Dual Sport Tire Dilema

OK, so now I have my XR250R street legal. Now comes the daunting task of selecting a set of dual sport tires. Any and all advice and experience would be appreciated. My only experience to date with dual sport tires are the old school trials type that all dual sports used to come from the factory with. And that experience was that they sucked off road, and sucked on road too. I am looking for a 40/60 usage street/dirt, since my nearest riding area is Capital Forest, which is about 30 miles away. Right now I am leaning toward the Kenda K720, and that is purely on the aesthetics of the tread. Which in all reality probably doesn't mean a thing. I am looking to avoid this reaction AFTER my purchase

Along those same lines, I am thinking about dropping a few teeth on my rear sprocket to enable highway speeds with out my engine sounding like it is about to take flight. I have a 42 now and am thinking about going to a 38. Thoughts?

Well I know a lot of folks love the MT43 and its a (kind of) trials tire that is dot. I run that and sometimes a d606 rear. Ill give the knod toward the mt43 rear though and as for fronts I like the MT16. I ran a d606 front during the dirtyface and that thing was

I put competition trials tires on my trail bike and WOW! they sure have good traction on all surfaces. I would tend to go towards the MT43 trials front and rear. If you don't want a trials tire on the front how about a regular dirt knobby for the front like a 756? It might wear out fast on the asphalt but would be great in the dirt.

The problem with the more street oriented dualsport tires, is they don't have much traction in the dirt. Dirt tires wear out fast on the street. Take your choice.

I'll put another vote in for the Pireli MT43 trials tire. As they say, a knobby digs, a trials tire grips. Even when my MT43 was down to 1/8" tread, it still allowed me to wheelie up the wet brick pavers all winter long at Walker Valley ORV Park while the knobby guys are losing traction.

That being said, I ride 99.9% dirt/.01% asphalt.

I have only run the 606's so my feedback is limited. I run them front and rear. Some guys complain about the front's but I like them. But again I have nothing to compare them to. The rear digs good and seems to have the right amount of traction for the kind of riding I do. Fair weather, riding the pavement to my actual riding destination which is mainly logging roads with a few connecting trails thrown in here and there. I have used them twice at the Desert 100 for the dual sport ride. For me they worked great. However, after about half tread rolls around, the tire howls considerably on the pavement. Fairly annoying. The life span is okay but probably would be improved if I didn't have a crazy obsession with cracking the throttle wide open coming out of corners. I am considering trying out a set of the Mefo Explorers as an alternative due to my, more than wanted highway travel to reach my preferred off-road riding destination of choice. So all in all I would say if your pavement outweighs your off-road then I wouldn't go with the 606 unless you don't mind sacrificing tire life for traction. This will always be a debate among riders but comes down to your preference and riding style.

I use Shinko 705s on my XR650R. Im mainly pavement and dirt roads and easy trails.705s are definately road oriented but they work pretty good everywhere as long as its dry and not too loose. The set I have almost 3000 miles and still have easily two thirds tread left, but that was mostly on roads. I dont ride int the rain (cant see)and if I have to, I ride slow and I dotn thin k anytires is good on wet pavement. If I was primarily dirt, Id go for some Metzler Unicross. I have worn out many pairs of that old style tread Metzler knobs but they handle great and last as long as anything if you dont pavement them too hard. Look bitchin' too.

A little late to this thread. I have good luck with the D606. I have tried TKC 80's (front sidewalls were way too soft for my 950, got too many pinch flats), a Shinko xxx (don't remember the number, it was okay, but not great), and Pirelli Scorpions (decent mixed use, but not great performance off road - better on the pavement). I am now on my second 606 on the front of my KTM950. I love the D908 that I run on the back of the 950, but it might be too big of a tire for your bike. I have heard that some people run the 908 on Honda 650R's though? The 606 works good on my heavy bike on the pavement and on the dirt and gravel. I have done a little single track (but nothing like what you probably do) and I have never needed more traction unless the tire needs replaced. When the 606 wears far enough on the front, I don't feel confidant off pavement with it. I haven't paid any attention to mileage per tire. I have toyed with the idea of the Mefo's, but I haven't run them. I don't know anybody who has run them either.

I have 2 friends that use D606's exclusively front and rear on their Honda 650's (an L and an R). The L is used as a commuter bike and a play bike. It sees a lot of pavement, but we have taken it up to the mountains for dirt roads and single track trails. The 606 front and rear works really well on the gravel for me on the 650R. I have borrowed both bikes and run single track with them too. Never had any problems. For what me and my friends do, it is a great tire.