What I Learned After Ten Years of Dual Sport Tire Testing! 

Hey guys! Check out these new tires i just got in too! Still no miles on them, but definitely worth a look before you buy something else! ru-vid.comD55iQkK21qE?si=ONXDTjVAPPe04LaX

This was really well done very informative and the personal use makes it even better👊

Great tire commentary Ben!

Great job on this overview Swanks!

I'm really glad to see this discussion, based on direct experience (by Jerry and yourself), covering a wide range of your choices. I like your best set up for my KLR. So far the stock Dunlop K750s have been fine for my mostly road (pavement) use. I appreciate your advice!!

Thanks for the vid, this should help out a lot of the newer folks. In regards to tread patterns varying by tire size, I can attest to that. I purchased attractionator adventure rear tire some months ago for my DRZ and it's far far more aggressive than in the pictures. I chalked it up to the size difference, sounds like I was right. It's more aggressive than I want, and quite squidgy riding it around on asphalt. It's doable, but not what I was envisioning.

Great video as usual!!! Tractionator's will be my next tire I think too for my 22 KLR. I anxiously await the Tusks being made in sizes that fit the KLR, I also want to give them a whirl. On a side note - if I might critique the video a bit....I was listening with headphones on and every time you would make a point you seemed to rap the table or desk. It was quite loud in my ears. LOL. Anyway just something to be aware of. Love your videos and I agree as quickly as tires change I think it's great to be able to talk about them!! Keep up the great work!!

Great video very informative 👍

Also, I agree that the dSports are AMAZING dual sport tires on light ADV/enduro bikes. I have the rear on my KTM 500 and will definitely go with these again. My front is a D606 which is basically the same thing as the dSport, but it costs more and reports are that it works better. I love it for the type of riding I do - New England muddy off-road and dirt road BDR stuff mostly.

Been running the Tusk Dsport on the rear and a Pirelli MT-21 on the front of my KLR- been very happy with it both on and off road.

Great video , I run the Shinko 244’s on my 2014 KLX 250 & they’re great. However I do mostly back roads (gravel/dirt) unopened road sections & logging roads etc. no real rough stuff . I’m in my mid 70’s so no need to take on something that’s going to cut my riding short.

I have been able to directly compare a set of Continental TKC 80's to a set of MotoZ Tractionator Desert H/T's. The Desert H/T's last longer, are much better in dirt, and are better than I thought they would be on the highway considering the tread depth. I had them on a DR-Z400S. I've had Heidenau K60 Scouts on a V-Strom 650. Front and rear lasted about 15,000 miles. Good on most dirt. Not good in sand or mud. Great on the highway. I drug foot pegs on a few occasions. I've had MotoZ Tractionator RallZ on my Africa Twin. Front tires are good for about 5000 miles. Rear was on track for about 15,000 miles when I took a utility knife blade through the carcass. Good on dirt and highway. I have a set of MotoZ Tractionator GPS tires waiting to go on the ATAS. I'm pretty much sold on MotoZ tires, though there are a few models and brands I'd still like to try.

This was a cool video. I just put the Shinko 804 on the front and the Shinko 705 on the rear of my vstrom 800de and I'm super happy with that combination after about 1k miles, 30% ish offroad dirt roads and mild trails. No visible wear yet.

Interesting perspective on so many different tires. i've only experienced two on my gen 1 KLR: TKC 80's and Tusk D Sports. the TKC 80s were great on the street but I fell over anytime i got into mud (my newbie skills probably helped). the Tusk D Sports have conquered everything i've thrown at it with 0 falls. The D Sport is good on the road for the way i ride, nice and easy. the front isn't too great, i'm considering putting the Tusk 2track front on when it's time for a change. I love the rear D Sport though, seemingly endless grip off road and solid feeling grip on the pavement. They've gotten me down at least a hundred miles of single track without letting me down at all

