drz400 road/dirt tyre?

[tassle]

what would be a good front tyre,as the bike is used for commuting ,open road,and will see dirt time,or do i have to suck it in and get two sets,which isnt really an option.

[Motu]

Depends on how much dirt tyre you can handle on the road - I have a Kenda K760 on the front of my XT,that's pretty aggressive on the dirt side so you have to be careful on the brakes and in the wet.I have a Pirreli MT17 to go on after that,it has good side lugs so I think it will be a good road tyre without loosing dirt ability.The Conti TKC80 has to be the best all round tyre,I have one on the XLV750 and have no idea how the hell it hangs on so well on the road,I'm so far off the side lugs I must be riding on air,but have never had it move yet,they are great in gravel and even handle mud well.

That's the legal tyres,if you want non DOT tyres just see what works best.I'm putting a non legal Cheng Shin on the rear of the XT next - that's my problem!

[Oscar]

what would be a good front tyre,as the bike is used for commuting ,open road,and will see dirt time,or do i have to suck it in and get two sets,which isnt really an option.

I had a DRZ, and I used run the OEM tyre (a Yokohama?), it was a road legal knobbly so it sucked on the seal but wasn't bad off road. Alternatively, you get an adventure tyre, like a Conti TKC80, which is great on-raod and so-so off road.

[clint640]

For a more road baised tyre, I've been running Pirelli MT70's - great on wet & dry tarseal, good on gravel, suck ass in slippery mud but 1/2 the price of TKC-80's.
I just swap on knobblies for the dirt, the bike shop is across the road from where I work & at $15 to change both it's cheaper than wearing out knobs on the road and riding is much more fun with the right tyres on.
MX guys often throw out only slightly worn knobblies which are fine for trail riding if you can score a set.

Cheers
Clint

[moko]

That's the legal tyres,if you want non DOT tyres just see what works best.I'm putting a non legal Cheng Shin on the rear of the XT next - that's my problem!

Cheng Shins were fairly popular in the U.K. a couple of years back,and good enough to be legal here.They were something like 30% cheaper than the Bridgestone equivalents and I had no problems at all,dont know how they`d shape up off-road though.I had them on my Honda SLR650,made in Spain like the later Dominators,dont think you got them in N.Z so I`ve posted a pic.Press trashed them but a hard-core of fans and typically for Britain now you cant get them anymore they`re quite sought after.Kind of Supermoto I guess,ideal commuter/fun bike but the handling wasn`t far short of deadly

[NordieBoy]

Anyone have any opinions on the Pirelli MT40's?

[clint640]

Anyone have any opinions on the Pirelli MT40's?

A mate had some on his 300 EXC for adv riding, they went OK but wear quickly (what doesn't?) I thought about getting some but couldn't find a rear wide enough - only the 4.00 seems to be available here. They come OEM on farm bikes a lot and get taken off at the dealers in favour of proper knobblies so are often available real cheap.

Cheers
Clint