Well, I am finally ready to replace my Mefo and if any of you know my luck with the 908 and its severe lack of longevity (less than 1000k). I am pleased to say the 150 rear is gonna roll over 6000k with the same riding almost exactly as the 908 saw. I have to throw on my last new 908/Karoo combo for the wet spring, but another Mefo will be the summer tire of choice again for sure! The Heidi front has been a great compliment to the Mefo rear too. Not good in mud, but can really scrub speed fast on loose gravel, and its great on Tarmac too.
Yup, I have been real happy with my Mefo set (Front is mounted backwards but works so good I dont want to mess with it.) Absolutely love em.
I rode la barstow vegas last year on the 990 with a mefo rear. I was going to change it out to a 908 before, but i couldnt wear it out. So i went with a mefo with just over 3000miles on it. Worked great rock gravel sand. When i finaly wore it out and changed to the 908 i got 1500 miles out of it and didnt think the traction was that much better then the half wore out mefo. Mefo rear tkc80 front is what my combo fo choice.
FWIW I never totally liked the Mefo Front. Never felt that confident on the dirt but it was a long wearing tire. TKC was better IMO all around but you give up wear. Giving the K60 Scout a try. When the current 908 wears I'll probably try the Mefo Rear
That's been my experience too. I hate to hear that since I have a MEFO front sitting idle until the TKC gives up.
The soft sidewall of the TKC scares me. I dent my wheel with the stiff walled Karoo on. The Heidi (Heidenau) has been great as I said above. Bad in the mud though.
I got close to 9000 miles on my Mefo rear on my just completed South America trip. Not wanting to earn a trip to a third world hospital, my right wrist was more restrained than usual. It was primarily pavement with less than 1000 miles of dirt roads. I liked it. I used a TKC 80 front and it was okay while it lasted but it cupped and was handling funny at about 5000 miles. I've since been told to reverse the tire at each oil change to even out the wear. I don't remember my partially worn Pirelli MT21 cupping like that but it did have less miles. I have a couple new 908's in the garage which I still think are better in really technical stuff but for longer trips, I'm sold on the Mefo Super Explorer rear.
I'm running front and rear Mefo SE with 9800 miles on them. I've finally found another set of tires here in Guatemala to replace them, which are Kenda Big Blocks. Those aren't a bad tire, just longevity is less than half that of the Mefo set up. I still have miles left on the Mefo set, but will change them before heading back north to the states. Great tire!! I'll go with them again on my next ride abroad!!!
For my last cross country trip and attendance at the KTM rally last year I ran the Heidenau rear and the Kenda Big Block front. Worked great for both the long stretches of pavement getting out west and the dirt riding I did while I was there. Both lasted the 7200 mile round trip but were pretty worn till I got home.
Wow you got a Kenda Big Block to last 7200 miles??? That amazes me, the first set I had had about half the tread depth with around 2000 miles. Did read an article that they were changing the chemistry or compound, more accurately, of the tire. I don't expect these tires to make the trip from Guatemala back to Colorado though. But one could hope...
How in the hell do you get 6k on a mefo? :huh I get 3k max. wanna know. Love them but can't get that out of them.
Sorry for the slight hijack. Does a 150/70-17 exist on the Mefo's. I'm looking for some. I have Caponard rims on the Orange Beast and need a 17 back tire and haven't been able to find them anywhere. Thanks!
They don't make a 150/70-17. In 17" they make a 130/80-17, but it's probably too narrow to run in a rim requiring a 150.
No prob. Yeah their website is hard to locate but this page spells out what they make. Hard to read German but you can see their webshop sells lots of different brands of tires. Just look for "Mefo Sport" in the "Hersteller" (manufacturer) column. http://www.mefo-shop.de/Reifen/Enduro%20Strasse/
This is the setup I'm looking to do for my 990 once the stock rubber wears out, is the TKC80 decent on the highway? I have a trip to the Pikes Peak international hillclimb in June and will be putting on 2,500 miles of pavement but once I return I want to ride a lot of dirt and have heard from many people that the Mefo and TKC80 is a great combo, I just hate to put the front on and kiss it goodbye down the highway in a week. Any suggestions??? I greatly appreciate the help!