tires for the tt250
 

what is everyone running for tires and what tire sizes fit the tt250/hawk? i do about 60%road and 40% offroad mostly sugar sand and rocky trails sorta mountain ish too.

Good question. I'm still running stock nobbies but I'm interested and seeing what others are running on front too for the soft sand. That's about the only issue I have.

Oddly enough, I'm really happy with the stock TT250 tires. No complaints. Much nicer than knobbies on pavement and more than acceptable for dirt roads and trails.

The most popular 50/50 tire on the Hawks tends to be the Shinko 244 or the Kenda K270 (basically the same tire). I went with the Shinko 700, which is a 60/40 and also gets great reviews by most dual sport owners that run them. In either case, the tires do well on the types of surfaces you described when aired down a little bit. About the only area they don't really do the best in is mud, but that is kind of true across the board with this style of tire.

I'm ordering the Shinko 804 or 805, or the Conti TKC80.

Jenny Morgan used the Conti's to complete the Rubicon on a Honda 500X and then Moab on a 310 BMW. She rode to and from the trails something like 2,000 miles paved each way each time.

I'm sold!

the best way to ride soft sand is ride faster than you want to...
stay on top... the second the front wheel starts plowering is
when the problums start.
i hate sand..never get a chance to ride it often...

.

Just got some shinko 244's for the TT250. I've run them when I had a KLR650 and liked them. They wear well and are good on pavement and dirt, gravel, etc.

Those are on my shortlist Big Red, glad to hear you like them.

244 and 270...tryed the 244...
after i just about tossed the 660R away
twice it came off with 2mm of wear..
silly little blocks flex and put very little
rubber on the ground..

Shenko 700.. bigger blocks that don't flex "as much"
side blocks are bridged to help stop block flex when
leaned... and the same applys for gravel...no grip on the marbles "stones"
the grip is in the hard base under the gravel = rubber on the ground
as it is usaly far to hard for a nobbly to pentrate so you end up riding
on the top of the nobbs...



..

I've got the Shinko 705's on the DR and really like them, but they're absolutely terrible in the sand. They do really well on the rocks, though. Most of my DR riding is on road, and much improved trails. I have the stock knobbies on the Hawk, and I'm going to replace both tires with 705's when the rear tire wears down. The front tire has very little wear, even an three-thousand-odd miles. I'll post it in the classifieds section when I get new rubber, if anyone is interested in a stock front tire.

since 90% of the time im on sand i was thinking id go with and icr tr8 battle rally in the front https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...XRRCX4P2&psc=1
and a kenda 760 track master 2 in the rear https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...2QX59NLJ&psc=1
tho i have really liked the stock rear tire i may just get another one of them since i got almost 3k miles on the first one but they are the same price as the track master pritty much and i think it would be better yet in the sand and mud. im not worried about loosing performance on the road since i dont ride that aggressive on the highway or around town and the bike doesnt have enough power id think to rip off the nobbies :lmao:

Rear tyres a good choice...
the front I never buy tyres with inline kob pattens..
they tend to slide easyer than tyre with staggered
side nobs..

..

In the days of my youth, we switched out to a 4.00X19 front for events held on desert sand. These were heavier bikes then what are ridden now, though. Also, nowadays I would think that off road tires in that size would be hard to find...ARH

well it needs to be a rather agressive front tire i dont trust shinkos to be better than stock in sand so what would you recommend pete ?

I've also been pleasantly surprised by how well the stock Chinese rubber has performed on and off road for the TT250. I need to replace the rear on mine and have wondered if I'd stick with the stock or look at something else. I love the Shinko 705 on my CB500X on gravel but I think it's probably too tame for trail riding on the TT250. Seem to be a lot of options. I don't want to give up the street performance which I love on the stock TT250 rubber but a little more trail performance would be nice. We have a fair bit of sand around here too but few rocks and no mountains.