So it would appear that I'm getting close to putting my DR650 on the road.

Now I find myself facing the question: what tires should I get?

The stock Bridgestone 90/10 Trailwings are good on the road but many reviews have panned them for off road, aside from use on really un-challenging dirt and gravel roads (doesn't everyone use street tires for that anyway? I'm looking at YOU Yermo !).

As one fellow M-by-MC'er suggested, given where I live and ride most, I'll likely be riding more on road than off on the DR. So tires which handle well on the street would be nice. But: I'd also like something that will do better on more challenging surfaces (grass/mud/sand/water covered roads/dirt/gravel) than  a mostly street tire. 

Based on recommendations from the fine folks at DualSport Touring down in Friendsville TN, I've started looking at 50/50 tires from Heidenau:


and Mefo:


Still haven't made up my mind though.

Does anyone have any strong recommendations for dual sport tires?

So I went with the Mefo Explorers. We'll see how they do in comparison to the stock Bridgestone Trailwings.

I'm going to be very interested to hear how those tires work out. We might yet get to do some off-pavement riding this season.

I have two bikes that spend most of the time on road but I will seek opportunities to venture off-road when ever possible.  I too have been looking at the Heidenau tires for my Buell Ulysses.  The sizes don't match exactly but the traction looks great.  The set of tires I put on her were street only and so I am limited to pavement and hard packed dirt roads which are a plenty in my neck of the woods.  

On my old '87 XL600R, I run a Kenda DOT knobby on the rear and a trials tire on the front.  Economy dictated that choice more than anything else but I wasn't comfortable with the knobby on the front with concerns of wet pavement proving to be slippery with the limited contact patch.  So far so good.  I am too old to roost through mud and sand so the trials tire works well in pointing the old girl in the right direction.  

I am looking forward to your DR reports in the near future.

Yeah, I'd definitely be interested in some off pavement pretty soon. Hoping the bike will be on the road very soon.

Ulywood, of the reviews of the Heidenau Scouts that I could find, most were very positive. I think that your choice of tires on your XL600 is interesting--from what I've read a lot of folks seem to be happy with a combination of different tires for off road, versus a matched pair. I will definitely post my experiences with the Mefos as soon as I can get some miles on them.

So far, the Mefos have worked out well. Despite only having about 500 miles on them, I'd have to say that they do nicely both on and off the road.

Compared to the Stock Bridgestone Trailwings, they are somewhat noisier. For the first 150 miles they carried a fair amount of vibration, but that smoothed out almost (but not quite) to the level of the stock tires.

Despite having a quite agressive tread, they feel quite planted on the road, and on the gravel/dirt roads I've tried them on so far feel quite grippy.

Hopefully within about another month or so, the weather will start improving and I'll be able to report further on my experiences with these tires.

But so far, it's fair to say that I'm fairly impressed with them.