best tire for offroading?'04 yz250f

[adam31]

i got a 2004 yz250f and i got millville tires on it. i have been driving it for almost a week now ( gravel straight streches and hard packed trails) and the other day i looked at them and the treads on the sides of the rear tire are starting to crack and rip off. are they just gonna fall off on every tire on gravel or do i need to get a new set.i am not going to be using it for motorcross this year but i am going to be driving it alot and i want the tread to still be there when i need it. do i need do get a new set or should i just keep riding? and if i do need a new set i don't want a real expensive tire just a one to give me enough traction for a hard pack trail.

[drz400gncc]

irc ve33 works on about anything and last a long time.

[mxmaddman]

Michelin- MH3 is great for longevity too.

[Dano426]

Michelin M12 has worked great for me.

If you are not racing MX, I would look into a trials tire. Great traction and they last forever.

[gwalk1965]

Buy a trials tire for offroad riding! You will not be sorry! It doesn't look like it should work as well as it does, but I have over 200 miles on mine now, barely any wear! Awesome tire.

[BazookaJoe]

I've been sometimes thinking about a trials tire, but cannot find one in 19". They seem to be 18" only.

Back to the original question about Millvilles... Yes, that tire is knob chunker all right. It's kind of strange- the middle knobs last quite well but the side knobs don't hold up well in hard packed conditions. In soft conditions, the Millville is a pretty good performer.

Not every tire is a knob chunker like the Millville. I currently have a Kenda Washugal and it seems to be a pretty good tire for the money.

If the intended purpose is gravel roading, then choose a tire meant more for hardpack.

[MXSteve89]

I've been sometimes thinking about a trials tire, but cannot find one in 19". They seem to be 18" only.

Back to the original question about Millvilles... Yes, that tire is knob chunker all right. It's kind of strange- the middle knobs last quite well but the side knobs don't hold up well in hard packed conditions. In soft conditions, the Millville is a pretty good performer.

Not every tire is a knob chunker like the Millville. I currently have a Kenda Washugal and it seems to be a pretty good tire for the money.

If the intended purpose is gravel roading, then choose a tire meant more for hardpack.

If my understanding is correct, tires meant for hardpack terrain are made of soft compound. Therefore, they wear more quickly than average.

A tire made for soft terrain is made of hard compound, so they last forever. I believe those are a few things people tend to get mixed up on, but I'm not 100% sure.

[WR250F Captain]

Get a Dunlop, i had a soft-intermediate terrain tire designed for sand 120/100 that lasted 1000 miles down to a bald tire. lol. got it for cheap from someone sponsored by dunlop for racing GP

[CBDaddy]

Get a Dunlop, i had a soft-intermediate terrain tire designed for sand 120/100 that lasted 1000 miles down to a bald tire. lol. got it for cheap from someone sponsored by dunlop for racing GP

YES - get a Dunlop. . . if you want the edges to be GONE after one ride. Once the edges are gone, it doesn't matter what tires you have. Ever hear Dunlop's refered to as Onelaps? They have have name for a reason. For the life of me I can't understand why anybody pays more than a nickel for a Dunlop. They might have good grip for about an hour, which is pretty useless unless you are a factory rider that gets new tires after every moto.

I found the Michelin S12 wears like iron, and has excellent traction in all kinds of terrain. I run the S12 in the back and either an S12 or M12 up front. Read the reviews on www.motorsport.com and decide for yourself.

[WR250F Captain]

THATS BS. I ran my 120/100 for 1000 miles. on hard packed and its a soft compound made for sand and mud.

I've seen maxxis tires go out way faster than all my dunlops. stock front dunlop has over 3k miles on it, but its getting changed before my next big ride

YES - get a Dunlop. . . if you want the edges to be GONE after one ride. Once the edges are gone, it doesn't matter what tires you have. Ever hear Dunlop's refered to as Onelaps? They have have name for a reason. For the life of me I can't understand why anybody pays more than a nickel for a Dunlop. They might have good grip for about an hour, which is pretty useless unless you are a factory rider that gets new tires after every moto.

I found the Michelin S12 wears like iron, and has excellent traction in all kinds of terrain. I run the S12 in the back and either an S12 or M12 up front. Read the reviews on www.motorsport.com and decide for yourself.

