Dunlop Trailmax Raid vs Trailmax Mission - An Honest Review

[Sierra1]

The tire compound has to be harder than others for that kind of mileage. Which usually translates into less traction on pavement during "spirited" riding. Wouldn't make a difference off road.

 

[Paul466]

The tire compound has to be harder than others for that kind of mileage. Which usually translates into less traction on pavement during "spirited" riding. Wouldn't make a difference off road.

I think they used softer compound on front one, both wore pretty even

 

[Tenforeplay]

One durometer gauge would tell a good story.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Longacre-Racing/441/50547/10002/-1?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WP_US_Bing_Shopping_3P_Products_Standard&utm_term=4581596255650123&utm_content=Evergreen

 

[gapmtn1]

I usually run something close to a 50/50 tire. I don't *seek* mud, but it's around here in the East. I've done 5K trips where somewhere along the trip I was glad to have the tire's ability but it would be toast for the last leg home. I might try a TMM if I get to go out west and assume mud won't be a big deal.

 

[Little Joe]

TMM durometer F 67, R 81
TMR durometer F 68 , R 64


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Cycledude]

What air pressure have you been using ?
I believe Yamaha recommends 33 front and 36 rear, I try to stay pretty close to that

 

[Paul466]

What air pressure have you been using ?
I believe Yamaha recommends 33 front and 36 rear, I try to stay pretty close to that

30/38

 

[Sierra1]

Y'all lightweights might get to use 36psi for the rear. Us grownups have to use 42psi. Don't forget that 198lb load includes rider weight.

 

[Paul466]

Y'all lightweights might get to use 36psi for the rear. Us grownups have to use 42psi. Don't forget that 198lb load includes rider weight.

I might consider 32/40 after thanksgiving

 

[Cycledude]

One durometer gauge would tell a good story.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Longacre-Racing/441/50547/10002/-1?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WP_US_Bing_Shopping_3P_Products_Standard&utm_term=4581596255650123&utm_content=Evergreen

Well I never heard of a durometer for motorcycle tires before, interesting idea and thanks to Little Joe for posting the results. The difference between the two brands of tires really doesn’t seem very big.

 

[Silver Badger]

After reading up on the Missions, I've come to the conclusion these tires are Terminator Units. Tire Irons/Spoons are not an option unless you're also a Terminator Unit. I have a No-Mar tire changer but it doesn't work with duel sport rims. Those Locking Blocks are an extra $120.00. You can't make this stuff up.
My original front Battle Wing has 20,000 miles. Still looks pretty good. I can probably get another 5000-8000 out of it. I average 12,000 out of rear tires. Not too shabby for a $150.00-$180.00 tire you can spoon yourself. I can only speculate how many miles I could get out of a set of Missions. A set online will cost $465.00. Shops in my neck of the woods charge @$60.00-$80.00 just to mount and balance a tire, that doesn't include taking it off and putting it back on the bike! I like knowing I can swap out a tire in my garage in a couple hours. The Missions are awesome tires but they're just not in my wheelhouse right now.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it........for now.

i

 

[holligl]

It's crazy the mileage those Missions are getting. What's the down side, if any? Wondering if they are bugger to spoon off and on?

Yes. Very stiff tire. Worst tire to mount that I have done. Difficult to keep it dropped down on the center. Part of my problem was it was cool and I really could not get it heated up very well. I had to go buy some bead buddies and use some clamps. It's still on, but coming off soon. At 13,250mi it still has some tread, but not going to get me through the season in AZ. Going back to E07+. Half the mileage, but better traction IMHO.

 

[gv550]

I'm in Florida riding Red, but Old yellow is parked in Canada with 66,000 kms on the rear TMM. Looking like 70k before the wear bars.

 

[Silver Badger]

Bead Buddies and clamps. In cool weather. You are a Terminator Unit!
Godspeed getting that sucker off. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Cycledude]

Take my Tenere wheels off and to dealer for tire mounting, balancing and new valve stems a little over $30 per wheel which ain’t cheap but I’m willing to pay it, they used to do it for $20 per wheel.
Goldwing tires I mount myself on homemade tire changer, I worry about possibly damaging spokes otherwise Im sure I could also do the Tenere tires.
On a sunny day if you lay the tire on something black they heat up pretty quick and become much more flexible and easier to mount.

