Trans Labrador Highway-which tires?

I'm planning a ride for next summer and would like to do a loop from Maine to Quebec over the Trans Labrador Highway(gravel for several hundred miles) through Newfoundland, Cape Breton, New Brunswick and back to Maine. I run Michelin PR 2s on my ST and was wondering in there is a more aggressive tire for them for the gravel of if anyone has done the TLH on an ST with street tires.

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

I hope to do the same trip,,, someday!
I don't have any advice for you as far as tires,,, and since nobody else has chimed in yet,,, you might want to go to advrider.com and pose the question. I'd say a lot more experience over there with the TLH, and doing it on a street bike. And if no help on tires,,, I know there's plenty of ride reports on that route that would be helpful.
I'm jealous!
Good Luck!

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

I was hoping to do that next year on the Tenere.

I know the 90/10 tires on the Yamaha are very nice for light dirt/sand/rocks/gravel and 'might' be okay in deeper stuff however, add some water and that goes out the door. I've seen some ride report on guys doing that road in dry conditions and the road graters were some of the toughest issues to deal with, very deep grated surfaces.

I've been on a grated dirt road on the ST before and it was VERY interesting... it was only maybe 50 yards of it, couldn't imagine that for several miles and not sure a 90/10 dual sport tire would be much better.

Wish I had more 'real world' advice... actually, I don't have any advice... some of the guys running car tires say it handles much better on these types of surfaces so maybe that's an option as I don't know of any off-road tire that would fit the ST.

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

I've run my ST on a fair amount of dirt roads, and if I were to do that trip on an ST, I would use the same setup I thought about for snow use- a car tire on the rear (really makes gravel and dirt much easier), and a rugged dual sport tire on the front...maybe using a rear dualsport tire for the front for extra weight capacity. I found a couple dual sport tires that were rated for as much weight as our street front tires.

I'd love to do that ride, but I'll hold out until I either put my KLR back together, or get another on/off road bike as a 2nd bike. I'm not saying the ST can't do it...but I'd rather use a lighter, more nimble bike that would be a lot more fun in the dirt.

Jim

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

nhdiesel said:

I'd love to do that ride, but I'll hold out until I either put my KLR back together, or get another on/off road bike as a 2nd bike. I'm not saying the ST can't do it...but I'd rather use a lighter, more nimble bike that would be a lot more fun in the dirt.

Jim

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That's what I would do too. Like you said, an ST could do it,,,, but if it's a lot of wet and mud.... 700+ lbs sliding all over for a couple hundred miles would take all the fun out of it! Aggressive tires will help,,,, but it's still going to weigh the same!
But,,, don't listen to me,,, I'll be sitting at home looking at photos!

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

I don't think tires should be your main concern. Instead, I believe you should think about riding something other than your ST1300. This summer while riding in Newfoundland I met a man from BC who had just completed the Trans Labrador on an older BMW 1100 GS. His description of the conditions one encounters on the Trans Labrador is echoed in the attached article. Although my ST1300 is best bike I have ever owned, I simply don't enjoy riding it on gravel. Instead, I am patiently waiting to see what Honda unveils in Milan in early November. If Honda's new product doesn't fit the bill, I'll be joining the Super Tenere crowd. I, too, want to ride the Trans Labrador, and from all indications, the Yamaha ST would handle it far better than would the Honda ST.

http://www.ridermagazine.com/2011/travel-features/last-chance-adventure-on-the-trans-labrador-highway/

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

Thanks for all of the advice so far. I have ridden my ST on gravel roads in the maritime provinces before and some on the Gaspe'. I was on miles of gravel going to the provincial park in Saint Quentin, New Brunswick but riding on it for hundreds of mile is, of course, a different ballgame. My biggest concern is the top heaviness of the ST.

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

Well here are a couple other thoughts to consider. Taking an ST on conditions like that, for that far, means you will end up with dirt and mud in ever corner of the bike. You'll be cleaning it for days after the trip. Next, consider how easy it is to lay any bike down on a wet, slimy, muddy road. Now think about what would happen to an ST if it was laid over on a muddy road. It would add up to a bit more than a V-strom or KLR being laid down.

These are thoughts I have when considering riding in snow...and the results would be similar. If you do go on the ride with the ST, take lots of pics...it will be a ride to remember! And good luck!

Jim

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

Take the ST and use it to haul an Enduro...Just ask Mac

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

I just spoke to someone this summer about that trip and he just completed it. Get ready for the worst gravel roads you will encounter and yes it is several hundred miles long and I believe there is one point that is about 400K of no gas. He said the roads were terrible. Good luck if you take the ST! It sounds like more of a road for a dul sport. It is something that I want to do too, but not on the ST. Keep us posted and would love to hear all about your trip.

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

This is one of the best ride reports on the TLH I've seen, should give you some idea of the conditions and these guys aren't on 90(street)/10(dirt) tires they are using TKCs which are 40(street)/60(dirt).

