Heidenau K60 Scout 3500km Review VS Shinko 700 and Kenda K270

While riding up the mountain I review Heidenau K60 Scouts and compare them to Shinko 700 and Kenda K270. If you're looking for your next dual sport tire this video might help. The best 50/50 tire for you depends entirely on your terrain. Aggressive tread open lug design is not always the best choice. Sometimes tighter tread patterns with more rubber on the ground are superior.

[@exploder69]

Hey Scoot, excellent review and greatly appreciated, seriously uncommon quality for this entire corner of the tire universe. I can't help but feel personally flattered too, since I know I very specifically asked for your thoughts on these matters, and you have delivered in full force. Thank you, it's wonderful to hear what you have learned, and to know the mileage behind your experience, with clear and demonstrated context, that puts real intelligible weight behind what you have found. Your honesty behind the price issue is also appreciated; I would have bought the K60's at half price too, *obviously* :) Now I'll share my two cents worth so far: On my new 2015 Yamaha XT250, the stock tires were Bridgestone TW301. They were OK in dirt, but sucked on the road, to the point where I became paranoid on wet pavement for the first time in my life, and I am still trying to recover. Never wiped out, but ALWAYS felt like that was imminent on cold wet corners. At first they were great on dry pavement, but they became very loud after maybe 25% wear (75% remaining life), howling when riding in a straight line due to the knobby pattern and hard rubber. I replaced them well before they were fully worn out, because it was obvious there were far better tires to try. That is when I found Scoot's videos, because I was looking for reviews on the Shinko 700's, and his excellent vids on that topic were pretty much the only good info. Shinko 700's: Are on the the XT250 now. They are fairly quiet, and have excellent traction on pavement, including wet, they handle as good as I would expect a good street tire for a light bike like the XT250, that is to say the XT never exceeds their limits on road, even when ridden aggressively for the XT (I hear they don't handle some bigger bikes quite as seamlessly). They did OK offroad in every kind of crap I could throw at them, and then became honestly good for bush bashing, with pressure reduced to 10 PSI, which was still fine on the street for short rides home and around town (never tried low PSI for hard street use, but the rear tire feels up to the challenge, pressure doesn't need to be very high for the light bike). Seriously, I did stupid muddy and rocky bush bashing on them, and they did anything from respectably good to excellent. I would say the 700's were my first introduction to competent dual sport traction, being honestly competent at BOTH , and I won't hesitate to buy them again. In fact, I will buy a set for my XT225 next. I can't comment on fast hard gravel roads as much as Scoot, because I never really put on the long miles to know for sure, but I think he's right when he says they will slide a bit, but predictably. I know I hit them hard on logging roads, often doing 80+ km/h on the good parts, and never felt anything that frightened me, they were generally good and always predictable. You always slow down on gravel corners by feel with any tire, unless you like road rash, and the 700's never felt like I had to slow down too much, or in a scary way like the Bridgestone TW's did on wet paved roads. XT225 with Motoz Mountain Hybrid + Tubliss, running 6-7 PSI. Yeah, I went all the way for extreme offroad traction, and it's incomprehensible how much traction that really is. The reason is simple, the Mountain Hybrids are designed for exactly this setup with Tubliss. They have very stiff heavy side walls supporting the bike, so they can run nearly flat (people talk about breaking them in at 0psi), which forms a huge long contact patch that is more like a tank tread than a circular tire. Your bike becomes a bulldozer, and if you start slipping, you just slow down and let the tire wrap fully around the planet, and it just bloody goes. *ANYWHERE.* Every time I abuse the situation, my mind is blown even more by how much grip happens. This is what I was aiming for when I spent the big bucks to make this setup happen. Mud, sand, logs, rocks, roots, from gravel roads to single track of any description. Even on a steep loose sandy hill climb, you slow down and sit your weight on the back of the bike, and it digs in like you can't believe. Raising the pressure to just 12 PSI makes them suck badly off road. They stop feeling like a mushy but stable feather pillow excavator, and start feeling hard and slippery. So I leave them at 6-7 PSI, even on road, and they seem completely happy like that. Maybe the centrifugal force keeps them round at speed, who knows, but they work and I'm lazy and not complaining. About that mushy bit: it was slightly unnerving at first, but after a couple of short rides you get used to the feel, and you feel secure because the bit of mushyness is small and consistent, and you find you can let it mush around, and that is actually good, because little bumps are not bumping you around any more, they are just naturally absorbed and irrelevant. It's actually luxurious, and in harder rocky shit it's a huge reduction in effort. On road, the Motoz howl pretty bad, as should be expected. It's OK around town for the short rides I do, and the bush devouring traction makes up for it. But I'll be buying a set of Shinko 700's, and gladly spending the hours to swap them on, before I hit the highway for a long road trip. Which will also save me money, because I don't expect the Motoz to last for long road miles, even though people claim they wear far longer than any good bush tire should ever by expected to. They do however have OK road traction, even on wet roads, and I don't bother to increase the pressure above the 6-7 PSI bush mode. Future goals: the XT250 will remain my primary street bike, while the XT225 will be my bush / pretend-trials bike. I love both, but the XT250 is not very capable at being an extreme trail bike, whereas the XT225 is quite happy pretending to be a trials bike, but can also convert back to street happy mode without excessive work. Front sprockets are a trivial change on the XT225, and it has 6 gears at very wide ratio. But it would be nice to convert it to disk brake in the rear, and get two sets of rims, so that tire changes from dirt-master-mode to street happy would be extremely quick and easy. No, changing tires is not crazy hard, but it's still counted in hours instead of minutes.