Good review, thanks. On my 22 CB500X I ran sting adhesive plugs in screw punctures in both front and back Dunlop Trailmax Mixtour tubeless tires for 4,600 miles including the Tail of the Dragon. The plugs never leaked and when taken off to be replaced the repair was like new. An 2 inch screw that broke off was loose inside the front tire. It's an urban myth that the tires must be replace

I’m not knocking the video, great info. BUT I did ten years of research and trial and error to. I found out that this is probably the one topic you have to try yourself. I have a match on my bike now that is so great it has changed motorcycling for me. And five years ago if someone told me to try this setup, I would have kicked them in the nuts. Keep a open mind and if you get an opportunity to try a different tire go for it,

Definitely agree on the 50/50 tire part of the discussion. I bought a Buell Ulysses expecting to do some light off roading, put a set of Shinko 705s on it, and it immediately put me on my butt. After attempting many times to handle it on dirt and shallow mud, i ended up buying a DR350 and have Kenda K760s on it, and have been actually building some confidence off road. Still haven't decided if I'll keep the buell or not, but having real tires made a TON of difference!

I don’t have much experience with dual sport tires, but when I switched from the stock tires on my DRZ400s to Dunlop D606’s front and rear I noticed a noticeable increase in traction off road. And as I only drive on pavement to get to and from the dirt or for occasional work day commutes I am more than happy with their performance under 60mph on pavement.

Great video . I’ve run k270’s for like 10 years now . I love the tire off-road not the best by any means but runs great all round . On road manners aren’t too bad if I’m under 100km/h anything more I’m starting too white knuckle 😅

First video of yours I've seen. After 50+ years of dual sport riding starting with a Yamaha DT250 (and assorted motocross and street bikes thrown in as well), on the verge of turning 70 my riding styles and tire choices now revolve around "The only thing between your motorcycle and you and the hospital are your tires". I've been on a 2008 Yamaha WR250R for 16 years since I pre-ordered it from a dealer, wearing out a few sets of tires during that time. It may well be my last dual sport/ADV touring motorcycle. I've found choosing good street tires easy. Choosing good motocross tires easy (is it true that Trelleborg became Mitas?). And if your choice is wrong with either, it wasn't all that big of a deal. Choosing dual sport tires is much, much harder, simply because the road surface conditions vary so much. Tire choice is also confounded by what each rider considers "dual sport". One camp are the people who own KTM, Husqvarna, etc motorcycles that have just barely enough in the way of turn signals and horn etc to legally drive on the slab to the dirt: enduro racing motorcycles that are street legal. Another one is the camp that ride supertanker large displacement bikes loaded with ADV gear for hundreds of miles cross country. And then a couple of more camps of dual sport: one who prefers a lot of fun twisty slab as well as some easy dirt on their dual sport, and their opposite; those who prefer a lot of mud and snow as well as some easy slab on their dual sport. Finally there are those who are probably the closest to 50/50 dual sport: equally divided between riding the slab and off road, with very little in the way of extremes on either the slab or in the dirt. No regular peg dragging turns on the slab and no regular dirt riding on gnarly single track and through mud and snow. In your case, it appears you aren't in this 'true 50/50 dual sport' camp. You probably belong in the camp above who are far more interested in loose dirt, mud, and snow; riding on the slab is secondary. And that's what drives your tire choices and opinions here. I'm in the camp I'd consider actual 50/50 dual sport where I put about the same amount of miles in on both dirt and the slab. Furthermore, where I live and ride here in the Crown Of The Continent area of the Continental Divide, there isn't much in the way of mud and sand conditions (unless you go looking for it). The slab is still the slab as it is pretty much everywhere else, but here the dirt is primarily fire roads, industrial logging and mining roads, two track dirt roads, etc. There's single track if you you go looking for it, but off the highway is primarily hard packed dirt and gravel. So your findings in your ten years where you are differ from my 50+ years where I am. That almost certainly has a lot more with your preferences of where and how you ride, not anything to do with years of experience. Riding environment conditions for whatever kind of dual sport the rider chooses really, really matters when it comes to tire choices. With that said, based on my experiences riding dual sport with Bridgestone Trail Wings in 50/50 conditions for years and thousands of miles on the slab and dirt, I completely disagree with your assessment in this video i.e. "I would definitely say this tire has earned that name Deathwings". Only if you choose to dual sport ride in a lot of mud with snow thrown in. Otherwise, wrong. Bridgestone Trail Wings are a very good true dual sport 50/50 tire for the mostly mud and dirt free conditions around here - at least for lighter/smaller dual sport bikes such as the WR250R below the KLR/Tenere class of bikes. Fun fact: make the wrong tire choices for your riding environment choices, and you aren't going to enjoy the riding that results no matter what make and model of tire it is. Whether it's your Yamaha TW200 or your KLR or Tenere. I also have run through three sets of Heidenau K60 Scouts now after running the WR250R OEM Bridgestones originally. I found them to be a very good tire that wore longer, but the front tire didn't give me any better or worse confidence on a hard dirt road with gravel in the turns or in dirt road mud puddles with a slimy layer of settled silt in the bottom, wet grass in the center of a two track dirt road, etc. So my experience with the K60 Scouts lead me to agree with you that the front tire is a little short on reliable traction when the off asphalt conditions get slippery - not just in mud. Anyways, I've decided to try something new on the bike in search of a front tire that gives me more confidence about not getting sudden surprises when the off asphalt conditions get slippery or gravel covered hard packed dirt, without feeling squirmy and squirrley on fun tight corners on the slab. Thanks for publishing your review.

