250x tires in the dirt?????

right now im in the process of wondering if i should/wanna switch from a 2011 tw200 to a 2012 wr250x. i love the idea of having traditional street bike tires for the road cause i love to lean in the turns, but i also like to hit the trails a bunch too. so here is my question, what kind of trail riding is possible with stock road style tires on the 250x? how far have you riders pushed the tires and what type of dirt can they handle? thanks a bunch!

click me

Velvetcows does some fine riding:

Yeah, mine does dirt just fine. I think mud is where you'd struggle some more...

The stock X tires weren't too bad actually, I was very surprised at the pace I could run even in some tighter single track on the last dual sport ride I went to.



Just gotta watch the rocks with that big front rotor.

Very slippy in mud, not too good braking either, just get used to sliding around and it'll be fine. On dry trails I'd wager the BT090's are as good/bad as the R's stock TW301/302 semi knobs.

Mud, snow, and very loose sand won't be your friends on street tires.

However, if you think you'd like to rail some corners on asphalt....the trade-off will be worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZcF9vrY7gE&list=UUgpj_fLm1s9poqD2kVGAUQQ&index=22&feature=plcp

thanks for all the replies, you can actually hit the dirt with street style tires. one less thing i need to worry about with the 250X.

The big issue for me so far is anywhere you would normally slide controllably not thinking about it, they slide out at warp 9. Riding them with a little slick mud on the ground is like riding a dirt bike on pine straw. I dont know if youve ever done that before, but its the same feeling. You're ok when you're ok, but lose it just a little and you're going to be fighting an imminent face plant.

Did a little dirt riding today. It's fun and all, but I want to go fast! And I just can't do it safely on the street slicks...

306 kit, or dirt wheels... decisions, decisions...

Completely dependant on what's acceptable to you.
Personally, I feel riding a WR-250X with street radial sport tires off-road is like riding off-road with completely bald tires and requires basically tip-toeing around.

For me, no thanks. ;)

You can't have tires that will let you ride like a sportbike on the street AND like a motocross bike in the dirt.

You have to decide which environment is more important to you.


If everybody you ride with has dirt bikes and all the riding is off-road, then supermoto/street tires are not going to help you much.

If everybody you ride with is on sportbikes you're pretty much fucked regardless of tires, but certainly having knobbies will make things worse.

A compromise must be made somewhere. Or buy a second set of wheels & tires so you can swap out depending on your mood.

pbnut wrote:

Did a little dirt riding today. It's fun and all, but I want to go fast! And I just can't do it safely on the street slicks...

306 kit, or dirt wheels... decisions, decisions...

No brainer.........dirt wheels with some aggressive rubber.

I thought the stock tires were ok, but I believe they are meant for only like 10% off road if I'm not mistaken. They get pretty squirrelly in the thick/ soft stuff. I ended up switching them out for Shinko 244's which are sweet in my opinion.

I spent the weekend riding SoCal desert sand wash, dry lake bed, and mountain trails with the stock street tires and need a back massage / hot tub from willing myself from face planting around every corner. In a straight line, she'd be wallowing all over the trail. Around turns, she's wanting to tuck and wash the front end and in the sand wash where I steer with the throttle with my ass over the rear fender, I can feel her just looking for a place to huck me into the sand!

It was fun to a certain point but it's a "real heavy" bike compared to a real dirt bike with these stock tires mounted.

I picked up two 16-penny nails in the rear tire today so I'll be going with the Shinko's next.

The shinko 705s I have on now are just marginally better. Better at slow speeds and mountain goating but at speed they still want to murder you. I took it out for a ride yesterday and accidentally slid several times dirt track style by just gently turning on hard pack. Also a gentle touch on the rear break would completely lock it up. Playing with it a lil more I did get good at pulling up to a stop and sliding to a stop sideways 90* like they do in the movies.... after a couple slow motion lay downs lol

I used to ride Avon Distanzia tires. The supermotard verson's lifetime isn't as long as the dualsport's. But, still, i like this tire a lot. For the beginning of the season, i got the TKC80. 120/70-17 (front) and 140/80-17. The trails are still covered by snow over here. But, some gravel roads give a good idea of the performance of these tires. I'm just amazed. The main surprise was that the tires are not noisy even at highway speed. No vibrations was felt at any speed except at very slow speed, 10 km/h (6 mph) ans less. With the temperature around 7°C (44°F), i didn't push the tires on paved roads. A bit expensive, but if longevity is around 7 000 km (4300 miles), i'll be happy. If they give me around the same as the Distanzia (9000 km for the rear), the TKC will stay on.

[url=[url=https://servimg.com/view/17024658/4]

Here's the Shinko 700 series going on my X tomorrow....Avon gripster on the rear and distanza on the front. Looking for a bit more off road bite and hope these will do the trick.