TUSK DSport Adventure Tires: DIRT Cheap, but are they any good?

[Larson627]

Alright so surprise surprise... my Dunlop Enduro Xtrem tires were a nightmate on the T7.

 

They tread was too narrow for the stock rear rim so there was barely any side lugs pointed in the right direction for cornering/side hill stability. I ate it HARD in a place where I feel like I shouldn't have on my first off road test, (I've been riding dirt bikes for almost 30 years, so my judgement is usually decent, especially on mild doubletrack trails) They were also even scarier on pavement than I expected, rideable but much less joyful to ride than stock. So I studded them for some ice riding antics (video coming soon) and now they are coming off.

 

Like a lot of you, I have been pouring over page after page of conversations about tires, but I haven't quite been able to settle on anything that is not backordered. Meanwhile, my dad has been telling me every chance he gets to check out Tusk tires. He has a buddy who runs the Tusk Recon Hybrid on his dual sport bike and loves them. Claims they wear like iron, yet they are soft and sticky. Stranger still, the Rear 120 is drastically wider than a common 140 or 150 even. I considered going that route, but feared the non DOT soft tires under a 450lb bike would land me right back where I started. While checking them out over on Rocky Mountain's website (I believe Tusk is an in house brand of theirs) I realized they offer an Adventure tire that I haven't heard a peep about anywhere despite them being available for years now. And good lord are they CHEAP. Pic below doesn't show it but they have a 140 Rear now as well. 

 

So anyway, I just ordered a pair of them for $136 shipped, and they will be here on Thursday. Will report back with my findings! I actually found one guy on YouTube that has them on a Tenere (YOHB?) and he seems to like them! I think I have settled on the MotoZ Rallz's eventually if I can ever find a set, but maybe I'll fall in love with some cheap eastern rubber instead! From what I read the front is modeled after a very unpopular Dunlop front that is prone to wobbling at speed, but anything should be better than what I have right now. 

 

 

 

For reference, here’s the 120 Recon Hybrid next to the 140 Michelin Enduro. Things are massive! 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by Larson627

[S.Ga.Rider]

Ive ran the rear dsport on my 690 enduro and a mt21 front for the last 3 tire changes. I cant speak for the front but the rear is an excellent tire for a great price on the ktm. I get around 3k-3500 miles from the rear. Not sure how the extra weight of the t7 will effect mileage but I did the tat on the 690 and replaced the dsport with another in colorado. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by S.Ga.Rider

[muddy boots]

any updates on this tire choice? I'm considering it also

[Black Dog Moto]

I'm also interested in feedback on these.

[Coldmonkey]

I am interested in what your experience is. I mostly adv ride 60/40. The Motoz adv is ok rear is loud, hard, the front was scetchy from the start and would not buy again 9k km. About 15to17k km on rear still tread left could run longer but switching out.

[Larson627]

Sorry I missed the replies here, I ran these tires all last summer and they are a perfect fit for my needs. A little noisy on the road, but good enough and they hold their own offroad. You absolutely can't miss for the price. I've been told the front doesn't hold a candle to the Dunlop it is a rip off of, but it's been good enough for me so far. Put the stockers back on for a long trip late last summer, but they are going back on for springtime. Absolutely worth a shot for the price!

[kyle01]

I took the leap and bought a set of the Tusk tires… seems impossible to get a decent set of aggressive DOT tires for this kind of price but figured it’s worth a shot- The tusk branded parts I’ve used on this and my other (full dirt oriented) bikes have all really exceeded my expectations.  For me these are replacing a pair of MotoZ Tractionators (at about 6,500mi on them… front badly scalloped, rear still on for now)   Been running the front for about 1500 miles now, just got back from a 1300 mi solo trip (all highway) and the front tire feels much more planted and stable than the outgoing MotoZ.  Getting my last bit of mileage from the rear tractionator but might swap it today (my Outex kit just arrived yesterday) so I wanted to put the tubeless kit in at the same time.  I’ll post up some impressions on the rear in a few weeks- I’ve got another ~800 mile trip coming up next weekend that will involve a bunch of 2-track/forest service roads and a bunch of highway to boot.  

[AZJW]

@kyle01 Which Tractionators are those?  If they're the RallZ, I'm not surprised at the front early wear and not so great handling.   As bad as the RallZ front is, the rear is that good. I gave up early on the RallZ ( now on the Beta DS, works good) and now run the Dunlop Trailmax Mission up front.   Looking forward to your Tusk impressions. 

[kyle01]

These were the tractionator adventures, not the rallZ… and I’ve got a tractionator GPS that a buddy took off of his Africa Twin after one ride.  It’s a 150 though and I’ve gotten pretty fond of a 140 on the rear so I don’t think it’s going on the Tenere.  I’m thinking maybe the front wore like that in part due to the fact that I was fairly often overloaded and underinflated… but then again given my history with knobby front tires on heavy bikes it’s pretty much typical for me.  I’ve recently resprung the tenere front and rear and went up to 7.5w oil in the fork, that may help as well?  We’ll see.  Took a little gravel road blast about an hour ago and wasn’t overly impressed with the front end… at least not at 26psi.  Wasn’t horrible but wasn’t as confidence inspiring when getting the bike sideways for instance, steering with the throttle.  Again, not bad and I wasn’t really prepared to get super aggressive, so more just a seat of the pants impression.