Picked up a 2008 TE450, love the bike. Problem is the tires are for mx... not riding on the street. Has anyone tried a dunlop606 or MaxxisM6006, something with some meat on it but rounded for better road manners... need some advice.. Thanks
I have used a Dunlop 908 on the front (looks like the 739 pattern) and a 120/90 606 on the back. This combo gets you plenty of street manners and decent traction on rocky and dry terrain. Sucky performance in the sand. I got over 2000 miles on mine.
had 606 and thought it was rubbish ! took it off and threw it away..i use bridgestone 404 rear and 403 front.. dont do much road at all but anything hybrid/compromised will be rubbish in my opinion, either its roadies or dirt tyres.... buy a set of spare motard rims and then it will be great fun !
The 606 may not be the best tire off road but it works surprisingly well on the street for a full knobby and wears better than any other knobby I have found. Off road it works better than most dual sport type tires, it is adequate but no where near the performance of a premium off road knobby, but those nice off road tires wear out so fast on the pavement its not worth it if you do much road riding. Keep in mind where I ride it is rocks, rocks and more rocks!
this the guy I bought my 610 from ran full (non-DOT) knobbies on the stock wheels, and cut slicks on the tard wheels. Tons of fun.
I'd like to run full dirt tires on my 450, but as was stated above, they wear more quickly than D.O.T. tires and around these parts, we have rangers in the state desert parks (street legal vehicles only) that can site you for running non D.O.T. tires on your machine out on the trails.
I used 606's on an old klr250 for 4,000+ miles they worked fine on the street as long as they were turning. The last 2' going up to a stop they did not work as well because they slipped a bit. They worked far better on the street than the tires that came with my 2006 TE250. Off road they did ok too. I don't necessarily recommend them but they worked decent enough for me.
I agree the spare motard set is the best choice, I've had a set and it was a ton of fun. But admittedly not possible within everyone's budget. It's been a long while, but I used to run Pirelli MT21's on my old dual sport. They were very well mannered on the road up to 80+ and cornered well for a knobby. I never had any complaints about dirt performance, but with horrible suspension, I didn't ride in anger much back then.