I agree with you on how important tires are. As I was taught, "They are the ONLY thing between you and the road." As far as the TW goes, I'm strongly considering ordering a new set of wheels and tires from Procycle. They are now offering a 19/17 combo which will no doubt open up a whole world of tire options for the Tdub.

I have the Shinko 244's on my 2nd gen KLR and love them especially for the price. I swapped them just before a 2500ish KM trip and they still look new. I now need to find some tires for the 24 Transalp, the tires it comes with are very road oriented.

I still can’t believe no one ever brings up the Dunlop D605’s! Absolutely love that tire. Get more miles out of it on the highway than the 606’s and works great offroad. Thats all I ran on my DR650 last year. I got 3,000 miles out of the rear and only $65 so cheaper to. This year I have the Dunlop Trailmax Missions on my custom wheels and love those too. More expensive but I believe will last longer. Keeping my D605’s on my stock wheels for single track only now so I don’t scuff up my new custom wheels.

The tractionator looks really good, definitely saving the money for the motoz!!!

Still running the Kenda 270s on my gen 1 KLR. Price was a factor. No complaints but will rewatch your video when it's time to replace them. And of course I'll review some of Mason's videos. You and Mason are my personal professors in all things dual-sport.

I have a 2021 1100 crf1100 dct with eo7+. Felt very odd from new and for the 1st 500 miles. I've only done tarmac, but they are a very good tyre! I have total confidence in the corners, in the wet and at 70mph no wobble, no noise! I'll probably go for the anakee next as I'd only do gravel tracks!

I have a Kenda 270 front and a Heidenau K60 Scout rear tire on my Gen 1 KLR650. I like the split combo as they do well on and off road.

After nearly 50 years of dual sport riding (my first three bikes were Yamaha DT360's) I found that the knobbier the tires the faster they wear out on pavement. I now have a tw200 and 2023 KLR and will someday replace them with upgraded tires. The death wing on the tdub is in part due to the steep caster angle of the forks. My next front tire will be the Shinko 255 which is similar to the Dunlop trials that were oem on the DT's. They had better traction in mud and gravel than knobbies and lasted 3 times longer on pavement. The KLR has OK tires, but I haven't ridden it enough to judge them. I'm like you, I think tires are very important. My old DT's had tube tires that required two beadlocks in the rear. A nighmare to change.

