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

[@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

[@stanshingler]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@MiguelCatch22]

Thanks for this comment. I just put a dsport on the rear of my xr650R, and was about to purchase for the front but I was debating just going with the desert HT instead even tho it’s double the price. Seems like the traction is worth the extra price. My current front is a 90/90 21 tho. You still suggest 90/100 21?

[@nathan00campbell]

@@MiguelCatch22 Yes I do, the 90/90 is a completely different tire with the same name. Totally different tread compound and tread pattern. Not just different size. So I have zero experience with the 90/90 as it is not even the same tire even though they have the same name.

[@MiguelCatch22]

@@nathan00campbellI just looked it up, the 90/100 is only 3 ply rated to 80 something mph and the 90/90 is 4 ply rated for 100 mph. I’m gonna have to go with the 90/90 since my bike gets up to 100 and that extra ply will be good for me in the Vegas hard packed desert.

[@nathan00campbell]

@@MiguelCatch22 yeah I've had my XR650R at 117 mph GPS verified on that tire was zero issue only running 15 psi of air lol.

[@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.