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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/14/2019 in all areas

    I was fortunate to grab an early set of the Dunlop Trailmax Mission Adventure tires in January of 2019 for a 10 day ride from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas (and back) on my 2016 BMW GSA 1200. The trip totaled 2000 miles and was about 20% dirt road with the rest tarmac. I ran the tires at the recommended 36 PSI on dirt, with 42 on the road. The bike was packed with panniers and tail luggage, and I weigh in at 150 lb in a birthday suit. Initial Impression Upon first seeing the tires, I was immediately pleased with the style of the tread pattern. We all want our bikes to look bad-ass and these do just that. I had no challenge finding others to be impressed as well. I heard words like “futuristic,” “Tron” and “meaty.” You get the idea. They struck me as a 70 (street) /30 (dirt) tire, but proved to be more toward 50/50. Street Performance I have ridden several “adventure tires” over the years and these are by FAR the most road worthy and predictable set I’ve had to date. I have a second set of rims that I run street tires on, which is my setup most of the time. Due to this, I’m very aware of what’s lost when I switch to a set of adventure tires, especially 50/50s. The Dunlops, however, were absolutely terrific on the street! At times, I even forgot I wasn’t on my street rubber. They are amazingly quiet and super smooth going in and out of turns. Dirt Performance We didn’t explore much sand or any mud on this ride unfortunately. What dirt roads we did explore proved the Dunlops were worthy however. I felt as sticky as I do on my TKC 80 or MotoZ Tractionator ADVs. The absence of a lot of sand and mud didn’t allow me to push them too hard but I did have several moments in sand, or hairy situations requiring all the bite I could take, and they never let me down. I was shocked at how well they were performing in the dirt after already being impressed on the road. Personally, I think there will be debate over whether this is a 50/50, 60/40, or 70/30 tire, but I don’t have any problem calling them 50/50 so far. Longevity I started the ride with 10mm of rubber on the front, and 12mm in the rear. This may not be the manufacturer’s technical measurement, but those were the readings on my tread gage. What’s important is where they were after 2000 miles using the same gauge. The answer is impressive. The front came in at 9mm and the rear at 10mm! Take the following into comparison. One co-rider was on a pair of TKC 80s on a lighter KTM. I didn’t start measuring those tires until the 500 mile marker where they came in at 9mm front, and 10 mm rear. At the end of 2000 miles, that set measured 8mm front, and 1.5 mm rear! Another rider on Shinko 805s was showing 1mm loss for every 500 miles. As you’ll see from the pics, after 2000 miles the Dunlops hardly look worn. Conclusion If I ran one set of rims, this would be my new tire. No doubt. I love the street feel and they provide a ton of grip in the dirt. I’m still curious to see how they compare to the MotoZ or TKC in the deep sand and mud since I prefer to ride the tire best for these conditions on my dirt rims but one thing is for sure, the Dunlops kill both of these in street performance and longevity. Pics I’ve included pics of the Dunlops and TKC 80s at the 2000 mile marker. The pics with my bike were at 500 miles.
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  1. Dude... I rode this little bike recently on the "hard way" up over the Cleghorn OHV Trail system. I have ridden this on my Africa Twin and my KTM 1190 Adv. R... and the ride on the CB500X was So Easy compared to the other bikes. If you are curious to see it in action, here it is: https://youtu.be/h2jATnjBo3k
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  2. @Harsimran Baweja made this incredible video!
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