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I mounted the new trials tire on the back of my R65 and it almost killed us. Getting the new one on was not so bad, but getting the old one off was a bear. We ended up giving up on the front tire so I took it to a shop and twenty painless, blood free dollars later, I had a very cool looking set of semi knobbies on. Harbor Freight tire changers suck a lot.

I just took it for a short spin to see how it felt on wet blacktop. The verdict is still not in, but I am pretty sure I will be going back to street tires pretty quickly and chalking this up to a $96 plus $20 (so far) experience. There was a mild rumble that I could feel and it was pretty easy to get the back wheel to lock. To be fair, the tire has to break in a little and all the little tits have to wear off before it will get its full traction. The tire has a Do Not Exceed 80 MPH sticker on it, which is not much of a limit for an R65. But I am sure I will pucker a little going over 60.

I may take it to Big Bend and try some gravel roads with it, but I doubt if I will leave them on there for my trip to Colorado. Too many good black top roads.

Street tires will be fine on the dirt roads you encounter.
Just make sure someone knows where you are going and when to worry if you don't return.
Cell phone companies usually don't bother putting towers in low population areas...

This experiment has come to an end. I replaced the dirt tires with my old Metzler front and a new Bridgestone back. One of the joys of the R65 is how smooth it runs and the knobbys ruined all that. They also didn’t corner worth a damn and locking the back tire was pretty easy. I will feel much safer in Colorado on the cool roads.

I'm glad you survived the experiment. I used a Sahara back in the 80's that I kept on a second 'flake so I could swap them out easily for when I was going looking for dirt challenges. I think it was much more streetable than those knobbies you bought, mostly because it was the stock tire model for the G/S.

Just carry plenty of emergency supplies with you (can't have enough water).

bbelk wrote:This experiment has come to an end. I replaced the dirt tires with my old Metzler front and a new Bridgestone back. One of the joys of the R65 is how smooth it runs and the knobbys ruined all that. They also didn’t corner worth a damn and locking the back tire was pretty easy. I will feel much safer in Colorado on the cool roads.

That was my experience as well. I still haven't abandoned the idea of a dual sport, though.

Brad, did the Harbor Freight tire changer work any better this time around?

dwerbil wrote:Brad, did the Harbor Freight tire changer work any better this time around?

Sure did. Didn't bust any knuckles or pull any muscles or anything. I just left that piece of s$%*t piled in the corner and took the rims and wheels to Zabors.

bbelk wrote:

dwerbil wrote:Brad, did the Harbor Freight tire changer work any better this time around?

Sure did. Didn't bust any knuckles or pull any muscles or anything. I just left that piece of s$%*t piled in the corner and took the rims and wheels to Zabors.

I always wondered what the secret was to using those tire changers.