Buying motorbike tyres.

After almost 9000 kms on tarmac roads the dirt tyres (very knobbly) that came with my bike were well past their best. They were great on the rough stuff - even in sand - but on tarmac roads, apart from being incredibly noisy, they were not that good. The "knobbles" translated a lot of vibration through the handlebars, in the wet the lack of surface contact made riding a bit slippery (not a nice feeling round hairpin bends in the Andes!), and I felt that the top speed, acceleration and fuel economy were also probably adversely affected.

"Oli" the Ronco, showing dirt tyres

I decided to leave buying new ones until my return to Peru in March this year (seemed silly to put new rubber on and then store it for 6 months), and that also gave me plenty of time to research the best options. And this is where I hit a huge snag - Oli has 17 inch wheels front and rear, and I was unable to find any manufacturer (let alone one that had representation in Peru) that made a front 17 inch "mixed" tyre! There are plenty available that are dirt tyres, or road tyres, but not in a dual-purpose format, which is what I felt I needed. I trawled the internet looking for a solution, and joined a couple of forums ("fori"?) asking for advice, and nothing sensible was forthcoming ("You bought a what?"), although one suggestion was that I bought a rear tyre and used it on the front.
Now I feel here I must include some technical stuff about tyres and what they do. The rear tyre comes into it's own during acceleration, putting maximum grip to the road when you open the throttle, and conversely the front tyre does most of it's work during braking, or deceleration, when it need maximum grip and control to stop you. OK, there is a lot more to it that this, but this explains the need for a different tread pattern front and rear. Tyre construction is made up of layers, running in different directions, and the joins being "glued" together depending on the wheel rotation - most tyres have an arrow indication which way it should be mounted. Thus it is potentially possible that a rear rotating tyre could de-laminate if rotating forwards - it is highly unlikely and more probable on high performance, high speed machines, but still not something you would want happening - and most manufacturers stress this on their websites. I did, however, find one or two, who did acknowledge that you could use a rear tyre on the front - "as long as you reversed the rotation", i.e. ignored the "arrow"! Unfortunately neither of these manufacturers made a suitable 17 inch rear tyre (or rather they only did one size, and it is better to have a narrower front tyre).
I have Pirelli MT60 tyres on my Honda 150 in Brazil (17 rear and 19 front), and they are very good on tarmac, and adequate off-road, and Pirelli do different widths in 17 inch tyres.

Pirelli MT 60's on a Honda 150

So I emailed Pirelli, and followed that up with a message on their Facebook page - and 3 months later I am still awaiting their response! As I know from my Honda that the front and rear tyres have identical tread patterns - other than they face in opposite directions - I decided to see if I could get a set upon my return to Peru. I started in the Ronco dealership, and the motorbike salesman there gave me all sorts of advice (they didn't stock MT60, but could order them - delivery schedule unknown!) - including mixing tyres from different manufacturers (a big no-no!) and massively different tread patterns (a bigger no-no!) - I think he was just trying to sell me a pair of tyres he actually had in stock! 
I left him still trying different combinations and walked a few yards down the road to a motorcycle spares shop, who had MT60's in stock - and different sizes - and asked for a pair. The salesman even explained that they were both "rear" tyres, which impressed me - the first time I had come across someone who seemed to know about products he was selling! But I took them anyway, and then had a long argument with my mechanic about mounting the front tyre with the arrow reversed! He finally agreed and I after 300 kms I am extremely pleased with the result. The road noise has vanished and so has the vibration, though I will need to run the bike for a few more miles to tell if fuel economy, top speed and acceleration are improved. 
Is it safe? I honestly don't know - I do know that the tread patterns are mounted correctly (even with a direction arrow pointing the wrong way!), and most of my riding will be done at gentler speeds (it is after all a dirt bike I am using as a tourer!) and on halfway decent roads, so only time will tell!

Back in Peru

Lima roundabout

After a very uneventful journey from Brazil, though a 4 hour lay-over in Sao Paulo culminating in a 4.00 am departure is not funny, I arrived in Lima. I went to Immigration and requested the maximum allowed 183 days as a tourist, and had to explain why I wanted so much time - had a motorbike here, wanted to see more of the wonderful country, blah, blah, blah ... - and was reluctantly granted the full visa, but told that in future my time would be reduced (meaning I will have to border hop to Ecuador to renew, so no big deal really!) as it appeared I was trying to get residence. I explained that I did not fulfil their residence requirements so had to make do with only 6 months a year here.
Customs in Lima is like no other I have ever come across! Previously you collected your bags and proceeded to the Customs area of the hall where there were several queues leading to gates with a button by it - you pressed the button and waited. A green light meant you were clear to leave, a red light meant you had to submit your bags (including hand luggage that had been checked before boarding - though I assume you have had time to move any "suspect" items from your checked luggage to hand luggage in the baggage claim area!) for X-ray screening. If the operator didn't like what they saw they then opened and searched your bags. Now, however, every piece of luggage has to be X-rayed before you can leave the airport!
My hostal had a taxi waiting for me, who remembered me from a previous visit, so we headed for Brena - right in the middle of morning rush hour! Traffic in Lima is always a nightmare (with 8 million residents it is a big city), but rush hour is something else - however the Police do actually help. Most major intersections have officers on duty and they will over-ride the traffic signals by allowing traffic on red to proceed if there are no vehicles approaching the green lights! This helps enormously, as does stopping "green light" traffic from encroaching onto the intersections in the exits are blocked!
Although it was early for check-in I was allowed access to my room and after a shower and shave decided to head out and explore a little. The young lady on reception was very solicitous and even offered to help me find a taxi, but I decided to walk instead, and eventually made it to Larcomar (in a taxi as it was much further than I thought!), a large shopping Mall built into the cliffs overlooking the sea.

Larcomar, in the cliffs at Lima

I had hoped to get some GoPro accessories there, but despite three shops stocking it none had much of an accessory range! So I had lunch, and then tried to get a sim card to use while in Peru. The nearest outlet was several blocks away so I walked there - the Claro cellphone provider shop didn't have any! - and found a large Department store that had sims, but the system was down so I had to wait 30 minutes until it was working again!!

I walked a little further on my way back before getting a taxi back to my hostal, but came across one of Lima's delightful parks that is over-run by cats! I had heard about these but was not prepared for the reality of it. I was under the impression that these were feral cats, but they all happily accepted petting, as well as the food left in large containers all over the park.

Really chilled out cat

I saw at least 50-60 cats, but there were probably a lot more.

They all seemed very contented

They also appeared to live in harmony together ...

Park-goers petting a cat

... and didn't mind being picked up and stroked. It appeared they even had sandy areas left especially as "toilets" and I certainly didn't notice any smells.

I got back to my hostal and the lack of sleep the previous night made me decide to have a siesta, which lasted 3 hours - but when I woke up the need for more sleep overtook the need for dinner, so I fell asleep again and slept through the night!!