[BazookaJoe]

Ever hear Dunlop's refered to as Onelaps?

Ha-ha, that is just waaay too funny. Under the right conditions, it can sure seem like that. The Dunlop 756 front tire is a particularly short life tire- as soon as the sharp edges are gone, it's only useful purpose is to keep the rim off the ground.

I realize this thread is on rear tires, but I would toss in a comment that I recently used a Dunlop 773 front tire and it was a very good perfroming all around tire which wore very well on everything from blue groove to mucky mud. I have a new one on my tire rack for next time I need to re-shoe the front.

Back to the question about hard terrain tires being soft compound and vice-versa... Maybe in quite a few cases, but not necessarily in all cases. Each tire model has its own idea of how to do things and it doesn't come down to "this + this = that" every time. Your best bet is to read reviews & BB comments, and then try to gather the best conclusion for your own situations.

btw, Don't forget to also consider if you have small and/or sharp rocks in your riding condition. Those sharp rocks can be tire munchers.

Good luck with the tire buying.

[Mr Pat]

What about Motoz? http://www.motoz.com.au

Can you guys get em in the states?

Mine has lasted longer than the stock Dunlop on my WR. Was cheaper to.

[ds66]

Michelin S12

[CBDaddy]

THATS BS. I ran my 120/100 for 1000 miles. on hard packed and its a soft compound made for sand and mud.

I've seen maxxis tires go out way faster than all my dunlops. stock front dunlop has over 3k miles on it, but its getting changed before my next big ride

Since you said earlier that you run your tires down to bald, I'll assume you don't place the same value in sharp edges as the rest of us. If you race MX or in the woods, there is a night and day difference between sharp edges and 1/8" radii on the leading edges. BALD is about 900 miles later in the discussion, so I think you are talking apples to our oranges.

[ktm868]

i love my maxxis maxxcross ht

[MOFAT]

MAXXIS.........

[WR250F Captain]

Since you said earlier that you run your tires down to bald, I'll assume you don't place the same value in sharp edges as the rest of us. If you race MX or in the woods, there is a night and day difference between sharp edges and 1/8" radii on the leading edges. BALD is about 900 miles later in the discussion, so I think you are talking apples to our oranges.

thats not true. the side knobs actually were still there. I don't care if I ran it down to bald. the fact is, it gave me great grip, and lasted much longer than any maxxis, pirelli, or michelin i've seen. and it was for SOFT to INTERMEDIATE terrain

[CBDaddy]

the side knobs actually were still there. I don't care if I ran it down to bald. the fact is, it gave me great grip

Is anybody else seeing this? I won't even try to debate your definition of grip, or the terrain you are riding on (road?). My only point is a guy asks a question about good tire life for racing motocross, and you chime in with "even though my tires were balled, in conjunction with the side knobs that were still there, my Dunlaps got great grip." Thanks for the excellent advice.

[WR250F Captain]

Is anybody else seeing this? I won't even try to debate your definition of grip, or the terrain you are riding on (road?). My only point is a guy asks a question about good tire life for racing motocross, and you chime in with "even though my tires were balled, in conjunction with the side knobs that were still there, my Dunlaps got great grip." Thanks for the excellent advice.

WHO CARES IF THEY ARE BALLED. that has nothing to do with it. most people don't ride 50 miles a day for a summer until they broke there arm.

-IT HAD GREAT GRIP

-LASTED LONGER THAN ANY OTHER TIRE I'VE SEEN

-SOFTER COMPOUND THAT DID WELL ON HARD PACKED

also stood up to many on road burn outs and doughnuts, but WHO CARES. They work great, got mine from a guy who used to race grand prix.

[BazookaJoe]

Is anybody else seeing this? I won't even try to debate your definition of grip, or the terrain you are riding on (road?). My only point is a guy asks a question about good tire life for racing motocross, and you chime in with "even though my tires were balled, in conjunction with the side knobs that were still there, my Dunlaps got great grip." Thanks for the excellent advice.

Yeah, I'm seeing EXACTLY what you're talking about. You gotta remember, if you were to rarely buy a new tire, how would you know how poorly it hooks up?

Just a thought- How about if we all sent our worn out (by our definition of worn out) tires to "BALLED" tire captain, he'd be the happiest guy in the county.