What I like to use on my klrs are the kenda 270 up front and the kenda trackmaster (2) in the rear. both are not great on the highway only last about 5-7k mi but both are very cheap and gotten me out of some super gnarly situations!

Another awesome video! Yo Ben I saw that dork in the road had a subscriber camp out and adventure ride last year. You're the only Adv youtuber I know of in Wisconsin. Any chance you'd do something like that? Would be a great way for all us to meet some more adv riders in the area as well..

I’m happy with the Dsports on my 300, and will be keeping the rear on it forever. But I’m about to try a a 2 track on the front. That way I have something that feels a little more planted on the road, and a bit quieter, and I’ll still have the grip that I need off road. I’ll have to see how that works out. If I don’t like the 2 track off road, ill put the Dsport back on.

I found the lateral grip on the shinko e805 to be actually quite good. Much better than the continental tkc80s that they compete against. Thats on hard pack, gravel, mud, dry lake bed, flood plain, silt and whatever else is in high desert nevada. Bikes a Honda africa twin for reference.

The Motoz Dual Venture TT (tubed) front is far more aggressive than the tubeless version. It has been the best tire I have used on the front for grip and long lasting both on and off road on my CRF300Rally. Definitely buying it again.

I only have one bike, but 3 sets of wheels. I love the TKC80's for riding 50/50, I keep a set on one set of wheels and only swap to SuperMoto wheels to ride with supersport guys, the TKC's are great for tooling around with all the other street guys or fire roads with occasional single track. I have another set of wheels with my 100% or 90/10 maybe 80/20 dirt tires. RIght now those dirt wheels have some MotoZ MountainHybrid tires, which I like, but don't love.

Come to the west side of the state and ride the twisty pavement, and you'll see the advantage of street biased tires when leaned way over for much of the time.

Assuming your dad is using the *tubed* Dual Venture front, it is indeed a different, and more aggressive tire than the tubed version. If you see them side-by-side (Kyle Bradshaw has some videos, ProCycle has a photo, and I believe the Motoz site shows some too), you really can see the difference. The tubed version definitely looks "knobbier." That's what I threw on my DR650, with a RallZ rear, and IMO it's been a great combo. 2400 miles and zero complaints, at the moment.

I habe kenda big blocks (psudo tkc 80s) on my trial scooter, works great on road and on hardpack /sand , not so great on wet mud~

Street I run a kenda Trackmaster front and any 50/50 rear on a klx250. I find DS tires unreliable upfront for road debris and too easily fatal offroad. 300lb bike weight and a raked fork may factor into that but ds fronts r prone to wash out. Swap out to a DOT enduro/mx style rear for mostly offroad use, maybe changeout rear sprocket and chain while the wheels off too. Kenda Classics seem very predictable on the rear, no suprises, its like u can anticipate/ feel it breaking loose so its awesome for gravel roads and drifting! At around 2/3 tread life gone it becomes a perfect 50/50 tread depth and pretty quiet. But i dont tour, i commute and thrash in the woods as much as i can. I will continue to try just about anything i can get on the rear but will always keep what is basically an agreesive knobby upfront regardless of usage. Just match the lug/sidewall stiffness to the bike and rider and tweak the air pressure as u travel. Frame geometry/fork rake will effect how this works bike to bike always. My experience with MTB's has been the same. U can get away with just about anything under your rear if u r a decent rider...but u gotta have reliable traction up front or youre gonna break things

I absolutely loved my mission trailmax tires on my R1200gs. I really want to try them on my KLR …

I end up with more aggressive tires than most for the amount of offroading I do. My problem is the offroad bits are always muddy close to my place so 50/50 tires especially the fronts are horrible offroad where I ride. I like a pirelli mt21 front, I always come back to it, with a long lasting or cheap rear like a shinko 244, mitas e09 or anything similar that will last more than 2500kms, im not fussy with rear tires. I may try the tusk dsport rear next it's cheap enough I dont mind wearing it out quickly. I tried kenda 270's years ago, they squirm on the road if you ride fast while the shinko 244 doesnt, get the shinko's not the kendas.

