Pirelli.

[bultaco]

The XCMH which is modeled after the legendary Pirelli MT18HD tire, now called the XCMH with DOT status.







(Rider reviews from various websites)

The MT44 (front) provided great traction in all riding conditions presented. The tire wore well, with no chunking and it is a new favorite along side my M12 for front tire choices.

Both are awesome tires. (MT16 & MT18) Actually the only Pirelli's I've used I didn't like were MT21's. They suck, especially in the dirt.

But both the 16's and 18's are good, really good. Look what the Euros are running. No Dunlops there man.

I've used these tires on brand new Husabergs (can't remember which one)
Also on the Husky's I believe. We got a couple sets to test as well. Loved
them, they even wore very well on pavement!

MT18 for the front, Thats what I use. (XR650)

Both the MT-16 and MT-18 FRONT tires are DoT, as well as being fully qualified dirt tires.

In the dirt especially muddy conditions, either the 16 or 18 are (IMHO) MUCH better than the MT-21.

Front tire, off-road, I'd pick either the MT-16 or MT-18 over an MT-21, any day.

MT-18. That thing grips and bites dirt really well. In fact it does a fantastic job on the road too. Better than I ever thought it would. I'm very happy with my MT-18.

I really like the Pirelli MT21 on the front of my bike.

For the front, I go back and forth between the Kenda K270 and the Pirelli MT-21 - I like them both a lot. I always use the Kenda K270 on the rear.

[bultaco]

For me, it's hard to beat the Pirelli XCMH (Cross Country Mid Hard) on the front. It's the best tire by far that I used on my Husaberg - it steers really well. I can get by on a variety of rears, but it's the front that I really want to stick.

This tire is freaking awesome, i cant believe how good it is in the dirt, DOT, rated to more then 100mph, and man, just does not slide at all, grips so well, amazing tire for the trails, brakes feel twice as strong with it, just did 2 hours of some black diamond trials and this tire is worth every penny, i highly recommend this to anyone, did great on the road as well, took it up to 82mph, and all was fine, no wobble or anythng, great tire, i just hope it will last, hoping to get at least 3-4k miles out of it,

The search is still on, question at bottom. After trying multiple DS dirt tires, ...I'm still looking for the ultimate 80% soft or gravel dirt and 20% street use (must be DOT legal) dual sport tire. Something with taller knobs for soft dirt, decent balance, and reasonable on short road runs but great in dirt. This is for a 450 dual sport dirt bike with a license plate.

Previously tried the following DOT dirt tires:
-Pirelli MT21 (decent on road and dirt)
-Pirelli XCMH (vibey on road, great in dirt,but still checking)
-Dunlop D606 (on friends bike, decent on road, and dirt, too much rear tires spin on dirt/gravel for me)
-IRC GP1 (great on road, limited front tire)

Seroiusly considering the following, again:
-Pirelli XCMH (so far my best yet)
-MotoZ Tractionator H/T or new I/T (DOT legal) coming out soon.. (some mixed reviews on fronts)
-IRC TR8 (front is not available for some reason now)
-Metzeler Unicross (a tire from the 70s that some use on dual sports today)

I'm on my second rear XCMH and still running my first XCMH on the front, I love this tire. Doesn't get the mileage that the 606 does but the off road traction is great.

IMO, the XCMH seems to have the most consistent feedback when it comes to a DOT tire and offroad "dirt" performance - with solid comments about both front and back tires. This is not very common to see with many of the DOT tires out there. With most if not all other tires, people always complain about the front tire; not with the XCMH which is modeled after the legendary Pirelli MT18HD tire, now called the XCMH with DOT status. With the XCMH, although street is not its primary purpose, the on road performance is consistent for moderate use. Some push the Pirelli XCMH on street harder and for more miles than I would. However, many seems to have great success on road too. I regularly see posters comment that it "it continues to perform very well even after the knobs become rounded - doesn't change a lot". The only negative you typically see about the XCMH is it wears a little faster as compared to say a harder D606.

Personally I think the XCMH wears fairly close to a MT21, but with taller knobs and definitely better off road dirt traction in front and rear. The XCMH does much better on dirt-gravel backroads too, way better in my opinion. I'll sacrifice a little wear for better overall off road performance, Most people rave about the front tire handling in dirt and seem to like rear tire traction of the XCMH most of all. I agree. This has been my experience with the XCMH too. for a D.O.T tire thats 80/20 dirt-road use, the XCMH is hard to beat.

For my 2nd set of wheels used for 80% dual sport I tried a brand new set of Pirelli Scorpian XCMH tires today on some very rocky 4x4 offroad sections in some dry and wet sections with lots of rocks and boulders too. We rode right down the middle of dry and wet stream beds, up/down some loose and hard pack single track too with rocks. hands down, the XCMH tires are way better offroad in comparison to the MT21s and D606s, especially in loose offroad and gravel sections.

So far so good with the XCMH tires when truly using them more as a hard core 80% dual sport dirt tire. I was suprised, the XCMH front wore VERY well just like my last set set did on hard dirt and some road today. Most of the edge is still there after a hard ride in rocks and gravel roads today.

+1 on the XCMH's...
Your results are the same as I found....the XCMH works better for me in the loose stuff and mud....especially noticable to me on the front.

I like the XCMH front tire, except the side knobs tear off fast in the rocks. At 440 miles the side knobs are starting to tear.

[bultaco]

On my 450 Husaberg I tried some Pirelli Scorpion Pro and they were extremely good offroad, but wore down quite quickly on the pavement especially in the heat of summer in the valley.

This is the same Scorpion on the front of my 950SE.

Heavy bike so I keep it at 34psi (no dented rims that way) Have had them up to 180kph, has a slight wobble 50-80kph

2800k's

Gunna get rid of it pretty soon....but it sure hooks up nice in the dirt.




The knobs are starting to seperate.



The matching rear lasted 1500k