First question from a newbie

I'm sure this has been covered before but I couldn't find a solid answer from you the R2 cummunity soooooo...what, in your opinion, is the best 50/50 set up after the stockers are done? The bike I bought came w/ the X rims on it and the R rims wearing some beat to hell non-DOT nobbies......I'm looking for the set up that can get me to Death Valley on th slab but also get me into Saline Valley to have a soak on my way out. I'm bouncing back and forth between IRC's and D606's but am open to any suggestions. Cheers

PS; I'm loving this bike!

I've got D606's and I like them well enough. They'll definitely take you anywhere you want to go and still rail on pavement.

Yup. I won't run anything other than D606's.

Also, very happy with my D606's.

Kenda 760s are nice DOT knobbies as well. They are more at home in the dirt but alright on the street.

We have some real sandy woods riding around here and I've found the front 606 will wash out pretty easy while the rear worked really well. If you riding a lot in the sand, I would say a rear 606 will work well for traction and wear but I'd look for something else in front. I was about to try one of the new Dunlop 31's but winter hit.

I also have found that if you are doing serious trail riding the DOT tires will wash out in turns, and fill up with mud and not clean themselves. Although the Trackmasters are pretty good trail tires. To me the front tire is quite important because it is always the first one through the stuff,(hopefully), and if it does not get traction trouble could follow. I always look for front tires with smallish knobs, and for the rear large blocks with good space between the rows. Actually the Cheng Shin 755 is a super enduro tire, kind of wears out quickly but great rear traction. Almost any good motocross front will do a good job on the trail. But it all depends on what you do with your bike. If you ride a lot of highway the DOT tires are great. wilburj

i have friends that are using some of the popular dot type knobbies...d606's,ac10's etc.
so when i bought tires i thought i'd try a different combo. i'm using a kenda trackmaster on the rear and a bridgestone ED-77 desert(non-dot) on the front.
i've got around 700 miles on them and the kenda has a little better than half of it's tread left,but the bridgestone still looks as good as new.
both tires have exceeded my expectations on wear and good off road traction. i always say that i'm only riding on road to get to the trails,but honestly i've become a 50/50 rider now....getting to the trails are alot of fun too on this bike

i also use rim locks front and back and have no issues with vibrations or high speed runout(65+mph) .

i will probably try a different rear tire when this one is worn out but i've found a favorite new front tire. it looks like it's gonna last to at least 2 rear tires on life.

i used to run mt-21 front and a 606 rear, best of both worlds afaic

i thought the mt21 worked a little better on road, and the 606 rear a little better off road,

decent mix,

wilburj wrote:

I always look for front tires with smallish knobs, and for the rear large blocks with good space between the rows. Actually the Cheng Shin 755 is a super enduro tire, kind of wears out quickly but great rear traction.

I have been looking at the Cheng Shin 755 front tire very closely. The tire is cheap compared to other front tires that I am considering. A local shop has the 80/100 for about $42. They also have the 3.00 size and the 80/100 looks a good bit bigger by comparison. The rubber seems pretty soft, but someone else that I know was gettting good mileage out of his.

The Cheng Shin is cheap and some people would never run them, but, I have no problem running in-expensive tires they all wear out so I try to save a little money where I can. I would not be afraid to run them at all, although the front 755 is not my idea of a great front i prefer the knobs set at different angles instead of straight rows. They will for sure be far better than the OEM tires. The stock tires wear well but are sure death in mud and especially on clay mud. The new front will give you much more confidence in turns as they will bite and stick instead of sliding out or washing out. good luck wilburj

I ran MTs on my XR600R dual sport a few years back and they were actually good off-road (good in the desert anyways). Never spent much time on-road or in the mud with them.