Finally Dunlop Trailmax Mission tested!

[Xtenerider]

Tonight i finally got my new Dunlop Trailmax Mission tires mounted up on my T7.

 

i can honestly say that i didnt expect that big of difference over my 2000 km old pirelli STR.

 

but all i can say is They transformed the bike. 
 

Now its smooth as silk on the tarmac.

gone is the headlight vibration that were present in 55 mph or 90 km/h.

They are also very quiet in comparsion!

 

But the biggest difference was on gravel.

Before with the STR the front wheel wanted to slide away with a sketchy feel in the handlebar. Slippery and almost scary. 
 

this times different!

i was entering the side and middle strip of loose gravel and it felt like i had knobbies.

 

i was suprised how well these missions hooked up and provided a Very nice feel of control and comfidence.

 

Even on loose surface!

rear tire provide a real good bite too

 

being a plus 200 kg bike and weight somtimes shows, This tires is what i feel should had come as standard.

 

NOW what a fun bike to ride!

 

i can Highly Recommend this tires to  you that want the best of both worlds.!

 

//Richard 

 

 

 

 

 

[Belgradian]

Nice!

[Hammerhead]

For how road biased the front looks, it’s dirt performance has surprised me too. And yes, improvement over stock STR’s on the street. The mild bar shake disappeared with this new Dunlop up front.

[SimplyDan]

Good review, will try these next season

Kul att se fler Svenskar här förresten

[Kavika1991]

AGREED, Its my new go to tire. I actually ordered a second set. I can say they also perform extremely well on the AZ BDR with a heavy loaded bike. Dessert mud and deep sand still require a bit of attention, and they are heavy. But I love them on and off road. Very impressed.

[jdub53]

I installed a pair of these on my GS when they came out early in 2020. Loved the front in all conditions on and off road, and the rear was OK but didn't do as well in wet conditions. During a 43* F pavement rain ride when the rear was half worn with 6,700 miles, it slid repeatedly in easy corners and activated traction control when accelerating normally in a straight line.  

 

Removed both tires immediately after that ride, as I often ride in rain and need confidence in my tires. Dunlop took the rear back for evaluation and promised to keep in touch with their findings, but I never heard from them again after two months (Jan. 2021) and they'd still done nothing with it. 

 

Not really surprised with the rear's performance on that last ride, as a super hard rubber compound with big blocks and designed for very high mileage can't defeat the laws of physics on cold, wet pavement. Still have the Mission front hanging in the garage for future use with a different model rear.   

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by jdub53

[Kavika1991]

I haven’t tried them on a GS, on the Tenere 700, with stock wheels, loaded or unloaded, they are great. And they are of a different pattern. I didn’t ride them in cold weather but I did use them on some heavy downpours and they did fine. For cold wet conditions I would use a winter tire.

[Boondocker]

For those of you who have the Dunlop Trailmax Mission, did you mount the tires yourself? 

[jiml53]

I’ve only added the front and yes I mounted it myself…

[Kavika1991]

I took the bike in to get mounted and balanced, the front has a large weight and the rear has two.(photos) These tires are heavy and will likely require balancing. The bead is pretty square, see pics of spares. 

[jdub53]

13 hours ago, Boondocker said:

For those of you who have the Dunlop Trailmax Mission, did you mount the tires yourself? 

I mounted and balanced them myself on my GS as I do all of my tires.

 

This may or may not apply to the T7's 21" front, but due to the very stiff sidewalls I resorted to inserting old wine bottle corks between the tire bead and the rim to keep the bead in the rim's center while spooning on or off the rest of the tire. (Not a Mission tire here but a different Dunlop, provided just for cork illustration purposes).

 

 

Removal was much easier than I expected for both front and rear. Once 1/4 of the bead was off the rim I was able to pull the rest off by hand (tire irons in the pic below left where they were when I pulled that bead from the rim). This was done in my 58* F shop, as it's a rare day when a tire I'm putting on or off gets to warm in the sunlight. As always, lots of good tire lube is very important.

