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- 6 months of use on the road, in the woods, at the March Moto Madness and at Paris-Dunkerque
- Its qualities and faults highlighted on the handlebars of a Yamaha XTR 660
- The best of both worlds ?
- Widen your playing field
6 months of use on the road, in the woods, at the March Moto Madness and at Paris-Dunkerque
Its qualities and faults highlighted on the handlebars of a Yamaha XTR 660
The very essence of trail running is versatility. And suddenly, many trail users are tearing their hair a little to find a tire that is perfectly in line with the plural vocation of their machine, neither too road nor too TT, but at the same time, not too little TT and not too little road. Not easy !
A friend of Le Repaire’s editorial staff, Aurel ‘, asks himself these metaphysical questions day and night (the boy is cerebral). Because Aurel ‘loves motorcycles in all its forms: he has both an unbridled BMW S 1000 R with which he rides, road rallies and Nurburgring laps, which is next in his garage with a magnificent Yamaha XT R 660 (original brown saddle and orange screen, undoubtedly the ugliest of the color chart!). And with his XT, he goes on road trips, rides, the March Moto Madness and trips in the woods such as Paris-Dunkirk and other less ambitious things with his friends. This friendly motorcyclist also has a rear-wheel drive car with which he loves to take roundabouts while looking at the landscape through the windows because, he says, "ESP is for the weak". In short: Aurel ‘is a demanding boy who hates being betrayed by his tires.
The best of both worlds ?
Thus, when Continental released its TKC 70, which took over the heritage of the TKC 80, dedicated to off-roading, on the carcass of the Conti Trail Attack 2, Aurel’s alert eyelid suddenly rose. He who had already had Michelin Anakee 3 (not enough TT), Conti Trail Attack 2 (great, but not in line with his inclinations for TT trips) as well as Heidenau K60 Scout (not enough road, vibrant and a scary in the wet), the Continental’s 60% road / 40% TT promise suited it perfectly, at least on paper.
Six months later, a few road and off-road rides, not extreme, but already a little selective, allow us to draw a reasonable assessment of the capabilities of this TKC 70.
As the human being is not stingy with paradoxes, one can drive on a brown XT and be an esthete sensitive to the look of his tires: this is the case of Aurel ‘who admits to love the "adventurer" side that emanate from sculpted tires.
The mounting of the tires did not pose any problems, their carcass being less rigid than certain others experimented by Aurel ‘(the Heidenau, for example).
At the start: the sensations are mixed. The break-in is a bit long, but the vibrations are significantly lower than on the Heidenau. The profile being less round, the TKC 70 also give a little the feeling of "falling" on the angle at the beginning. So you have to get used to new sensations. Subsequently, their grip in the dry as in the wet does not bring any bad surprises, whether during work trips in interlocking, or on trendy arsouille trips (hunt the natural …) in the Mancelles Alps. Aurel ‘declares that he drives without any apprehension (in his own language, translate by "to graze like a piglet) forgetting that his profile is a little less road than other tires; he just noticed noticeable sway from 130 km / h on the XT R, without drawing a definitive conclusion, however, because perhaps the chassis of his machine has taken a bit of old age by increasing the number of off-road trips. Continental, this phenomenon would not exist on heavy trails; on lighter ones like the XT R, it is mitigated by a hardening of the rear shock absorber.
Widen your playing field
After a quick stint at the March Moto Madness, Aurel ‘got caught up in the game of off-road trips and took part in the Paris-Dunkirk 2016 which, as you know, links these two cities by dirt roads with , on some sections, two levels of difficulty. And as he is not a weakling, he directly took the "extreme" course.
Selected pieces :
I see guys arriving with TKC 80s and Anakee Wilds, but also another in XTZ and Anakee 3. So I tell myself that if he passes, I must pass, that will give me a good point of comparison. We start with wet grass and it’s holidays on ice, I feel like I’m on the limit and I see the KTM paved in Anakee Wild pull away and … fall. So it slides well for everyone. It’s perfect, it gives me points of reference. We will continue with sand, undergrowth, passages in fields. I discover with joy that I go everywhere, I have a good feeling with the front, even if the rear lacks a little traction in the fat, especially compared to the K 60 Scout that I had already tested before. No problem, as with my car, I discover the joys of sliding when accelerating !
"The joys continue: owl, a quagmire! The XTZ in Anakee launches and … crashes. We help to free itself. In my turn. I have the pressure. I attack the difficulty in second, I I’m going to look for the grip at the bottom of the mud channel and it goes! You really have to arrive in big piles of mud, without furrows already dug, so that I find myself in difficulty.
The TKC70 is to give off-road capabilities to its trail without loss on a daily basis. It’s versatile and only admits its limits in fat, but that’s natural for a tire that claims only 40% TT. But the pleasure remains when the tar disappears and it offers no daily constraints. A true versatile trail tire, therefore…
Strong points
- Real versatility
- Grip on dry asphalt
- Makes the bike agile
- Very good skills in TT
Weak points
- A little long to break in
- Profile which makes the front a little "falling" on the angle
- Movements above 130 km / h on the XT R (to be disabled with hardening of the rear shock absorber – operation in progress)
- TT limits on very soft ground
Test conditions
- Itinerary: everyday, walks on small roads and in the woods, Paris-Dunkirk, March Moto Madness
- Motorcycle mileage: 30,000 km
- Problem encountered: a bit slow to break in, instability above 130 km / h
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