[@Scoottoots]

Awesome amount of useful information there. Thank you for sharing that with everyone. I use to toy with the idea of installing Tubliss system. I even called the company and asked about road riding. Theyt said they have tested exhaustively and found they run cooler than a ultra heavy duty tube does and so they are fine on pavement at any speed you would ride a dual sport. They just haven't gone through the hoops of getting DOT approval. Sounds like you have two very fun bikes to ride. Be sure to enjoy, and thanks again :-)

[@blaisewyant5237]

Thanks for the review. Very helpful. I’m putting these on my Tiger 800 to replace the stock Bridgestone Battlewings. Looking forward to a bit more stability in the dirt. Cheers from Toronto!

[@Scoottoots]

Cool. I hope they help :-)

[@scottloudon14]

Finding the correct tire for these CRF's is more difficult than I have ever expected. I actually liked the IRC right up to the 1500 mile mark when they became a handful in the dirt. Tried Kenda and it was always just so so every where. Currently on the Motoz mountain hybrid, superb off road wander around a lot on the street, sounds like the Heidenau would make a good winter tire. Thanks for the review

[@Scoottoots]

Yup, unless you only ride dirt, finding the right tires is finding the right compromise.

[@ronaldwaddell3135]

Well done, great info in the tires, I can't get enough of the mountain views, 1 day at a time .

[@Scoottoots]

Cheers Ronald :)

[@markcollins5026]

I have a 2017 crf250l, I recently put on a 50/50 Dunlop 605 rear tire size 120-80-18, and a irc tr8 front tire size 3.00.21 fantastic set up, way better than the stock irc's !

[@Scoottoots]

Yeah you gotta set the bike up for YOUR riding. Cool :-)

[@borkfork3163]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[@Scoottoots]

Cool. Thanks :-)

[@dennismcelroy3525]

Very comprehensive and informative report. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Five Stars!

[@Scoottoots]

Hey thanks Dennis :-)

[@T-Bird317]

Found your page looking at tire reviews, Figured you were an OKanagan boy in the first 20 seconds of the video. I am down in the South Similkameen Valley. I ride a 2018 CB500X, and a Yamaha XT250. Nice review. I am doing the dempster in 2024 on th CB and the Scouts are one I am curious about, just wonder how they would be if the road gets snotty. Maybe cross paths one day.

[@Scoottoots]

Hi, nice to hear from someone local. Of the tires I have tried I think perhaps the Kenda K270's are an excellent 50/50 tire. They hold the line a bit better than the 700's on dirt, especially noticeable on gravel roads. That'll be quite the trip. Hopefully the fire season won't disrupt the journey.

