My first 1,000 on the Pan America were an even mix of street and dirt. The stock tires are fine for hard-packed dirt roads, but it's like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride when you hit dep gravel and sand. So, I was very happy to get the knobbies mounted and try them out.

Well, sort of.

First of all, these tires need to come with a warning. The handling on the street is so drastically different that it's very dangerous. The front tire is the culprit.

It takes 2-3 times the amount of force on the bars to put the bike into a corner. As soon as you get there, then the handlebar drops, without warning, 4-6". It scares the heck out of you the first time it happens. The issue is the aggressiveness of the two outside rows of tread, which are not progressive. So, you push and push to get the bike over, then it falls to the far outside tread.



I decided the best way to break the tires in was to go hit a twisty mountain road, so I road from Prescott to Jerome, Arizona. After 50 miles of leaning deep into the turns, the edge was off and the tires became a little more predictable.

PROS:

• Aggressive grip
• Work great on hard-packed dirt, loose gravel, and deep sand.
• Comfortable off-road

CONS:

• Very noisy above 60 MPH on pavement
• Rough (bumpy) in deep turns (20 degrees or more)
• Bike is no longer nimble in slow pavement maneuvers

What the bike was on the street and wasn't in the dirt with the stock tires inverts with the Michelin Anakee Wild Off-Road Tires. Now my bike is very stable and capable off-road, and much less so on the pavement. But, I got the Pan America mostly for off-road duty, so I'm okay with the trade-off.

I did two ride tests on the Perkinsville OHV trail. The trail starts in Jerome, Arizona, and ends in Williams. At the midpoint, you can take the road west into Chino Valley. All said, the loop from Prescott, to Jerome, to Chino Valley, back to Prescott is 100+ miles. It is one of the most picturesque rides in Arizona, but you can get there on your big HOG.




With the street tires, I was mostly okay because 80% of the road is hard-packed. But, in some areas where the road is cut through the red rock formations, and the road was cut off-camber, the dirt turns to deep powder. It's slick, the front tire wants to wash out, and you lose directional control. You can put as much weight as you have on your footpeg and the front end will refuse to budge.



Another situation I had with the street tires is that the traction control would retard power so much going up hills that I would start to lose stability in uphill turns. As expected, the knobbies solve all of these issues. Grip is excellent (I tested just about everything except mud and snow). Directional control is superb. And they are way more comfortable than the street tires.

On long stretches with good visibility, I was comfortable going 40 to 45 MPH on the street tires. With the Michelin Anakee Wild Off-Road Tires I was hitting speed in excess off 55 and the ride was smooth, comfortable, and confident.



Overall I'm satisfied with these tires. However, before I take any long on/off road trips I will be looking for a tire that has better handling characteristics on the pavement.

 

I now have close to 1,000 miles on the Michelin Anakee Wild Off-Road Tires and have more feedback for anyone considering using them.

First off, I think Harley-Davidson made a very poor decision. Giving us tires that are either one (street) or the other (dirt) is a mistake. I suspect that most people taking their Pan America off-road, as I do, will do so in about a 50/50 ratio. While I think the knobbies should be an option because they work well in the dirt, the spoked wheels should come with a 50/50 tire like the Metzeler Karoo 3 (which gets great reviews):

Although my Michelin Anakee Wild Off-Road Tires have finally worn in so they are streetable, their grip is highly unpredictable. And, they howl worse than the worn-out All-Terrain tires on my old Bronco. As a result, my Pan America is no longer enjoyable for me on the street, which I need to use to get to the dirt. However, once I get to the dirt I have a blast.

 

IMHO, the majority of PA riders won’t be on deep dirt or sand that often, so, I’d think there should be a streetable tire that does well on hardback with some loose stuff on top.

 

In fairness though, most HD OEM tyres have traditionally sucked and many people change them for something else pretty quickly. Nothing stopping you putting Karoo 3s on next time you change tyres and I for one would be interested in your opinion of them.

I do agree though, a 50/50 tyre option out of the box would be good.

 

That's the plan, and I will do it pretty quickly. I will grind these down through the summer while I get my dirt-riding chops back, then swap them out.

 

I rode with the Anakee Adventures and Anakee Wilds on my Moto Guzzi. It came with Adventures, and when I took it into the nasty stuff I swapped them out for the Wilds. The Wilds are decent tires offroad, one of the best 50/50 knobby type tires for offroad, but they're not great on roads. They are classified as 50/50 tires. The Adventures are very good tires on-road, but not great off-road. They are classified as 80/20.

If you're going to be primarily running on the streets but want a capable offroad tire, run (don't walk) to get a set of Dunlop TrailMax Mission tires. They're classified as 50/50 by the manufacturer, but they're a rounded-profile tire which is much better on the street than a knobby like the Anakee Wilds. And their off-road performance is much better than an 80/20 like the Anakee Adventures. And, get this, they're supposed to deliver about 8,000 miles per set. Compare that to the Anakee Wilds, which will be shot after about 3,000 highway miles. Another bonus is that they're speed-rated T, as opposed to the R of the Anakee Wilds, so if you had to go fast on the street, the Dunlops will support higher top speeds than the Wilds. Not as fast as you could go on the Anakee Adventure Scorchers, those are rated V, but it's still better than the R-rated Anakee Wilds.

The TrailMax Missions have been praised as the holy grail and unicorn of ADV tires. They only place they're not really good is deep sand and mud. If you avoid that stuff, they're reportedly an outstanding all-terrain tire. One could reasonably argue that deep soft sand and mud are places that a big heavy bike like the Pan Am really shouldn't be taken to, and in that context, the TrailMax Mission would be my go-to tire for a Pan Am.

 

I like the stock ones, but you are spot on with the loose handling in anything but a packed fire road. I used Heidenau's K60 Scout's on another heavy adventure bike and THEY ROCK. They wore like iron and handled excellent. https://www.heidenautires.com/product/k60-scout/

 

u thinking of switching to Heidenau's on your PA? Will they fit? they have an interesting profile.

 

I ran a K60 Scout on the GS/A once. Gotta say that it was the best wearing tire I ever ran on that bike, and given the profile, it was decent on-pavement.

 

Had the K60's( 2 sets) on my Triumph 800XC- over 12K miles each pair; Switched to Mitas E07 Dakars- same mileage, little better off road https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/...RoCbGIQAvD_BwE
Both the Heidenau's and the Mitas have a stiff enough sidewall that you can almost run with 0 pressure. With the tube type on my Triumph, I rode 35 miles on a flat to get to where I could get AAA to pick me up. Too stiff for me to do a trail side repair on the tube and was ready for new tires at that point anyway. With the tubeless on the PAS, I'll be able to just plug and go.