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by jdub53

[McMadMac]

On 8/10/2021 at 3:34 PM, Boondocker said:

For those of you who have the Dunlop Trailmax Mission, did you mount the tires yourself? 

 

I did. Getting the stock rear tire to break the bead was damn near impossible. Also, the rear trailmax tire is hard and was really tough to get on the rim. Front tire was tough to get the bead to seat properly and the rear just popped up perfectly.

[YukonPete]

When my stock tires are gone I will give these a go. For my riding -tarmac and gravel roads - I have found the stock Pirelli's good. No complaints. But, these Trailmax tires seem like they might just provide a little extra for us 50/50 riders.

 

[HucknChuck]

@McMadMac I have a set of the Trailmax's to go on once the snow hits and my riding season is over. Any advice on how you were able to get the beads to seat on the front or installing them in general? Cheers  

[McMadMac]

1 hour ago, HucknChuck said:

@McMadMac I have a set of the Trailmax's to go on once the snow hits and my riding season is over. Any advice on how you were able to get the beads to seat on the front or installing them in general? Cheers  

I used this c-clamp lookin bead breaker for the front and it came off no problem with bars and rim savers. Putting the front trailmax on was relatively easy too, but getting the bead to seat was tough. I probably didn't use enough soapy water when I was seating it. Pumped it up to 80 PSI or so,  put it on a balancing stand and watched it go around. Then I marked where it wasn't seated quite right and kinda dropped it on the ground at an angle at that spot until it seated properly. Let the air out to the proper PSI and balanced it.

 

The rear though, holy Shet was that bead tough to get off! The clamp broke one side and just would not break the other. I ended up putting it on the ground on 2x4's on it's side. Then I put a board flat up the side of it and drove my side by side up the board. Then my neighbor and I got on my side by side and jumped up and down until the bead broke. Fuckin hill billy, but it worked. Pulled the tire off no prob. Putting the trailmax on was a little hard because the compound it significantly harder than the old  tire, but I got it done. Lot's of soapy water this time and it snapped the bead up perfectly around 45 or 50 PSI.

 

Balanced done. Couldn't have done it without help. But I'm sure there's tool's out there that'd make the job way easier.

Edited August 19, 2021 by McMadMac

[HucknChuck]

@McMadMac Thank you for explaining the method, sounds exactly like something I would have done and wondered how badly I was messing up the job. I don't have a side by side, might just need to put the tractor on my persuasion board for leverage. 

 

Fixing a flat on the trail might make things interesting....either way thanks again

[McMadMac]

6 minutes ago, HucknChuck said:

@McMadMac Thank you for explaining the method, sounds exactly like something I would have done and wondered how badly I was messing up the job. I don't have a side by side, might just need to put the tractor on my persuasion board for leverage. 

 

Fixing a flat on the trail might make things interesting....either way thanks again

Yeah, we contemplated putting the truck on it, but decided to try rocking it first and it worked. 

[Boondocker]

15 hours ago, HucknChuck said:

@McMadMac <snip>

 

Fixing a flat on the trail might make things interesting....either way thanks again

That's my concern and why I asked about DIY. If our wheels were tubeless and one only had to plug a puncture, then no big deal. I have a Cycle Hill Tire Changer at home (and plenty of lube) so no problem there.  On the trail, you should be able to get away with swapping a tube with only half the tire off the rim, which saves about 8.2% of the total tire fix effort.

[McMadMac]

10 minutes ago, Boondocker said:

That's my concern and why I asked about DIY. If our wheels were tubeless and one only had to plug a puncture, then no big deal. I have a Cycle Hill Tire Changer at home (and plenty of lube) so no problem there.  On the trail, you should be able to get away with swapping a tube with only half the tire off the rim, which saves about 8.2% of the total tire fix effort.

Yeah, I said to myself several times that I was going to do the tubeless conversion, but when it came down to changing the tires mid season, I just wanted to ride. So maybe this winter. I plan on doing the accerbis tank and suspension this winter, so hopefully I'll get around to the conversion as well.

[thepointchris]

Any input on tires pressures for the Trailmax Tires? I installed a pair tonight,  and was wondering if the stiff carcass meant I should drop a couple of pounds F & R? 

