Tires and Wheels

The tires and wheels that come stock on the Adventure series are designed for mostly road work. When subjected to moderate to serious off road use, they are bound to fail eventually. This is especially true of the front wheel. The OEM Baer rims are wide. 2.15" X 21" front and 4.00" X 18" rear (4.25" X 18" for 2005 - 2007). Wider than normally found on dirt bikes. They are also tall. Taller than found on street bikes. The OEM tires are a compromise but biased more for pavement than dirt. Traction is pretty good in the dry and not too bad in the wet. They slide all over the place on loose gravel and sand. They last faily well though.

FRONT: Pirelli MT90 Scorpion A/T 90/90-21 M/C 54V TL. REAR: Pirelli MT90 Scorpion A/T 150/70 R18 M/C 70V TL

The SE model is better on the wheel side as it uses narrow dirtbike size DID Dirt Star rims. 1.85"X 21" front and 2.50" X 18" rear. However, the stock tires are a compromise.

FRONT: Metzeler MCE Karoo 2 90/90-21 M/C 54R M+S. Metzeler MCE Karoo 140/70 R18 M/C 70R M+S TL

For better off road tires, many riders are using Karoo T's, TKC-80's, Dunlop 908RR's, Michelin Deserts, and several others. Many mix and match brands to achieve the handling properties they desire.

Alternate tire choices:

For fun try this link

There is so much discussion on tires on the OC Forum that is would be impractical to include all of it here in the HOW. So I will limit this section to include a few of the exceptional write-ups that members have submitted with good photos and/or interesting commentary. I'll also include any interesting or useful articles I find in the outside community.

This is a work in progress, so please bear with us as we gather content. Your submissions and comments are always welcome. If you have any comments please send them to me at:

webmaster ktm950.info (please insert the @ where appropriate)