 

[cyclemike4]

I have a set of the trail max missions. I will agree they are the hardest tire to spoon on the rim I have ever done. I usually just kneel on the tire to squeeze it down into the center of the rim. I didn't have enough hiney to do that with these tires. I had to use a set of C clamps to hold them down to spoon them on. After that it was tire change as usual. Not sure how many miles I have on them but I can definitely tell they are hard. It was 19 degrees here this morning and they felt even harder than usual. No trouble getting grip in those conditions but I am also not pushing any kind of limit with it that cold.

 

[holligl]

Just took my rear off. Hardest to remove too, but not as bad as mounting. Makes the Mitas E07+ Dakar mounting look like child's play. The only way I put the TMMs back on is if it's a paid install.

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[TenereGUY]

Having ridden on the Dunlop Trailmax Mission tires for the past two seasons, I've gotten quite a good feel for them..............What their strengths and weaknesses are, what they can and can't do, and the longevity one should expect from them.

When I had an upcoming trip to the Desert-Southwest this fall, and noticing that the tread on the rear tire was kinda getting a bit thinner, and having a brand-new spare rear wheel assembly on hand, I took the opportunity to mount a set of the new Dunlop Trailmax Raid tires.
I had been wanting to try them out since they became available, and this was a great time to do so!

DUNLOP TRAILMAX-MISSION

First I'll go over my thoughts and experiences with the Trailmax Mission tires.

This is a picture of the ones that I removed from the bike.

View attachment 106837

DURABILITY

At the time of this picture, these Tires have 10,614 miles of use on them.
When these were new and first mounted to the bike, the Tread depth in the center of the tires measured:
Front = 8mm
Rear = 11mm
At the time they were removed from the bike the Tread depth measured:
Front = 5mm
Rear = 4mm
Overall Tread wear-rate over the life of the Tire is:
Front = 3538 miles per mm of depth
Rear = 1516.3 miles per mm of depth
This is pretty consistent with what I have seen with all the tires I have used on the Super-Tenere since I've owned it.
I typically go through 2 rear tires for every front tire.
Using this math, if I rode this rear tire down to a tread-depth of 1mm, (which is the legal DOT limit) I could go another 4550 miles on it! I'm certain that it would have lasted the whole Desert-Southwest trip and back.........
Since it is mounted on a spare rear wheel, I'm planning to put it back on the bike once the rear "Raid" wears out.

I have not been easy on these tires at all..............I am actually pretty hard on tires in general.
I ride aggressively often, both on pavement and on dirt/gravel. I accelerate and decelerate hard on pavement, and in the dirt. I ride rocks, sand, water, and everything else in between.
I'll spin the back tire frequently in the loose dirt as well.
I do tour long-distance, so any tires that I use will see a whole lot of highway pavement miles.
These Tires have held up phenomenally!

NOISE

As far as perceived sound goes, I would consider the Front tire to be a bit noisy.
Due to the design of the tread, it will "Sing" to you at certain speeds. I always found it to be loudest in the 40-50 mph range.
The tread design of the front tire seems to be a compromise between dirt and pavement, which probably contributes to it being noisier than a street-biased tire.
The rear tire does not seem to be noisy at all, and I've never really noticed any excessive sound coming from the back tire.
With the Trailmax Mission, it all seems to be coming from the front tire.

PERFORMANCE

Overall I would rate these Tires as a 70/30 Tire, where 70% of their performance is biased toward Pavement riding, and 30% towards Dirt performance.
With that being said, these Tires have always impressed me with the amount of grip that they have on dirt................and I have ridden a lot of dirt on them!

On both Pavement and hard Dirt/Gravel these tires are very stable. They track straight and true whether riding heavily-loaded or riding naked............They do not exhibit any kind of "Wandering" at all.
In the dry (on pavement) their grip level is amazing. In the twisties I can lean them over from one edge to the other, and have been known to scrape my boots on the pavement occasionally. They track very well, and are very stable and predictable when leaned over.
In the wet, they evacuate water very well at highway speeds..
The grip-level on wet pavement is what I would consider "Adequate"......... meaning they will get you safely to where you need to go as long as you ride responsibly.
I usually adjust the level of aggressiveness to match the conditions when I ride, so I don't typically try to lean a bike over very far in the wet.
With that being said, I've never had them break-loose on me either while riding in the rain.
With these tires, I take into consideration their durability/longevity and understand that the tread compound is not as "soft" as other tires that would be better suited to wet-pavement riding.

