Tyres for XR250R

[ahutcheon]

I've just picked up a 1989 Honda XR250R that I'm sorting to go back on the road (nothing major, a few electrical details and road-legal tyres to replace the soft-compound full MX items that are on there wearing "not for highway use" markings).

Any suggestions for suitable tyres? Intended use is a mix of trail riding (southern NZ, so potential to get a fair way off the beaten track) and a bit of local errand/commuting use on the road (as well as the roads to the trails). So I want grip off-road, some semblance of grip on-road, and cheap.

So far I've been offered the sort of dual-purpose tyres I run on the GS, but in KTM990 sizes (probably not aggressive enough off-road, and rather expensive), Karoos/TKCs (very expensive here), and road legal full-on endure/MX derived tyres (Metzler 6 days extreme, Michelin AC10, Kenda K760 - prices are more attractive, and no worries about the off-road bit).

I seem to remember that long ago ('80s/90s) things like XL250s and XT600s came new with knobbly tyres that were a fair bit less extreme than the enduro/MX stuff. Have such things become extinct? Or are the more off-road biased dual purpose tyres essentially the same thing but tread patterns have evolved?

Anybody out there run the 6 days / AC10s / K760s or similar and able to tell me whether they're liveable with on road, or whether I'll be heading off road like it or not first time it rains? Any other suggestions for what I might search out?

Thanks!\

 

[hughguzzi]

My son has an XL250 degree - we put Continental TKC 80's on (rear 120/90-18 front 90/90-21) and he said the on road handling was really good, even in the wet, off road they look aggressive enough to me. Seem to be a good dual purpose tyre combi

 

[Losttheplot]

Have you looked at Pirelli MT21's?

 

[Timpo]

Mitas or Mefo or Kenda or Maxxis.
All make various tyres of tread severity.
I run Mitas tyres myself but not sure if available in NZ?

 

[ahutcheon]

Thanks for the suggestions. No sign of Mitas over here. The MT-21s sounded promising, but my local shop can't get them and while looking up Kenda options offered me a part-worn Dunlop D908 front that they had lying around cheap enough that I'll pair it with the (no-name but road legal) semi-knobbly rear that came loose with the bike.

If the bike doesn't blow up in the first few tanks of fuel I'll revisit the Kenda options or look further afield for a pair of MT-21s.

Still curious how sketchy the "just legal" end of the knobbly scale (e.g. the Kenda K760 Trailmasters) are on-road, and how quickly they wear out, in comparison to something like the MT-21s.

 

[Fluffy Bridges]

My son has an XL250 degree - we put Continental TKC 80's on (rear 120/90-18 front 90/90-21) and he said the on road handling was really good, even in the wet, off road they look aggressive enough to me. Seem to be a good dual purpose tyre combi

+1.

I have them on my XR650R and they are quite reasonable on the road. Off road there's a bit too much oomph for them to be taken seriously but green lane-ing and single track roads they are fine.

Fluff