Motorcycle adventure-sport tire test | RiDE’s roundup of the top road-biased tires for ADV bikes

This test was performed by the team at our sister title RiDE Magazine – the biker’s champion that guarantees useful advice on buying a new or used motorcycle, thorough testing and tips on which bits of gear to buy, from helmets to suits and gloves to boots and more. You can find them on Facebook, Instagram, and in print.

Adventure bike tires have a tough life. As adventure bikes get faster and more sophisticated, their tires need to handle more power and increasing lean angles while resisting the inevitable wear that comes from heavy, torque-y bikes. And they need to offer a modicum of off-road ability.

We’ve tested six of the best-selling adventure tires (or Dual Sport tires) on the market except Avon, who declined to participate. All tires are 19-inch fronts and 17-inch rears, a popular configuration on everything from the BMW GS to Honda’s CB500X. And all tires are multi-compound, designed to work across a wide range of situations.

Apart from the Michelin rubber, they all fall into the 90/10 category, meaning they’re designed for 90% on-road use, 10% off road. In reality, few tires will ever see dirt.

But which is best for your bike? Let’s find out.

How we tested these adventure tires

This was a blind test. At no point did Matt Wildee or Bruce Dunn know which tires they were riding on — test notes were generated before knowing which tires they were on.

Both riders rode our set route; Matt taking the first stint, with an emphasis on warm-up time and stability. Bruce focused on outright performance.

Each rider gave marks out of ten for each set of tires, rating steering, confidence, stability, ride quality and feel. We also measured operating temperature and emergency-stop braking distances. Conditions on the test route were dry, 72°F and we used the manufacturer’s recommended cold pressure throughout the test.

The Route

A 22-mile ride taking in fast, flowing A-roads, bumpy B-roads, a highway stint, plus urban riding over a variety of good and bad surfaces.

The Bike

We chose RiDE’s long-term Suzuki V-Strom 1000 because its OE tires are merely OK, plus it lacks sophisticated traction control and fancy suspension that can skew feedback. The bike was set on minimal traction control levels.

The Logistics

Tests were on the same day and conditions. Support and prices provided by Mark at www.mobile-bike-tyres.co.uk. They don’t include fitting and will vary between different suppliers. They’re a guide.

Cut through the jargon with MCN’s tire explainer video:

About the testers

Matt Wildee – Current editor for RiDE magazine, and former MCN senior editor

Bruce Dunn – Workshop Expert, Datalogger, Speed Tester – Bruce has been professionally testing bikes for over 25 years. He’s a fully qualified motorcycle technician who also has a knack for going incredibly fast on racetracks and runways. In addition to looking after the ‘Workshop How To’ section for MCN, Bruce keeps his own collection of bikes running, including the Yamaha TZ250 – the bike he used to take the 2022 BMCRC Blue Haze GP championship with a round to spare!

Our scores explained:

When RiDE reviewed these tires, they awarded each one a score out of ten for steering, confidence, stability, ride quality, and feel. We halved those scores and rounded them to a rating based on five stars. These are shown in the ratings tab for each tire featured, to help you find the best adventure-sports tire for how you ride. Here’s a guide to what each score means:

1 Star – Avoid at all costs.
2 Stars – Barely acceptable.
3 Stars – Average or adequate.
4 Stars – Above average.
5 Stars – Excellent performance.

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