Phil_ur_up

Thanks Steve, great info.

Thanks Steve, Very reassuring news on the wear stats. I've got a ballpark figure of 10,000 miles round trip and although I will be laden, I'm solo and my gear's all lightweight. I'm also not a throttle jockey and pride myself on road reading to avoid excessive braking so I should be good for that 10K hopefully. I don't know about your 1200GS but I've been impressed by how much engine braking I get with the F800, maybe coz it's fuel injected?, allied to sitting up in the wind and reading the road means I very rarely have to brake hard at all. I've got a mate lives on a wild Welsh hilltop where I plan to check out the off road capabilities of the PR 6's when fitted, should be interesting. Nice pic btw, is that Kielder Drive? Also, is that derelict buildings behind or modern art? Hard to tell nowadays.

Thanks guyz, Reassuring to hear an expected 9,000 miles. Is that based on previous wear experience? Just on the depth of tread alone, the PR 6 is the nearest thing I've seen to what we used to call semi-off road back in the day and I am only imaging farm tracks or forestry roads maybe and preferably dry too. As to getting over the mountains, probably like two hedgehogs mating, very slowly and very carefully.

Thanks all for your prompt and great response! So, slime is out then, didn't know about alloy corrosion. I planned on taking a repair kit anyway and I'll look for the string type there. I have researched buying new tyres in Europe or Turkey but it seems the only potentially cheaper than home options come with a greater risk of "fake" brand name tyres, so I don't feel it's wise to risk that. I checked out the Michelin PR 6's and I'm now thinking they're the way to go. Although I didn't mention it in my O P, the idea is to head south through Portugal then across toward Istanbul for the 90 day limit, staying as far south as possible to get the best weather through winter. I'm taking camping kit and will probably be doing quite a lot of camping where the weather permits. So, the fact that the PR 6's list "Trail" in their description, and looking at the extra chunkiness of the tread, should I need to access dirt roads or farm tracks, I could probably do that a lot easier on the PR 6 than any other "Touring" tyre I've seen so far. Of course, the F800 isn't built for off roading at all but the better looking chunky tread could well allow me to access more potential camp spots. Thanks again all, I came to exactly the right place for sound advice.

Hi all, I'm embarking on an extensive tour of Europe and Turkey and I'm currently prepping my BMW F800ST for this. I figure it's better to fit new tyres before going, though my Bridgestone Battlax's have plenty of wear left by looks. I'm looking for long distance tyres primarily, and I reckon good quality distance tyres will still allow me to enjoy the twisties especially as an older rider who's not looking to scrape the pegs. I'm hoping that some of you guyz have done a lot of miles on various tyres and can give real life mileage wear info. I'm currently considering Metzeler Roadtec Z8's though I see a lot of praise for the Michelin Pilot Road 4's Also, as a sub-topic I'm thinking that using Slime, or another prevent puncture liquid, could be a time and trouble saver. What are your thoughts on these liquids? Thanks