On hard-packed dirt/gravel, and over embedded rocks these tires have amazing grip! These tires have continued to impress me with their performance............They just work!
Where these tires really shine, is in their longevity! Long-distance Adventure-Touring, and long lasting consistency are their strong suits.
These tires will easily get you 15,000 miles of hard use, and it's not unheard of for less-aggressive riders getting up around 20,000+ miles out of them.

Where these tires do-not shine is in deep-sand, deep-loose gravel, and loose rocks..........................They simply do not have large enough voids between the tread-blocks for that kind of terrain.
The grip suffers, and you simply do not have the stability and confidence in the tire while riding the deep/loose stuff.
They also suffer during "Side-Hilling" The front tire is fine, but the rear will slide down into ruts or if you are trying to climb a slope sideways. The lack of aggressive tread blocks at the edge of the tread contribute to this.

I cannot speak to their performance in deep mud, other than to say I would imagine it to be pretty poor.
I do not ride very much mud, and tend to avoid it on purpose if I can.................."A Man's got to know his limitations"

OVERVIEW

Will I buy these tires again?............ Absolutely!

If you are the type of rider that rides mostly pavement, with the occasional blast down a dirt/gravel road, and you want a tire that will last for many-many miles of hard-consistent use, then these Tires are for you..
If you are looking for a tire that will "Last the entire trip" or get you to Alaska-and-Back, then these Tires are also for you!
For someone like me, who rides dirt-roads often, but also likes to Tour long-distance, these tires are among the best I've found!

If you are the type of Rider that likes to ride deep-sand, loose-rocks, mud or snow, than these are definitely NOT the tires for you!

So, after your UT trip what is your opinion on the Raid?
Never Mind I kept reading and got to your review. I loved my Motoz Rallz on the rear in UT soft stuff and on pavement. I know it won't go 20,000 miles but I do think it will go 7,000. On the front I had a older MotoZ tractionator Adventure. Starting to get cracks at the base of the knobbies. I am sure that is due to the abuse I gave it going over Bouder Mountain at speed around those corners. This tire is now discontinued, and this is probably the reason. I went to the Rallz. Rear rallz looks almost new after 3,000 miles. I will start recording MM wear on the next set for the members here. Thinking about going to Tuktoyaktuk next summer and if I ride from the Midwest I will most likely go to TMM tire for the longevity... Bit nervous about rain and road conditions on the Dempster hwy. I might haul the bike out to Idaho and ride north from there. If I do this I will leave the Rallz on the back and put a Rallz on the front. I was impressed with the Rallz in every way. When I am buried in sand up to the belly pan and the bike is standing up without me on it and I was able to put it in 2nd gear and walk it out... Well, that IMPRESSED me.

 

[SkunkWorks]

So, after your UT trip what is your opinion on the Raid?
Never Mind I kept reading and got to your review. I loved my Motoz Rallz on the rear in UT soft stuff and on pavement. I know it won't go 20,000 miles but I do think it will go 7,000. On the front I had a older MotoZ tractionator Adventure. Starting to get cracks at the base of the knobbies. I am sure that is due to the abuse I gave it going over Bouder Mountain at speed around those corners. This tire is now discontinued, and this is probably the reason. I went to the Rallz. Rear rallz looks almost new after 3,000 miles. I will start recording MM wear on the next set for the members here. Thinking about going to Tuktoyaktuk next summer and if I ride from the Midwest I will most likely go to TMM tire for the longevity... Bit nervous about rain and road conditions on the Dempster hwy. I might haul the bike out to Idaho and ride north from there. If I do this I will leave the Rallz on the back and put a Rallz on the front. I was impressed with the Rallz in every way. When I am buried in sand up to the belly pan and the bike is standing up without me on it and I was able to put it in 2nd gear and walk it out... Well, that IMPRESSED me.

I had a rear Kenda Big-Block for the Utah trip..........that tire worked flawlessly, and was exactly the tire I needed for that trip.
The front was the very worn-out Raid.............I definitely should have swapped it out before that trip!
Was a sketchy-handful in the sand.....................of which there was a lot that we rode through..........was like a fat Plow! No front grip, with the rear grip shoving forward.........not ideal, but I managed.

 

[Cycledude]

Ordered a new set of Dunlop TrailMax Missions today from Revzilla, after my discounts, tax and Zilla cash I paid $466.67.
Last March I paid $439.78 for the same set of tires from Revzilla.