Heindenau tires are not very widely available here in the US. I became aware of them as the K61 is the tire of choice for 12 inch Vespa's. The ride quality is amazing and the wear is very good too. 5K is an average lifespan, and the K61 is known for 6 to 7.5K lifespans.
For the Honda, I went with the K36 and K44, both are metric, 18/4.00 in the back, 19/3.25 in the front. They are bias plyed, like the originals.
The tires that came with the bike were D103 from Dunlop. The back was an oversized 130/80, and had developed a nasty flatspot in the center. There were miles left, but I got worried about the cracks forming around the flatspot, so out they went.
Yesterday, I took the tires on a quick 20 mile ride that was intended to be much longer but I was rained out. I don't mind the rain, but not while breaking in tires. First impressions were very good.
Today I took them out on a much longer ride with some highway miles, light twisties and general around town miles. That gave me a good idea of how the tires were performing.
The first thing I noticed was that the ride was much more civilized. Input was muted, but not so much that you could not feel what you ran over. 100 miles in the saddle felt like a start, not time to take a break.
The handling is what I would call neutral. It did not dive into corners like a V shaped tire or resist coming out of them. It was smooth in and out, no input from the tire, no resistance either. Just like I had hoped.
The freeways around here have rain grooves, and they suck. Just like the K61, the tires did not track the grooves, but did give some feedback as to what was going on down there. No sudden lane drift from the grooves, it tracked straight and true.
Traction is much better than the Dunlops. Going over slanted train tracks with those rubber studded pedestrian strips and a 90 degree uphill turn used to make the old tires shudder and skid something fierce. Not fun even in a car sometimes. The new tires handled it much more confidently, even though the surfaces were wet from the occasional drizzle. This horror of a right turn can be seen here to be appreciated:
http://g.co/maps/7vhaeThe traction was much more fun accelerating through the curves of highway 49. I felt confident despite the damp conditions and never felt the tires slip or skid even when applying power out of the curve. I did take them easy, mind you, but still, very confident handling.
Pricing and Availability: My local shop A&S was able to get them in a week. Cost was under $250 for the pair.
After they get 5K or so, I will post an update.
