Road raiders | The best tarmac-biased tyres for adventure bikes tested in the real world

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 motorbike, 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 tyres have a tough job. As bikes of this type have become faster and more sophisticated their tyres now need to cope with more power, ever-increasing angles of lean and resist the inevitable wear of being fitted to heavy, torquey bikes. And they’re also required to offer a modicum of off-road ability.

Here, we’ve tested six of the best-selling adventure motorbike tyres on the market (except Avon, who declined to participate). All are 19-inch front, 17-inch rear fitment – a format popular with everything from the BMW GS to Honda’s CB500X. And all are multi-compound, designed to work across a wide range of situations.

Apart from the Michelin rubber, all the tyres here fall into the 90/10 category, meaning that they’re designed for 90% on-road use, 10% off road, though the reality is that few sets will ever see dirt. But which is best for your bike? Let’s find out.

How We Tested Them

This was a blind test. At no point did Matt or Bruce know which tyres they were on — the notes on the test were generated before they knew which tyres they were on.

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

Each rider gave marks out of ten for each set of tyres, 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, 22°C and we used the manufacturer’s recommended cold pressures throughout the test.

The Route

A 22-mile ride taking in fast, flowing A-roads, bumpy B-roads, a motorway stint, plus urban, over a variety of coarse and polished surfaces.

The Bike

We chose RiDE’s long-term Suzuki V-Strom 1000 because its OE tyres 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.

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