instinct will be to go slowly and the bike will be less stable. With some practice you'll be able to develop some skills and experience on gravel and be more confident. And ditto what somebody said earlier about pretending you don't have a front brake when riding on gravel as it can wash out the front easily.
I can remember seeing a picture a while back, (probably on this site). It was a row of bikes parked out in front of the general store in Prudhoe Bay, at the end of the Dempster. All were covered in muck & looking very ADV. At the end of the row of GS, KLR, KTM, was a Connie C-10. Hard to tell with the mud cover, but I think it was the gold year...2005 maybe?
Yep, that was mine,and it is a an 05. The deep gravel was a challenge but that wasn't the worst thing I ran across. Frost heaves and pavement/gravel transitions blew out both fork seals on the way up and a lack of travel in the front forks made it a bone jarring experience. As with all big bikes in the gravel, just relax lean back, stay on the throttle, and let it track where it wants to...only give steering input when your on the throttle and its not that bad. That being said, I defer to Alcan Rider as the Connie adventure Guru
Learn to ride. Your skills are HORRIBLE/SCARY. Get a soggy 125cc four stroke old turd to practice with. 20 miles into my camp on gravel roads was always the highlight of the trip.