New tires or no?

Looks like I'll be riding my new to me BMW R1200GS adventure to Colorado and back next week.

It's currently shod with Anakee Wild tires. They had about 500 miles on them when I got it and I've put another 800-1000 or so on so maybe they have 1500 on them.

The trip will be about 2500 miles with about 200 miles of mountain 4wd roads in there and the rest being street.

Question is whether or not to change them before I go. if I change them, do I change front and rear or just rear?

Basically looking for feedback on how many miles is "normal" for an Anakee Wild on a 1200GS? And yes, I know normal depends on a lot of things like speed, terrain and heat...but looking for either a range of mileage that people have seen or any personal experience and the type of riding that gave you the result you got.

Oh...I've got some Shinko 804/ 805s with about 500 miles already in the garage too so I could easily put those on if that's a better choice than the 1500 mile Anakee's.

Administrator....wasn't sure where to post this thread...if it's in the wrong place, please move for me. Thx.

I think what you have on there should make 4000 miles okay. Any idea from the BMW forums what others are getting? I think we have a more abrasive chip seal here in N.TX. and I only got 4000 out of the stock Bridgestones I use on my Tenere. Just saying that because of similar weight bikes. But I like the idea of a new tire starting out on any trip and if money wasn't an object I'd put a new rear Anakee on. The front will probably do twice the mileage. Since most of your miles are on pavement I'd stick with a more road dedicated tire.

My experience on big adv bikes is 2000 or little more rear if you riding much hardtop. Eats the knobs up on big block tires.
You could buy a tire if needed after you get there??

I've never used the Anakee Wild, but I doubt they are much better than other similar tires in terms of life expectancy. You could probably make it, but they will likely be completely toast by the time you get back.

What really eats up the tires is running at sustained highway speeds, especially if the bike is loaded. I think this is worse than dirt roads. West Texas eats tires. You don't spend any time on the side of the tire and it just eats the center, pretty quick. This is why I finally quit riding to places far away and started trailering to the area where I want to ride.

Living in East Texas, if I go West, there's not much fun stuff to ride anyway and it just wastes my tires. There is also the cost factor if I can split truck gas 3-4 ways. I would never mount a set of TKCs and then head off across West Texas... By the time I got anywhere that I'd need that kind of tire, they'd already be half way done! Something like a Shinko 805 does a little better in that regard. I did use one of those for a trip that involved a lot of pavement as well as dirt. I think the best I've ever gotten from a TKC rear was around 3.5K and that did not involve a lot of sustained highway speeds.

Reviews on the BMW GS forum indicate people are getting 5-6K on the rear with the Anakee Wilds before they hit the wear indicator and close to 9K on the front compared to about 3-4K on the TKC rear so apparently the Wilds do last a bit longer.

Now...I take that as one data point in many.

On my Goldwing, I hear people saying they get 10-12K out of the OEM tire and I get about 6-8K for the exact reason that Tourmeister mentioned....chip sealed roads in Tx summer heat just eats tires and especially at 80MPH.


Having said that, I'd probably be a bit under 4K miles on them when I got back on it so I think it's doable, but like others have said....it would be toast when I got back. (which is fine....I just need to be able to actually get back before it's toast... toast with 500 miles to go isn't good)

I have seen people claim to get 10K out of a rear TKC. On the other end, I have seen them last no more than 1K (on my GS). How the person rides is a HUGE factor in tire life!! Hard accelerations and sustained highway speeds are the big killers. Cruising at 75-80mph will eat a tire MUCH faster than say 55-60mph. The force the tire has to put to the ground is not linear with speed because the drag from air increases with the square of speed. This is why streamlining plays such a big role in vehicles that go really fast versus just trying to put more horsepower in the motor. Adding luggage means more weight AND more drag, both of which mean more wear on the tire. Lots of straight roads versus lots of twisty roads will eat tires.

I made a trip to North Carolina and took my 1200 GS with me. I mounted a brand new set of TKCs before leaving and we trailered out there because we each took two bikes. I only rode the GS for three of the six days we were riding. It was a mix of street and easy dirt. In total, I had maybe 1000 miles on the bike by the end of the week. However, it was three days of pretty aggressive riding with lots of hard acceleration, hard braking, and extreme lean angles, but speeds rarely over 60mph and no luggage other than a lightly packed tail bag. The rear was shot from side to side. The front lasted another few thousand miles after I got home.

Unless I know how a rider rides, I don't usually put much faith in their mileage claims, especially if they have real high numbers. I am hard on tires because I like to accelerate and I generally run 75-80 on the highways.

My thing is that I do NOT want a trip to go bad because of a tire wearing out. Flats you just have to deal with. But a worn tire can turn into a nightmare. I'd rather just mount a new tire and not worry about it, then keep the old tire as a replacement for after the trip. I don't pay a shop to mount tires, so there is that. If I did, I'd be more worried about when I changed tires.

I have a 2018 GS Rallye that came fitted with the Anakees and have put 4k miles on it since April, tires are still good. I think that you will be fine.

no one is more frugal ... OK, cheap ... than me.

When i was going through my air leak fiasco and stressing over a tire change with some viable tread remaining on the original TA2s, it was brought to my attention that what was left on the bike was a pittance.

In other words, if you tried to sell the tires, how much would they bring?

Then ask yourself, would you pay that amount as assurance you would have no tire wear related issues on your trip?
You will have to install new tires eventually ... the day after your trip, it sounds like.
So why wait till after?

I think the peace of mind and trip enjoyment go hand in hand.