Post by bultaco on Nov 1, 2010 2:19:40 GMT -8
Dunlop D606
Dunlop D606 Dual-Sport
Dunlop designed the D606 tire to be street-legal with an emphasis on aggressive off-road riding.
A full-depth tread pattern designed for rigorous off-road use yields excellent traction on everything from hard-packed fire roads to soft single-track trails.
At the same time, the D606's tread compound is engineered for good highway durability and grip.
(Member Reviews from ThumperTalk.)
This is the best tire for dual sporters who do more dirt that road. It has advantages over every other tire that I've tried, or that I've had friends use.
It has great traction on the street. I can just about drag pegs with them on my Suzuki DRZ400s. I ride them mostly here in the Arizona desert, but have been up north with them in the softer forest stuff.
These tires perform very well for everything except sand. In the hardpack they are very predictable and bite quite hard. In the intermediate soft stuff is where these tires excel. They do best in the looser clay type soil and even shallow sand. In the sharp granite rocks and boulder gardens you couldn't ask for anything better. Its not a trials tire, but I have never got it to spin or come loose on rocks and boulders ever. Even in the sand it isn't too bad but its not a paddle either.
These also last longer than anything except the Kenda k270, which is absolute junk off road and even the kendas only get about 500 more miles. I can get about 3,000 miles for a rear and about 5,000 miles for the front from the 606's on my DRZ.
My one and only complaint about the tire are that the front gets a little loose on the hardpack stuff, especially when it has some small pepples on it. The Pirelli MT-21 seemd only slightly better in this regard. I highly recommend these to the dirt oriented dual sporter.
agree, these are the best dual sport tyre in my opinion.
They handle every surface except mud and deep sand. Great grip on road for a knobbly tyre.
They didn't last quite as long for me, 4000km rear 5000km Front. Very good for an aggressive dual sport tyre though.
My DRZ400 came with the D606 rear. It was great offroad and better than I expected on. I rode mostly on road when I had this tire so it did not last very long for me. I got around 2000 miles out of it... 1500 plus on the road.
One could say the D606 is the standard in DS tire. I've only run the rear on an XR650L. Works great, can't get a better DS tire in my opinion. On road traction is great both dry and wet conditions, can get 1000+ miles for 50/50 riding. Off road traction is good, remember its not a full offroad tire. Hard pack to intermediate is good, mud is good however I experience the tread filling up and not shedding the mud. This was in sloppy mud, the kind that stinks.
I have some bad experiences with other DOT DS tires and my next tire will be a D606 again.
I have used this tire on my personal dual sport bikes and the rear tire holds up really well. This is easily a 1000+ mile dirt tire.
We have also raced in Baja with these tires on open Husky 4 strokes (450/510s) with 0 tire failures or issues. Great traction both off and on road and they wear well. You can run HD tubes or Bib Moose foam tubes and both work well with this tire, front and rear. The front is a bit skittish on hard pack dirt roads when running over 18lbs of air, but wears great on the highway sections. A great tire for the price.
This is they way to go on my dual-sported (not by much) XR600R. I don't ride street that much, dirt roads when I can, but these are great as an almost no-compromise off-road street tire. I have been really pleased with them. Shop around for a good price, straight retail is too much. some stores will discount the a bit.
For being Dot approved it was a great set of tires.
Great DOT tire. Wore a little quick, but had some decent turning and braking grip even when wet. Wore quicker than the Kenda's but performed better. Found that for a DOT knobby, this tire can be leaned over well.
I just put the second set of 606's on my DR-Z. I can't say how great these are. I take my DRZ to the MX track, trail riding, and commute to work on a regular basis.
On pavement, they corner as well as the trail wings and I found those to be supprisingly compliant on the road, especially in wet conditions.
As far as wear, I got about 1,500 miles, but I may have been able to push that longer. I studded my tires over the winter and that caused a little premature wear I think. The rear is still good, I probably have 500 more miles on that if I keep riding pavement 50% of the time.
A decent, predictable tire on the rear. I normally get about 1,000 miles out of it before it's toast.
On the road, the front can be a little squirrelly until scuffed in really well. I got about 1,500 miles out of it due to some weird wear patterns - even with proper inflation.
There are better dirt tires, and there are better street tires, but we are talking dual sport here. And these may be the best dual sport tires on the planet. There is absolutely nothing you can't do on these tires. Some things you can't do particularly well, but you can do it. And they last a very long time for a tire that digs as well as these in the dirt.
I like to call them "dirty adventure tires". You can head out across the country on these, hit every off road riding area along the way, and might just make it from coast to coast on a set if you are conservative. There are some compromises here, but fewer than any DS tire I've tried - especially with this much durability. Keep in mind the word "dual sport" and I'd say the biggest compromise is road noise. Just get a good quiet helmet and ride!
I just SOLOED the Baja 1000 with Dunlop 606's on the XR650R and rode the street legal race bike to the Baja 1000 and returned home on the same set of tires
The bike is on Display at San Diego FUN BIKE CENTER for the whole year. Great site #286X
I just put these on my DRZ 400S and went up to Cedar River, Michigan. I don't have too many miles on them so my rating for durability is not accurate but I didn't want to give them a fake low rating. I had the original Bridgestone Trailwings that came with the bike (very good street tire) so when I rode the Dunlops I got really excited. They hooked up really well. Cedar River was mostly hard-pack sand, loose sand, gravel roads and grass-covered trails. Hardly any clay. The Dunlops worked great for me. They went STRAIGHT thru puddles and mud holes. I did not slip sideways at all during the whole ride. When we rode the pavement in to get gas or food they rode better than I ever expected. I highly recommend them. Sizes: F 90/90-21 R 120/80-18.