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

Hum... 5 years since the origin of this thread. Since then, portions of the 389 / Trans Lab have been tamed somewhat (e.g. paved), but there is still an awful lot of gravel... Because this epic circuit is not too far from what I call home, I am thinking of doing sometime in the no too distant future (e.g. 2017 or 2018). Actually tried out the VFR1200X when Honda days came around this year with that in mind. Nice ride, but since I mostly pound pavement, I settled on the ST1300. Still.... the back end of that road trip for me would be the Rock, Cabot trail, visiting some new family in NB (I have a brand new daughter in law from Fredericton!), hopping over to PEI over the Confederation bridge and wrapping up in the Gasp? before heading home. Reading the thread of dohboy and Woodchucks recent adventures in the Maritimes has sparked the wander lust.

So the questions - is it still crazy to think of doing the TLH on an ST? Has anyone done it? Or maybe I should just do a LOT of work on My GL1100I and do what these guys did... http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=58586 ...

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

I have never been on the Trans Labrador but in 2012 we spent a couple of days with a group that had done it and from those conversations it seems that it is mostly pretty easy riding but the dust clouds created by transport trucks are scary because you lose total vision. I guess the decision when you enter the cloud is slowing down and risking being run down by following traffic or maintaining your pace and risking running into the vehicle ahead of you. In June 2012 when we where in Newfoundland a New York City police officer died running into a truck hidden inside a dust cloud on the Trans Labrador. The other thing you need is mosquito netting from what they said the mosquitoes are big and hungry.

Gerhard

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

If you are confidant on gravel, it doesn't matter what tires you use. I did the Dempster Highway in NWT with a Gold Wing and pulling a Bunkhouse camper to Inuvik and back with street tires. The Dempster is 456 miles of gravel. I took my KLR 650 up to Inuvik with 90/10 Tourances and had no issues.

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

One of our esteemed members is currently on the trip on his ST ...... I'm sure he'll be glad to give us an update when he returns here in a couple of weeks....

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

Great, I'll be watching for it! Do you know from which end he started?

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

Rather famous (locally) rider in Montreal used to do the TLH 2 or 3 times every year he liked it that much. He often did it solo. He died while riding it a couple of years ago. He rode in to the dust cloud created by a transport truck traveling in the other direction. He pulled over to his far right as the truck passed and ran in to a bicyclist riding along the shoulder whom he did not know was there and could not see in the dust. He was propelled in to the ditch where he suffered a broken neck and died. I did the TLH in a particularly and unusually hot dry summer a few years ago and can attest that the worst part of the trip was definitely these dust clouds. We were on a dual sport BMW GS and a KTM with the OEM tires and did not have any problems with the gravel once we figured out how to ride gravel- I have no dirt bike experience to speak of. Once we figured it out we were off- I clocked 92 MPH on the GPS at one point! I have not spoken to anyone who has done it recently but from what I have read in the past few weeks the gravel is no longer a concern as the TLH is now paved from Qu?bec all the way to Goose Bay. After reading this I started thinking about a return trip on my ST this time as it would be a good ride on a paved road. I am curious to here a report on the road conditions from anyone who has been recently.

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

Yup, that's my information as well - that still leaves ~ 500 Km of gravel on 510, between HV/GB and Red Bay. Some paving has been done east of HV/GB on the way to Cartwright. Apparently, another 160 Km is due to be paved at the South eastern end, between Red Bay and Mary's Harbour. I can't get an exact read of which sections remain unpaved, but it's still a good bit by all accounts... And since my nascent plan is to do a clockwise loop from Baie-Comeau to Blanc-Sablon and then through the Rock, Cape Breton, NB, PEI and the Gasp? to Matane before ferrying back across and heading home, I am bound to do a lot of gravel - I will probably practice on the stretch between Natashquan and Kegaska. At least, there is no heavy traffic there!

So a little rain to keep the dust down, but not too much to turn everything to a slippery muddy mess would probably be optimal.... but then those helicopter sized bugs would have a field day. Nothing is ever perfect!

Riding - risks and rewards. Thank you all for your comments.

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

RaYzerman said:

One of our esteemed members is currently on the trip on his ST ...... I'm sure he'll be glad to give us an update when he returns here in a couple of weeks....

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He damn well better post a report.... or he might lose his esteemed status!!!

Re: Trans Labrador Highway

A little rain was a wonderful thing. One the best days we had was the day after it rained. The roads were dry enough to be hard packed with no mud but damp enough to also have no dust.

I took the below from the Newfoundland and Labrador government website;

In Labrador, Route 510 is paved for the 60 kms from L?Anse au Clair to Red Bay and is gravel beyond that to Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Route 500 between Happy-Valley Goose Bay, Labrador City and Wabush is paved except for an 11-km stretch east of Churchill Falls.

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I think this may be out of date however as I read elsewhere that the 11 KM stretch could not be finished in time before last winter and was to be completed come spring.