[Kavika1991]

On 12/14/2021 at 10:52 PM, thepointchris said:

Any input on tires pressures for the Trailmax Tires? I installed a pair tonight,  and was wondering if the stiff carcass meant I should drop a couple of pounds F & R? 

Using a Motion Pro digital gauge. On a T7 with racks and hard boxes and thick tubes, front and  rear K-Tech Suspension Shock Springs.

 

Front 27 PSI rear 32 PSI cold. I arrived at this through fastidious testing. The tires now have 9325 miles on them and look to have another 2 to 3 thousand more miles in them before I replace them with another identical set.

 

Wear is even and traction both on and off road is superb, barring mud and deep soft sand. They were ridden at this PSI  throughout Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, southern Texas and Northern Mexico. BDR and Highway loaded and unloaded. I perceived no change in traction or durability either fully loaded with 122 LBS or unloaded at these PSI.

 

Tire photo is of right now, bike photos are of this week. Bike gets ridden like it was stolen. I can remember at least 4 occasions were I was sure I had bent the rim from hard hits on rocks but the tire did it’s job. I did have one hit that was so hard I blew the seal on my right fork. Wheel and tire were fine so I would think the PSI isn’t low.

 

Dunlop recommends 32psi cold  front, 36psi cold rear for the T7. Personally, this made the bike bike feel lose on hard pack, with no noticeable gain in feel or traction on road. Hope this helps to provide a start point to find your optimal pressure for your set up and your terrain. Cheers Kavi, Spaniard in AZ.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Kavika1991

[Spike4379]

I'm half and half about these vs mitas e07 tires. these seem to also last super long so I might go these when the time comes! Though I only have 1200kms so I have no idea how long itll be before I have to get a new set

[thepointchris]

@Kavika1991I've had one 60 mile ride so far, stock pressured. Will drop a few lbs tomorrow for a commute, and then ride at your pressures next weekend on a trip. Thank you for the very detailed reply.

[Kavika1991]

13 hours ago, Spike4379 said:

I'm half and half about these vs mitas e07 tires. these seem to also last super long so I might go these when the time comes! Though I only have 1200kms so I have no idea how long itll be before I have to get a new set

I ride with a friend that has the E07s on his bike. They were going to be my tire to replace the Scorpions. They grip ok on road, but nowhere near the smooth vibration wander free ride of  the Dunlop’s.

Off road, I do better in sand, but he does better in mud. I also do better in gravel at high speeds 50mph and above. I can go faster than him before he, I quote  “I can’t keep up with you, the bike feels way to lose on the gravel at these speeds”.  Worth of note, he could keep up fine when I was using the Scorpions.

 

I can’t tell the difference between the scorpions or the Dunlop’s on gravel, except for the turns were the Dunlop’s front tire hooks firmly, the rear slides until you lean the bike and the tire bites.

 

On wet slimy clay over hard pack dirt. The Dunlop’s feel like you are on ice. We were on a ride and we got rained on hard while on this wet over baked clay trail. I even mentioned that he looked to be doing fine and I had almost no traction and he agreed.  However, he suddenly lost the bike and went into a ditch at a water crossing a few moments later.

 

I never lost the bike because the tires didn’t feel like they had traction but never became unpredictable or completely lost grip, and I was tense and alert the whole time.  
 

The Dunlop’s are wearing way better than the E07s. After riding rocky trails, the E07s have what appears to be rips and chunks missing  in the lugs. And  his rear is taking on a somewhat strange flattop profile. The Dunlop’s still look the same, worn down but still the same profile and plenty of grip.

 

Personally I would not use the Dunlop’s if I was riding in muddy terrain with much frequency. It’s a singular POV but hope that helps a bit. I got the Dunlop’s for the mileage, the performance was a welcome surprise, but they are not without flaws. 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Kavika1991

[Kavika1991]

Might be worth mentioning, at the risk of sounding like a fanboy, I’m not. If something better comes along for my purposes, I will switch in a heartbeat. I also have this Anakee wild/Dunlop d908 rally raid set up but I haven’t had a need to switch. 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Kavika1991