[@Canada151337]

I've had 2 K60 scouts. 1x on a KLR, commuting in the rain of the coast and never had grip issues without being deliberate about it. 1x on my KTM 690 right now. Ran it for most of the season at around 15psi road/offroad, with about 5k kms on them there's still probably a couple thousand left on them! For the 690 this is impressive as it usually eats tires, especially at low psi. I imagine with my next one if I pay more attention to airing up/down I'll get even more out of it! Hooks up reasonably well, but predictable in its loss of traction since it's a 50/50 tire. Quiet on the road compared to the MT21, with good road manners, I have no reason to doubt its grip and I get after it from time to time, I'm surprised at how its handled the 690s power, and will probably buy another to replace this one.

[@Scoottoots]

Your experience with them confirms what I've learned about them. They perform surprisingly well, and as you say, predictable when they loose grip in the dirt. I quite like them also. Thanks for sharing.

[@clivegreenall309]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting tyre info and always a lovely chilled ride. Regards from S Africa Clive

[@Scoottoots]

Thanks Clive :-)

[@weathermantom]

great video, great review of the tires! finally somebody reviewed the scouts without the middle strip :). question. do you think it might have affected your gas mileage on tarmac?

[@Scoottoots]

Thanks. I only have the IRC, Shinko 700, K270, D606 to compared against, so no way to know if a center strip would increase mpg. I suppose it might but the center strip version not available in this size, as far as I know.

[@02bigkev]

Great report on the tyres, Awesome view.

[@Scoottoots]

Thanks Kev :-)

[@oldmanhobbies9554]

Great review!!! I was reall considering the Shinko 700's because I ride about 75% on pavement... Now I'm torn between the two... Sounds like maybe i can't really go wrong either way....

[@Scoottoots]

Yeah I think either would be fine.

[@randersson3672]

I kind of liked them too, but I will not buy them again. They lowered the bike because they are very low profile even at the correct size, and the rear did only last 4000 km for me, 90 % fast gravel. Switched to TKC80 front and Mitas E07 rear, that is just perfect for my type of riding. And the rear has now 5000km on them and probably last 2000 more, much better than the K60. Like you said the front stock IRC was REALLY bad, borderline dangerous. Great review btw 👍

[@Scoottoots]

Thanks. I'm surprised they were smaller diameter for you. I didn't measure but didn't notice a change in height and my speedo is still accurate as per gps. The height of the sidewall is a percentage of the width of the tire, so theoretically that should make the tire the same or close to the diameter any other 120/80 - 18. I suspect these will last me much longer than they did for you. I usually get 10,000 to 14,000 kms out of my rear tires. We''ll see though. Yeah if you riding 90% fast gravel, you need something specialized.

[@randersson3672]

@@Scoottoots Interesting, I went from the standard IRC to the K60''s and the height of the bike changed was very noticeble, when I took them off and compared with the new TKC and Mitas there was a big (in my eyes) difference. BTW the longer I have this bike the more I love it 😊 close to 20 000km now, no problems at all, amazing little machine❤ Another BTW...do you have a bump in consumtion when the when the temperature drops to 5-10 celsious ?

[@randersson3672]

@@Scoottoots My Heidenaus where just K60's not the Scout...maybe that has some relevance 🤔

[@Scoottoots]

@@randersson3672 It may have a bearing on it.

[@Scoottoots]

@@randersson3672 Oh yeah, for sure there's a sizable drop in economy when the temps drop low. When the temps are low enough, the mixture doesn't ignite as efficiently. You probably notice darker tail pipe coating in the winter. The bike runs richer. And yes, especially if you don't ask for more than the bike is designed for, it just keeping ticking along and keeps its owner satisfied :-)

[@makesen]

What width tires are you running front and back? I'm on a WR250R and ride much like you -- and older gent with no intention of jumping gorges. Just love getting out in nature and want a tire that will do dirt roads but also Moab easy to intermediate trails. Thanks for your videos -- love watching them.

[@Scoottoots]

Hey Art, I'm running 90/90-21 in front and 120/80-18 in the rear. Thanks for your comment :-)

[@dimitriskaravias1427]

Thanks for the review, I'm going to put the exact same ones (90/90-21 and 120/80-18) on my CRF250 Rally as I like the same loose dirt and gravel as you. Have you had any issues since posting the video?

[@Scoottoots]

No, none at all. I quite like them. Hope they work well for you also :-)