Dunlop D606 Dual-Sport
Dunlop designed the D606 tire to be street-legal with an emphasis on aggressive off-road riding.
A full-depth tread pattern designed for rigorous off-road use yields excellent traction on everything from hard-packed fire roads to soft single-track trails.
At the same time, the D606's tread compound is engineered for good highway durability and grip.
(Member Reviews from ThumperTalk.)
This is the best tire for dual sporters who do more dirt that road. It has advantages over every other tire that I've tried, or that I've had friends use.
It has great traction on the street. I can just about drag pegs with them on my Suzuki DRZ400s. I ride them mostly here in the Arizona desert, but have been up north with them in the softer forest stuff.
These tires perform very well for everything except sand. In the hardpack they are very predictable and bite quite hard. In the intermediate soft stuff is where these tires excel. They do best in the looser clay type soil and even shallow sand. In the sharp granite rocks and boulder gardens you couldn't ask for anything better. Its not a trials tire, but I have never got it to spin or come loose on rocks and boulders ever. Even in the sand it isn't too bad but its not a paddle either.
These also last longer than anything except the Kenda k270, which is absolute junk off road and even the kendas only get about 500 more miles. I can get about 3,000 miles for a rear and about 5,000 miles for the front from the 606's on my DRZ.
My one and only complaint about the tire are that the front gets a little loose on the hardpack stuff, especially when it has some small pepples on it. The Pirelli MT-21 seemd only slightly better in this regard. I highly recommend these to the dirt oriented dual sporter.
agree, these are the best dual sport tyre in my opinion.
They handle every surface except mud and deep sand. Great grip on road for a knobbly tyre.
They didn't last quite as long for me, 4000km rear 5000km Front. Very good for an aggressive dual sport tyre though.
My DRZ400 came with the D606 rear. It was great offroad and better than I expected on. I rode mostly on road when I had this tire so it did not last very long for me. I got around 2000 miles out of it... 1500 plus on the road.
One could say the D606 is the standard in DS tire. I've only run the rear on an XR650L. Works great, can't get a better DS tire in my opinion. On road traction is great both dry and wet conditions, can get 1000+ miles for 50/50 riding. Off road traction is good, remember its not a full offroad tire. Hard pack to intermediate is good, mud is good however I experience the tread filling up and not shedding the mud. This was in sloppy mud, the kind that stinks.
I have some bad experiences with other DOT DS tires and my next tire will be a D606 again.
I have used this tire on my personal dual sport bikes and the rear tire holds up really well. This is easily a 1000+ mile dirt tire.
We have also raced in Baja with these tires on open Husky 4 strokes (450/510s) with 0 tire failures or issues. Great traction both off and on road and they wear well. You can run HD tubes or Bib Moose foam tubes and both work well with this tire, front and rear. The front is a bit skittish on hard pack dirt roads when running over 18lbs of air, but wears great on the highway sections. A great tire for the price.
This is they way to go on my dual-sported (not by much) XR600R. I don't ride street that much, dirt roads when I can, but these are great as an almost no-compromise off-road street tire. I have been really pleased with them. Shop around for a good price, straight retail is too much. some stores will discount the a bit.
For being Dot approved it was a great set of tires.
Great DOT tire. Wore a little quick, but had some decent turning and braking grip even when wet. Wore quicker than the Kenda's but performed better. Found that for a DOT knobby, this tire can be leaned over well.
I just put the second set of 606's on my DR-Z. I can't say how great these are. I take my DRZ to the MX track, trail riding, and commute to work on a regular basis.
On pavement, they corner as well as the trail wings and I found those to be supprisingly compliant on the road, especially in wet conditions.
As far as wear, I got about 1,500 miles, but I may have been able to push that longer. I studded my tires over the winter and that caused a little premature wear I think. The rear is still good, I probably have 500 more miles on that if I keep riding pavement 50% of the time.
A decent, predictable tire on the rear. I normally get about 1,000 miles out of it before it's toast.
On the road, the front can be a little squirrelly until scuffed in really well. I got about 1,500 miles out of it due to some weird wear patterns - even with proper inflation.
There are better dirt tires, and there are better street tires, but we are talking dual sport here. And these may be the best dual sport tires on the planet. There is absolutely nothing you can't do on these tires. Some things you can't do particularly well, but you can do it. And they last a very long time for a tire that digs as well as these in the dirt.
I like to call them "dirty adventure tires". You can head out across the country on these, hit every off road riding area along the way, and might just make it from coast to coast on a set if you are conservative. There are some compromises here, but fewer than any DS tire I've tried - especially with this much durability. Keep in mind the word "dual sport" and I'd say the biggest compromise is road noise. Just get a good quiet helmet and ride!
I just SOLOED the Baja 1000 with Dunlop 606's on the XR650R and rode the street legal race bike to the Baja 1000 and returned home on the same set of tires
The bike is on Display at San Diego FUN BIKE CENTER for the whole year. Great site #286X
I just put these on my DRZ 400S and went up to Cedar River, Michigan. I don't have too many miles on them so my rating for durability is not accurate but I didn't want to give them a fake low rating. I had the original Bridgestone Trailwings that came with the bike (very good street tire) so when I rode the Dunlops I got really excited. They hooked up really well. Cedar River was mostly hard-pack sand, loose sand, gravel roads and grass-covered trails. Hardly any clay. The Dunlops worked great for me. They went STRAIGHT thru puddles and mud holes. I did not slip sideways at all during the whole ride. When we rode the pavement in to get gas or food they rode better than I ever expected. I highly recommend them. Sizes: F 90/90-21 R 120/80-18.