Dunlop Trailmax TR91 tyres

[oldnfat]

Having now had a selection of tyres and done over 15k on the 91s I thought I would give my thoughts. This is not a "my tyre is better than yours" thread....just my view after some miles.

The bike was an 09 GSA and have done about 6k of those miles two up with luggage. In between two sets of the 91s I had some conti trail attacks and am now on a new GSA with tourance EXPs.

Durability

Average I guess at 7K for the rear before being heavily squared off. If pushed could have probably got a further 500miles or so out of it. Front was fine for 12k. About the same as the conti's

Grip

Excellent, never gave me any cause for concern. As good as the conti's and much better than the EXPs. What particularly impressed me was how the tyres behaved over road imperfections such as white lines, overbanding, cats eyes etc. Not a wiggle or any movement...nothing. Totally stable. More than I can say for the current EXPs or the conti's.

Had a track day at Thruxton and the instructor could not believe what the bike could do on those tyres....although not having done a track day on the other tyres it is difficult to compare....but huge grip with the rear starting to drift at the extreme rather than let go.

In the wet....awe inspiring. Just totally solid. Have ridden some truly crap roads over the continent with all sorts of surfaces and shit (literally) and the tyres just sort themselves out. Much better than both he conti's and the EXPs which I would rate last.

Stability

Against the other two tyres, the TR91 wins it for me again. High speed fully loaded in the wake of traffic the bike seems completely planted. Similar to the conti's and much better than the EXPs that seem to allow a slight wobble.....not much but less confidence inspiring...particularly when you go for a lane change over road joints where the rear will give a wiggle on the EXPs.

Noise

Bothe the 91s and the conti's are much quieter than the EXPs which when cruising at 50mph give a sort of wah wah noise .....though a wheel bearing had gone.

Price

I have not been able to get better than £250 fitted so against the EXPs more expensive.

Overall

So TR91s first with the conti's a close second where the wet weather grip wins out on the 91s with the EXPs a distant third.

There will be better pure road tyres I am sure....but I have to say I love these tyres for the riding I so and will be going back to them at the first opportunity.

Hope this is of some value to someone somewhere.

Cheers

 

[trebor]

I agree with pretty much everything you've said, though I get about 5.5K out of the rear and about 10K out of the front. This is on a 2010 GSA.

I can't remember how much I paid for mine (on my third rear, and second front) but the price wasn't greatly different from what I would have paid for EXPs.

I was going to put Pilot Road 3s on, but these TR91s are so good I've stuck with them.

Bob

 

[oldnfat]

I agree with pretty much everything you've said, though I get about 5.5K out of the rear and about 10K out of the front. This is on a 2010 GSA.

I can't remember how much I paid for mine (on my third rear, and second front) but the price wasn't greatly different from what I would have paid for EXPs.

I was going to put Pilot Road 3s on, but these TR91s are so good I've stuck with them.

Bob

5.5K out of the rear.....clearly somewhat faster than me!

 

[Rasher]

I almost bought some TR91's but settled on Roadsmart 2's for my Euro Tour, I have seen track comparisons wet and dry and the RS2 beats the TR91 in both scenario's, but the TR91 was top of the pile compared to all other dual purpose tyre, although the Tourance Next may now have toppled it based on what the press are saying.

I would be happy to fit TR91's or Tourance Next's when my current set expire, or maybe more Roadsmarts, a lot depends on prices at the time.

I asked a chap my mate knows at Dunlop about road Vs trail tyres, part of his response below (this was just before the TR91 launched)

if all of your riding is done on the road forget image and go for the RoadSmarts. No question. They really do improve the GS's chassis performance. When you think about it, a tyre is a compromise. It's not a word we like in the tyre industry but that is essentially what a tyre is. If you want off-road potential with a more rugged tread design then on-road performance will suffer a little.



we have just launched our replacement for the D607, the Trailmax TR91.....

This is the state-of the-art on/off-road tyre of the moment and it benefits from some of the technologies used in the RoadSmart. If was adventuring in Morocco or in eastern Europe I'd have these fitted without question. They really do have off-road ability and yet are very good on the road as well, wet or dry. However, in the areas of dry road grip, wet road grip, on-road handling response and tread life, the RoadSmart will win every time. Not by much in grip and handling, but it will win. In mileage, as you have experienced, RoadSmart is very durable and will out-last TR91. But having said that, of the on/off-road tyres, TR91 is one of the longest-lasting, it just won't
last as long as RoadSmart

 

[Neil W]

tr91's were great this summer, but the rear is 2/3 gone after 3500 miles still better than tourance exps and previous trail attacks