nklr: kilimanjaro jacket

[Michael Nelson]

I had a local shop put on a set of Pirelli MT21s over the weekend in prep for a trip I am going on in a week or so that will involve an undetermined amount of off-road. Better safe than sorry, I figure. I asked the guy what pressures he used, he said "32R/30F". That seems in the ballpark for street use. I am interested in what to run in them for the highspeed freeway run from San Francisco up to Bear Valley (on highway 4) with my heavy ass and a bunch of camping gear on the bike. According to the Pirelli USA website, they list 30-36PSI as the MIN-MAX for the front tire and 30-33PSI as the MIN-MAX for the rear. That seems to me like a very high MIN, and a low MAX for the big rear tire. But it checks with what is on the sidewall, the rear says 33PSI max. I want to air them up hard for the run up there, and if I hadn't researched it I probably would have done something like 36R/32F. Also when I get up there in the rocks and dirt I want to air them down, but my plan of taking them down to 20R/18F seems to be way outside what Pirelli recommends. Those of you who have used MT21s on a KLR before under similar conditions, what kind of pressures did you find suitable? I don't want knobs falling off the rear before I get to the mountains! Thanks Michael -- "Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID he just whipped out a quarter?" --Steven Wright San Francisco, CA

[BobH]

Hi Michael, I am on my second set of MT21's. I weigh around 150 and usually have 30 psi front and rear when on the highway with or without camping gear. I don't ride two up. When we take a challenging dirt ride, I lower the rear to 18 and the front to 20. It makes a huge difference. I do have rim locks, front and rear. I've never experienced any problems doing it this way. Bob

On Sep 11, 2007, at 6:54 AM, Michael Nelson wrote: I had a local shop put on a set of Pirelli MT21s over the weekend in prep for a trip I am going on in a week or so that will involve an undetermined amount of off-road. Better safe than sorry, I figure. I asked the guy what pressures he used, he said "32R/30F". That seems in the ballpark for street use. I am interested in what to run in them for the highspeed freeway run from San Francisco up to Bear Valley (on highway 4) with my heavy ass and a bunch of camping gear on the bike. According to the Pirelli USA website, they list 30-36PSI as the MIN-MAX for the front tire and 30-33PSI as the MIN-MAX for the rear. That seems to me like a very high MIN, and a low MAX for the big rear tire. But it checks with what is on the sidewall, the rear says 33PSI max. I want to air them up hard for the run up there, and if I hadn't researched it I probably would have done something like 36R/32F. Also when I get up there in the rocks and dirt I want to air them down, but my plan of taking them down to 20R/18F seems to be way outside what Pirelli recommends. Those of you who have used MT21s on a KLR before under similar conditions, what kind of pressures did you find suitable? I don't want knobs falling off the rear before I get to the mountains! Thanks Michael -- "Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID he just whipped out a quarter?" --Steven Wright San Francisco, CA

[Michael Nelson]

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 02:43:59PM -0700, BobH wrote:

> Hi Michael, > I am on my second set of MT21's. I weigh around 150 and usually have 30 > psi front and rear when on the highway with or without camping gear. I > don't ride two up.

Well, I am a lardass at about 260, so one of me makes about two of you, or you riding two up with a woman. So I think I am going to do 35R/32F on the freeway with my camping gear. I think a little overinflated is better than underinflated in this case. The ride won't be as smooth, but the tires should run cooler.

> When we take a challenging dirt ride, I lower the > rear to 18 and the front to 20. It makes a huge difference. I do have > rim locks, front and rear. I've never experienced any problems doing it > this way.

I don't have rim locks, so I don't really want to go below about 20 PSI. Thanks! Michael -- "Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID he just whipped out a quarter?" --Steven Wright San Francisco, CA

[Jacobus De Bruyn]

The problem is if you have the rear too soft, and you ride on stony roads, the tire will bottom out, and squeeze the tube against the rim, and that could cause leaks. I have MT21 s at the moment, and the side walls are rather soft, so I try to keep them as hard as possible, 33 sounds right, if you get into the soft stuff like sand and mud, you probably should air them down. Jake. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Tonight's top picks. What will you watch tonight? Preview the hottest shows on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/

[LD]

Do you have the MT21 AT or ST? I have had the STs and liked them just fine. Typically ran them at 30-32 road and 23-25 dirt with no problems or issues. When I replaced the the rear (8,000 miles), I wanted to buy another ST but couldn't find one anywhere in the country! (this was back in June 07) I decided to try a Gripster and at 2,000 miles so far, am happy I did. It rides remarkably like the Pirelli, great on the road but a bit better in dirt and sand. Both are awful in mud... --------------------------------- Got a little couch potato? Check out fun summer activities for kids. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Doug Pippin]

LD I've never seen an AT or ST rating on Pirelli M21 tires. I believe your talking about Pirelli Scorpions that come in an AT (more aggressive) or ST (more street) configurations. M21's work as well as any DOT knobby tire in the dirt, sand and mud. For maximum traction in those conditions you'd need full off road knobbies (not DOT approved). I've used the MT21's and ran between 26 and 28 PSI pressures. MT21's will wear out very quickly if you ride a lot on the pavement. The also give a little tuck in the rear when turning in while riding aggressively on the road. It'll get your attention but once you get used to it they grip just fine. I've found that the Dunlop 606's get a little better mileage and work better on aggressive cornering on the road. They provide good dirt, sand, mud traction for a DOT tire also. Doug in NC ---------- At 07:18 AM 9/13/2007, you wrote:

>Pirelli MT21 Pressures > Posted by: "LD" loudicks@... loudicks > Date: Wed Sep 12, 2007 1:08 pm ((PDT)) > >Do you have the MT21 AT or ST? > > I have had the STs and liked them just fine. Typically ran them > at 30-32 road and 23-25 dirt with no problems or issues. When I > replaced the the rear (8,000 miles), I wanted to buy another ST but > couldn't find one anywhere in the country! (this was back in June > 07) I decided to try a Gripster and at 2,000 miles so far, am happy > I did. It rides remarkably like the Pirelli, great on the road but > a bit better in dirt and sand. Both are awful in mud...

---------- Doug Pippin 828-684-8488 d_pippin_89@... ---------- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Don Pendergraft]

My HT overpants don't leak as much as they just don't cover the upper part of your lap. You WILL get wet there. So, what I do is put on some over-overpants. I just slip my Frog Togs pants on top. Not a huge deal. I wish I didn't have to, but it's not a terrible hassle and it keeps me dry. Don+ _____ From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of revmaaatin Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 8:11 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: nklr: Kilimanjaro JACKET --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogro ups.com, "E.L. Green" wrote:

> Oh, the new Kili pants are terrible. They leak at the crotch. The old

Kili pants are terrible

> for another reason -- they rip open at the belt. All in all, First

Gear's quality has gone

> steadily downhill these past five years, and it's no longer worth

buying anything they

> make. > > _E >

Eric- If not the Kili jacket, What? What would you recommend for waterproof riding pants? revmaaatin. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]