Mileage: 12,810
Maintenance Summary:
- Installed new TKC 80 tires front and rear
- Installed Headlight Guard
In preparation for a likely 2000 mile trip that will probably involve more off-road travel than on, I’ve swapped out the Anakee 3’s tires for some TKC 80’s. The Anikee’s probably would have been OK, unless there was going to be mud or sand. I’m expecting both.
I had one small problem when I first reinstalled the front wheel — the caliper was dragging. I removed the wheel and discovered that the inside pad had come loose from the top clip. I couldn’t get it back in without removing the rod at the bottom. That done I could slide the pads vertically back into the clips and reinstall the rod and retaining clip. Everything was fine after that.
For the trip, I’ve also installed a cheap headlight guard bought off eBay. If you look carefully in the next picture you can see the freshly painted radiator guard made from a kitchen cooling rack. (click to enlarge)
I’m not expecting these to be good highway tires, but they should add a large margin of safety on the more slippery off-road bits.
The Anakee 3’s will go back on the bike at some point. They still have a lot of wear left in them. I don’t know how many miles are on the rear, it looked pretty new when I bought the bike. As you can see it has a lot of tread. The rear has started to square off a bit. The front tire as almost exactly 3000 miles on it. I have no complains about these tires so far.
