But when you ride your dirtbike on the road to get to the trails, another factor comes into play: legality.
Not all dirtbike tyres are certified road legal and if you get the wrong police officer on a bad day, or an insurance assessor who takes a real close look at your machine post-accident, you could have problems.
Metzeler is one of the best-known names in dirtbike tyres and recently released its MC360 range, which are fully road-legal tyres that come in Mid-Hard and Mid-Soft options.
We’ve scored a set of Mid-Softs in 80/100 x 21 front and 120/100 x 18 rear sizes that we’ve fitted to our Honda CRF450L long-termer to put to the test. The MC360s are full knobbies that are reversible, so you can spin them when the leading edge starts to wear, to get more mileage out of them.
Plus there’s a stack of technology in their design and construction from a blend of synthetic and natural rubbers, all of which leaves us keen to see how they will perform and last across surfaces ranging from tar roads to gnarly sections of singletrack deep in Snotsville. ADV Ed Andrew Clubb
Price:
Front 80/100-21 Mid-Soft $89.95
Rear: 120/100-18 Mid-Soft $119.95
Wesbite: www.cassons.com.au
Phone: (02) 8882 1900
