Modern Vespa

Yes.



My question is, what kind of Heidenau tires were you riding on? K61? K58? K66? Some types get thrown around by the rain grooves more than others. My personal preference for the GTS is the K61 with a 120/70 in the front and a 140/70 in the rear for the summer, or the K66 with a 120/70 in the front and a 130/70 in the rear for the winter.

The K61's are the best all around tire for warm, good weather, and they hardly produce any wobble at all on rain grooves or gratings. The front has a single groove down the center, but there's plenty of rubber on either side of the groove that lets it ride relatively smoothly. The 140 rear doesn't have a center groove, so it's not bothered at all and remains very solid. For 'sport' style tires, I find that they're fairly decent in the rain, but they don't inspire as much confidence as I'd like when the weather's bad. But when it's dry and not too cold out, they grip really well, they give a very firm ride, and they last a really long time, more than any other tire I've ridden on (except for maybe a NyloGrip, but then they're not exactly known for their phenomenal handling...)

Now the K66's are great rain tires, and I've been very happy with them every time I've used them. I just put a pair on my 300 and I feel much more at ease riding in the rain now. I haven't put this set to the rain groove test yet, but from what I recall from when I ran them before that they were not the best behaved on rain grooves. If you ride on rain grooves a lot, these might not be the best tires, but I'm very happy with them.

The K58, and the similar K62, are alternative types of rain/winter tires. Their unique waffle pattern tread designs keeps the wet at bay very well and they're nearly impervious to rain grooves. Now I've only tried the K58's, but they do have some downsides. First, although they're great on rain grooves in cement or asphalt, they are horrendous on just about any kind of metal gratings. Also, the waffle pattern tread produces a lot of tire noise, like tiny little mudder truck tires. Now other peoples' experiences might vary, but the K58 rear tires went bald extremely quickly. Granted, much of this was on the Cannonball, with lots of weight on the bike at very high speeds, but 2000 miles just seemed awfully soon for a tire to give out under any conditions. Under normal use in cooler temperatures though, I would think that a K58 rear should last 3000-3500 miles.

So that's my $0.02 about the various types of Heidenau tires, I hope it's helpful... any questions, feel free to ask.

I run the Heidenau K66 tires in the winter. Good in snow and wet, mud and dirt. But wear fast and feel a bit sluggish on the road. Can't imagine them a good choice for the Canonball.

I run the 4 season on my rear and got over 10k on it (on my LX). Run a 61 up front. Don't know about the cannonball but i'd assume you'd get less mileage but then again that would happen on most tires you'd use,considering the WOT you'd be doing. Good for mud,rain and other crap on the road . Heidi's tend to be :forgiving". Strong sidewalls. Somebody rode a while on a flat rear one and it did damn well. Still trying to figure out how they didn't know it was flat tho. We were able to patch it to get it to my house and put a new rear on. Lucky i had one mounted on a rim ready to go, for my next tire change. Good luck

Once again, they are noisy, prone to premature wear, and not a good WOT tire. Judy runs them on a 150 not a cross country timed event. I'll take a picture of one, maybe seeing the tread pattern will help visualize the potential noise and wear.

I just replaced a K58 rear tire on my GTV250. I primarily ride on REALLY bad Arkansas farm roads during all 4 seasons (unless there is loads of ice or snow). They did really well for me considering the abuse (bad roads, potholes), range of temperatures (100 degree summers and 20 degree winters), and did phenomenal in the rain (it rains buckets here in the fall and spring). I got just under 5500 miles on my last one and would have put on another one but I went with a 140 K61. But I don't ride loaded down or two up often if that helps. And it is true, they are a bit on the loud side!!

What are City Grips worth ? around 7000 miles ?

Bill X

The best use for 58 and 66's. Mirrors my experience, except the early years where I ran at highway speeds 65-75 on the local freeway to LaCrosse. I gobbled up the first K58 in under 3000 miles. I'm thinking Heidenau on my dream scoot, P150-200, will wear out from age first. The current K58, seldom run over 40 in 2800 miles, looks new.

OLD has said he plans on running on K66s the first 5-6 days of the cannonball also on a Sports City. His advice is usually spot on but figure it doesn't hurt to ask a broader audience. 8)