Kind-of-porky OSSA MARs and every other twinshock I have ridden go much better with modern tyres than they did with old style tyres

Where you might see better performance with an MT43 on the MAR over a modern bike I would still expect the competition tires to do better.

My recommendation, 803 GP for the MAR... great price and performance!

Edited November 21, 20169 yr by jonnyc21

When I got my Beamish in April it had a new pair of MT43s.

To be fair at my level, "Beginner" they seem fine, I haven't had any issues with grip, but then I don't have any experience of other brands.

 

They will do me for now.

If the bike had needed new tyres when I got it, I wouldn't have necessarily gone for the Mt43s though

I've ended up with these through a mix up after being offered them in the first place, pushing for dunlop and latterly agreeing I'd take michelins at nearly twice the price, turned up to pick my bike up with repaired and exhaust and rebuilt rear rim and they were already on the bike... interested to see how they feel vs the 10yr old OE Michelins.  Tread pattern looks like it will be good for the heavier loamy ground out the back of where we live, blocks not as dense as the OE Michelins so doubt they will be as good on hard/tricky stuff... softer then the old tyres that went in the bin at least.  Do look like they should be on an old twinshock though....

After finding this thread and a few others was turned off them.... now stuck with them, so lets see how we get on with them.  I'm only a novice rider so maybe not make much odds?

They'll be better than the old ones,but not as good as new Michelin,Irc or Dunlop

I have been through stacks of MT43's trail riding in Devon, its a great tyre to have on the rear wheel over a knobby for trail bikes, particularly where there is little mud/grass and slippery hard trails but they are no good for closed course stuff where soft ground is common. The compound is far harder than a "proper" trials tyre, and will last some 1500 or more miles on the road, which is great vs a knobby. This is where the price is an issue as trail riders will wear a rear trial tyre nearly bald in a season if they are out every weekend. Put a real trials tyre on a trail bike and it will overheat and shed the centre line of knobs when you do any long stretch of road, i have literally destroyed a d803 in a single day in this way!

A lot of trail riders in these parts are swapping their mt43's for the maxis trialmax now, which has a far softer compound but wont loose knobs at speed.

 

for a trials bike i would never fit one, and strongly advise against it unless you plan to trail ride and do real speeds or distance. They may seem cheap, but its a false economy, especially so where a real trials tyre will last a very long time. For a classic bike, i would think a modern soft tyre would do wonders for improving performance dramaticaly without messing with the actual bike in any permanent way.

Edited November 16, 20178 yr by hario

I'd raise hell with your supplier if you specified something else.  The Pirelli can't be seen as a tyre suitable for use in competition.  Tyres are the most important part of the bike - perhaps even more so than suspension.

i had ended up with the d803 as i needed a trials pattern tyre that day for a competition (poor planning on my part). Some places around here will only let bikes with a trials rear on as it is far kinder to the ground. Being a hardcore mo fo i rode the bike to the event and bike which was about 150 mile round trip at 60/70mph. it would probably have lasted a while if i were pottering about locally. unlike many, the d803 doesnt specifically say not for road use, presumably for events that use a bit of road between sections. Anyways, it was my choice to take the risk and fit it, so no one to blame but myself.

 

totally agree about your statement on tyre importance, ive seen tyre totally transform a bike

 

the MT43 is one of several hard compound trials pattern tyres that seem to be aimed at people riding classic trials and trail bikes and on the street, mitas and heidenau both do a similar tyre. They have no place on a bike to be used offroad in actual trials competition, practice or play in my opinion

 

Just coming back to this after a pay around yesterday... thinking the MT43's have less grip over the rocks, stones and pipeline plinths out the back of where I stay than the old knackered Michelin's that came off it.... am I being paranoid after a long-ish lay off and should just ride more?  Not convinced they are soft enough for that sort of thing.

Agreed on the influence of tyres.... I stuck some Dunlop GP Slicks on my old CBR600 and it's completely transformed the bike.

On 2/4/2018 at 2:09 AM, miner said:

Just coming back to this after a pay around yesterday... thinking the MT43's have less grip over the rocks, stones and pipeline plinths out the back of where I stay than the old knackered Michelin's that came off it.... am I being paranoid after a long-ish lay off and should just ride more?  Not convinced they are soft enough for that sort of thing.

Agreed on the influence of tyres.... I stuck some Dunlop GP Slicks on my old CBR600 and it's completely transformed the bike.

No, not paranoid... MT43's are rock hard by comparison to standard trials tires.  

I consider the MT43 to be a dirt bike trials tire not a trials bike trials tire.