As anyone who runs knobby tires on their dual-sport will tell you, they don?t last long. The knob blocks that do their job by digging into the dirt just don?t hold up to high mileage like dedicated touring or 90/10 adventure tires do. And depending on where you ride and how hard you twist the throttle, rocks and other abrasive terrain can wear the knobs down even faster.

When replacing tires frequently, it pays to economize. Dunlop?s D605 DOT-legal knobby is a more affordable and less aggressive alternative to Dunlop?s D606. Retail prices for tires are all over the map, so shop around. But in terms of MSRP, the D606 ranges from $151.95 to $162.95, while the D605 ranges from just $52.80 to $75.88.

D605s are designed for light to midsized dual-sports, so they?re ideal for bikes like my KTM 690 Enduro R. Jett Tuning installed a set of D605s with a fresh set of tubes, and after nearly 1,000 miles they?re still holding up well. My dual-sport miles are roughly a 2-to-1 ratio of pavement to dirt, so a 50/50 tire like the D605 is just right for a guy like me. They strike a nice balance between on-road manners and off-road performance. They grip the road well when blasting through canyons to get to the ?Pavement Ends? sign, and on long freeway drones they aren?t too noisy. I honestly can?t remember the last time it rained here in Southern California, so wet grip is an open question. With a full-depth tread pattern and closely spaced knob blocks, the D605s hook up well ...