hoping the tusk adventure tire comes out to fit the KLR soon.....OEM rear is close 1000 KL M

Beginner here. What do you recommend for 80/20 70/30 for 2009 KLX 250S? Tire size: Front 80/100-21 3.00-21 51P Rear 100/100-18 4.60-18 63sp

That's funny because my buddy and I joke all of the time that when two riders get together it's always, "So, what tires are you runnin'?". To my knowledge, the TKC80s are now unavailable in the U.S. market. After the recall it's told that Continental pulled them all and they will need to do a re-design to meet proper specs from the authorities to bring them back. It's too bad because I was running them on my CB500X. Now, I can't find a desirable replacement that is more aggressive to fit my front 17" wheel. I'm short and very inseam challenged, so sticking with this bike and the 17" is about as tall as I can go. I'd love any ideas if anyone has any. As of now I am planning on a Motoz GPS front and a AX41 rear.

Listening to this in my car is the thumping is throwing me off. Lol.

Nice. Too late, my tires I ordered arrive tomorrow 😂

The tkc 80s have been around for a long time. The shinkos ans kenda big block came later

From people i have watch who have tested the 2 track people say its better offroad then the rall z but have much better on road manners while being so cheap, they're designed specifically for the mid weight adventure bikes so most likely wont see then on lighter bikes

Yeah, 50:50 tires are not as as other offroad oriented ones. But when the tire wears down to half depth within 1-3000km then its gonna be expensive. Sticking to a 50:50 like e07 should give milage of 8-25k depending on a rider while others wear 3-8000km. I loved Heidenhau k60 ranger. Great tire. Got 6k out of it, could had 7-8k because it had 2.5 to 3 mm left. I find it doesnt really matter during summer what is on rear. Wasting 300€ per summer for 2 sets vs 95€ for 2-3 years with e07.

Where are you located? I am picking up my new 2024 Yamaha WR450F from Antigo Yamaha Tomorrow. Should be a big off road up grade from my 2017 DRZ400S.

70% street=Mitas E07 70% dirt=Motoz RallZ Perfect 50/50=Mptoz Tractionator GPS Perfect mud doesn't exist for my bike (Africa Twin) but the big lugs on a true knobby helps.

I'm really looking for a perfect tire for myself and have a pretty hard time. Atm i have my second pair of michelin anekee adventures. I only have 1 bike which i use for almost everything. I drive between 300 and 600km a week on the road and only go 2 weekends in the month offroad in often muddy situations (dutch wheather). The anekee adventures are amazing on road and looki g realisticly is the most i ride and therefor the most important. But it's horrible in the soft sand or mud. Been looking at dunlop trailmax missions which have larger grooves, though they don't have my size unfortunately (riding a honda transalp xl 700v). Anyone has advice for amazing (wet) road preformance and duable sand mud preformance?

Kenda k270/shinko 244 are fine on a dr650, have lasted over 3k miles running on all surfaces and speeds, mostly on road and still probably have another ~2k miles left. Yeah klr or other middleweight not sure how theyd do. Would buy these again but switching to tubeless and need a similar tubeless tire.

In 10 years and you never tried the DRZ with a 606, I just think it sets a great bench mark for how well others should go. Some good tires in your list but I only like 80/20 tires or its no fun off road.

The only time I wish I had a more road oriented tire is when I roast an offroad tire in a few thousand miles. I have a super tenere and I WANT to run Dunlop Trailmax raids but I don’t want to shell out $470 every 4,000 miles As for smaller bikes I believe the best tire is the D606. The TKC80s are terrible in comparison to the D606. I’ve had 10+ pairs of D606s on all the Dualsports I’ve had. They stick to the pavement and shred off-road

Whats up with the random bass sounds?

