Tusk D-Sport 3,000 Mile Review (Final Thoughts)

Here are my final thoughts on the Tusk D-Sport tire after 3,000 miles of mixed dual sport riding. I can say that I highly recommend trying them out. They are not expensive and they last a long time.
The grip is very good considering the hardness of the rubber compound so there are honestly very few sacrifices to make. And as we know with dual sport bikes, everything is a compromise.

[@jonbaker7370]

I am on my 4th set of these tires. Very happy for the price, Basically like a 606 dunlop for 1/3 of the price. Just mounted 2 more on my EXC 450 today. I am not racing just having fun, so these work great for Baja, desert, mountains, pretty much everything I do. Extremely hard to mount when new, last year in Oregon on the giant loop event I did have to change a rear flat due to a nail but just put on my big boy panties and was not an issue.

[@666dynomax]

are you running the dsport front as well?? i know with the D606 a lot run the mt21 front... im running D606 front and rear

[@nathan00campbell]

Take that tire on the front, and mount it on backwards. I know that sounds incredibly odd but do it before you throw it away. I tried these on a 2023 KLR and that front tire is by far the worst handling front tire I have ever experienced on literally any motorcycle ever. But if you mount it backwards it actually performs okay ish. That v tread design on off-road bike tires is usually reversed on the front tire with every other brand out there. Just look at the e07 for example. That's what gave me the idea. It does handle drastically better on and off-road rotating in reverse. But it's still shit. Right now my go-to front tire is the Motoz Tractionator desert HT. And you have to get this size, 90/100-21. Any other size is a totally different tread pattern and compound. Weird right? Anyway that front tire is now my go-to. You will get 5,000 mi out of it. And that means 5,000 usable on and off-road miles. Not just tread. The best handling dual sport tire bar none on three different bikes I've tried it on so far. Currently on a 2002 XR650R. The tusk d-sport rear tire isn't terrible. Offers pretty good off-road traction versus tread life. Everything else I find either gives me better traction and worse tread life or better tread life and worst traction.

[@vegasranger]

If ur tire is not wearing evenly then check ur wheel balance and torque the spokes to factory spec. If ur spokes are loose that will cause uneven wear.

[@wocookie2277]

A warped rim will transmit the wobble more than you may think. Check your spokes.

[@Casey_Schmidt]

That is definitely good to know. I did and they were all at spec. I put on a new tire a short while after this and it was gone.

[@wocookie2277]

@@Casey_Schmidt watch and see if it wears the same though. I put my front tire through hell in MX in the old days and I learned to tune the spokes rather than torque. Givethem a tap and see if they all sound the same. Go with the highest pitch on the rim and make them all the same.

[@stanshingler]

This will be next tire for the rear once my Desert H/T finally dies on the KTM 500. Thanks for the review!

[@frostbitevinnie]

Good review! Thanks!

[@MS-kh2je]

If the rim is out of true the wheel hops and wears the tire untrue and will continue till there is a flat spot

[@Casey_Schmidt]

That’s the first thing I checked and it was fine. The new tire has no issues.