CMA HeartBeat December 2024 | Page 12

GEAR REVIEW
By DOUG South
12βŽͺDECEMBER 2024βŽͺwww . cmausa . org
ADVENTURE BIKE TIRES you ride an adventure bike ,

IF chances are you are either asking about or getting asked about what tires you run , primarily for off-road , mostly street , or 50 / 50 tires , etc ., on your adventure bike .

That being the case , I ’ m right there with you . I have done my share of research , asking others , trying different tires , looking at reviews online , and more . Finally , I decided on a set of Dunlop Trailmax Raids , which are 50 / 50 tires , which means 50 % dirt / 50 % street use .
I installed them on a Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro , a competent mid-sized adventure bike . First , I rode a few hundred miles of pavement , some wet and some dry , and then I promptly used these tires at an adventure rally called the Giant Loop Rally in the high deserts of Eastern Oregon . Over the next few days , I rode a great variety of terrain , from silt to rock-embedded dirt with ruts . My thoughts on them vary from excellent to poor . Let me expand on that .
On the pavement , these tires inspire confidence in both wet and dry road conditions , corners , and grooved concrete . They run very quietly for a 50 / 50 tires and stick well in the wet due to the silica that helps them wear longer . I found you can push corners pretty hard as the outside treads are tied together , so they don ’ t roll over as you hit deeper lean angles β€” next , dry , dusty , loose gravel . The tires do well as long as the road doesn ’ t have any shallow ruts filled with silt or dust . That being said , ruts are the downfall of these tires . They will always drop you into the rut instead of cutting or holding the line . This causes the front end to follow ruts instead of being able to pull out of the rut , so I dislike this tire . Look at the pics attached and see how the two outside knobs kind of angle toward the center . I think that is why they drop in instead of holding the line .
Next , I tried them in packed dirt or dirt with embedded rock . Here , they excelled and proved very dirtworthy . Without sand or silt , these tires will take you anywhere . They
Website Reference : https :// www . aerostich . com wear pretty decently , though I took them off before I could tell you the actual life expectancy . But if you are like me , performance trumps longevity for off-road .
My final thoughts on these are as follows : I love them on pavement , grooves , grated bridges , etc . They are pretty impressive in dirt , rock , smooth gravel , and grass . The downfall is sand , silt , or a combination of soft ruts .
Now to a tire that is almost the opposite of the Dunlop Trailmax Raids . I was going to be leading a three-day adventure trip through the Oregon Cascades on the OBDR sections 5 , 6 , and 7 . I had read a lot about the silt and sand in at least Β½ of section 5 , and I knew there were expert sections climbing up Cache Mountain and more .
I decided I wanted a real knobby tire . Enter Motoz Tractionator RallZ . These things are heavy β€” I mean really heavy sidewalls , deep tread , and very little flex to the crown .
Motoz classifies them as 80 % dirt / 20 % road . I put them on the day before my trip , and I noticed the weight of them immediately . The bike steered very heavily on the pavement between the weight and the aggressive knobbies . They had a lovely sing to them , but not as loud
( continue on page 13 )