Did I miss the D606?

Tires can be subjective on both bike and preference. For example most people in the DR650 world will say Kendas or a MT21 front and a D606 rear. Me personally i run the latter but I don’t weigh much and I ride the bike way more aggressive than it’s probably meant for. This is to say most people don’t need true 10/90 tires on a dual sport. I can tell you the combo sucks on the road. Manageable, but loud and really messed with braking performance. I’m currently looking for something a bit better for the road.

I should have gone with the Motoz Adventure instead of the Dunlop trailmax raid. The Raids are really good but Jesus are they loud.

The fork brace must be installed perfectly...you do not need it on gen 3....the 3mm bigger axle pinched on both sides..is the best klr set up. The gen 2 has smaller axle yet pinched on both sides.. The gen 1 is the one that NEEDS the fork brace....small axle..pinched on no sides!! Fork brace will help Gen 1 big time!! The danger..is installation...it is easy to.bjnd fork causing stiction...and unresponsiveness..

Be careful going higher in pressure....it will localize wear in center....the bigger the contact pafch---the lower the pound per inch loading...I think you are too high on both ends

I share some of your thoughts on the tires you listed, especially about the spacing in-between the knobbies/lugs. Finding a dual sport/ADV tire that matches your riding is an art form and subjective to each rider. For me the Shinko 244's are the best for gravel and off road riding but wear fast and are not smooth on pavement, but the price point almost makes it ok that they wear fast because they are cheap. After this set wears out, I think I will try the Shinko 700's out. Like the X-Files, when looking for the right dual sport tire for you, the truth is out there.

I have a 2022 KLR 650 and I mostly do highway, and don’t go off-road that often. I do enjoy going off-road though (fire roads) What do you recommend? I’m still on the stock tires

My favorite is Tusk d sport

I will not ever buy a large block tire again, i was very happy happy with the shinko 700 tires, id like to try the michellen anakee wilds as ive heard lots of good things about them.

Kenda K270 front was the worst I've tried.

28? That's nutz...defer to the engineers and product planners...21 is appropriate for such a small cross section tire on a bike with a decidedly rear ward weight bias!!!

I completely agree on 50/50 tires being pointless. Even if riding a bike evenly split between road and off-road, I'll always go for a more aggressive tread. I'd rather have the grip I need off road and take it a little easier on the pavement with any dual sport or ADV bike. For pure street bikes, by all means get a street tire. But that's not really what we're talking about here.

People over think when looking for tires ‼️‼️‼️

I would rather have a aggressive dirt tire and deal with the on road rumble and be confident off-road even though I'm probably on the road 70 -80% of the time do to the dirt being an hour away from me

There is zero evidence for the "Deathwing" label. There is plenty of evidence for user error. Introductory bike ridden by inexperienced riders = blame the tire. The t-dub is the most basic, low seat height bike at a nice price point. That attracts sad-sacks with high expectations and those unskilled boobs then blame a tire on their lack of practice and experience. Never give credence to anyone that uses the term Deathwing. If it was an issue, why would Yamaha have it on the bike since 1987?

Why would you do 70mph on Kenda K270s??? They are intended to be a dual sport tyre NOT an Adventureless road bike tyre. ie, road legal so you can ride to the off road area.

Stop banging the table.

Lite bike = small block

Fact: the last half of any tire sucks!

Judging by the pics from internet? C'mon.... Like judging a rum by a bottle. Scout 60 is one of the best tyres (at least out of my expirience) Sorry alone out of this conclusion couldn't watch the video till the end😢

Motos are garbage! Had one detread on me and Motos wouldn’t do anything for me! Don’t buy them!

I Agree......always lean More towards off-road tires! Even 90% off-road tires are still excellent on the road in my experience, never find myself wanting more Road oriented tires.....if you take Road tires off-road, it's a Bad Bad idea.