Can one motorcycle tyre really deliver serious grip off-road while still being genuinely enjoyable on tarmac? Dunlop believes the Trailmax Raid can, so we spoke to the man behind it to discover how you engineer a true 50/50 adventure tyre.
Creating a great adventure motorcycle tyre is an incredibly difficult task. On the road, you want stability, predictable cornering, plenty of grip, and decent mileage. Head off-road and the demands change. Suddenly, you need deep tread blocks that can bite into loose surfaces and find traction on gravel, rocks, and dirt.
That’s the problem Dunlop set out to solve with the Trailmax Raid, a 50/50 adventure motorcycle tyre designed for riders who genuinely use their bikes both on- and off-road. Rather than adapting an existing tyre, Dunlop started from scratch, combining its road and off-road expertise to create a tyre capable of tackling challenging terrain without ruining the experience on tarmac.
The result has exceeded Dunlop’s expectations and has received glowing reviews from the adventure biking world. We used it on our UK Coast to Coast route last year and were seriously impressed both on the road and when tackling green lanes like the Old Coach Road in the Lake District and Grasshill Causeway in the North Pennines.
So, how do you make a motorcycle tyre perform both on- and off-road, and how much compromise does a 50/50 tyre really require?
We sat down with Dunlop Motorcycle Product Manager Dmitri Talboom to find out.
Let’s start at the beginning. Who is the Trailmax Raid for?
It’s the adventure bike rider that does actually take his bike off-road and needs the grip and performance there but still wants a set of tyres that allows him to enjoy the bike on the road. There are tyres out there which offer more absolute performance in the dirt, but typically that will be at the cost of how enjoyable that bike will still be on the road.
“We wanted a genuine 50/50 tyre – a tyre that would offer as much performance off-road as possible while still allowing you to enjoy the bike on the road, especially in corners. That was the main goal when we developed the Trailmax Raid, and for that, we really pulled out all the stops.
So how did you go about creating this 50/50 adventure motorcycle tyre?
We combined our established in-house know-how for road tyres and road tyre construction with the knowledge we still have in designing off-road tyres. Our design team in Montluçon in France developed tyres for motocross and enduro, and those science engineers worked on the Trailmax Raid.
The two guys in charge of the development are keen off-road riders, so for them it was a joy to be able to work on an off-road product using the experience they’ve amassed.
Aside from the rubber compound and tread depth, what goes into the design of a tyre?
Those are two key factors, but there are many more, and the important thing is how they all affect each other and work together. You can never look at a certain element of a tyre in isolation, whether it’s the compound, the tread pattern, or the casing construction, because they interact with each other; they’re all closely connected. It all works together in unison, or it doesn’t work at all.
What are you looking at specifically with adventure motorcycle tyre design?
If we talk about adventure bike tyres, you often have tread blocks with deep grooves for maximum grip off-road. But if those tread blocks move around too much, the rubber compound can heat up to a point where it wears unevenly and doesn’t get the right footprint on the terrain it’s developed for.
The tread pattern also influences tyre rigidity: the thicker the gauge, the stiffer a tyre will be. You could make a tyre with excellent mileage by increasing the block height, but then the overall rigidity might become too tough, which will reduce the tyre’s capability at higher speeds.
With the Trailmax Raid, we specifically wanted to stick with radial construction rather than bias-ply construction because we were certain that was the best way to make sure that the tyre handles well on-road, provides the right level of comfort, and provides the right footprint to get good performance. And then the tread pattern and the tread compound make sure that the tyre also performs off-road.
Did Dunlop not already have an adventure tyre product to fit this niche?
If we look at our range, we have 10 different tyres that could be said to be suitable for adventure bikes, from the sportiest, most road-focused SportSmart TT, which is a hybrid road and track tyre, to the off-road-specific D908RR rally tyre. But despite that, we weren’t really seen as an established name in that segment. We really needed to make a statement.
How did the Trailmax Raid come into being? Was it through tweaking another tyre, or a completely new design?
Back in 2010, we had the Trailmax TR91 which, with hindsight, was far too sporty for an adventure tyre. It used similar rubber compounds to our sports tyres, which gave it a very high level of performance on-road but wore quite quickly.
In 2015, we launched Trailsmart, which was a good step up, but still too close to the original concept. We tweaked that in 2017 with a Trailsmart Max that had far better mileage. We then introduced multi-tread tyres, with a harder centre compound on the rear tyres for increased mileage. And that was a very good product, but it carried that legacy of the previous products and their reputation for rapid wear.
In 2020, we started with a clean slate when we introduced the Trailmax Meridian and the Mutant. But both were only partially focused on adventure bikes. We still needed to make a statement, something that really made a mark in the adventure bike tyre segment. We started from scratch, designing a tyre with the end use, the end bike, and the end rider in mind right from the beginning. And that tyre was Trailmax Raid.
What is it about the Trailmax Raid that is hitting the 50/50 sweet spot for so many riders?
First of all, let’s not beat about the bush: appearance matters. The rugged look of the Trailmax Raid is a great match for heavily equipped adventure bikes with the aluminium cases and the crash bars.
But most importantly, the tyre works really well, even for the guys who just ride on the road and want a tyre that looks cool. And for the riders that do go off-road, it allows you to tackle tough and challenging terrain off-road, even on a big adventure bike.
“A 50/50 tyre is always going to be a compromise, but the Trailmax Raid is the smallest compromise that you can get. It might not perform on the road quite as well as the very best road-focused tyres, and it might not offer quite the same off-road performance as rally or enduro-specific tyres, but it won’t be far off those on the machines we’re targeting, from an Aprilia Tuareg 660 to a BMW R 1300 GS Adventure.
The feedback and reviews on the Trailmax Raid have been superb. You must be very pleased.
That’s putting it mildly! Because we weren’t present in that niche 50/50 segment before, we had modest expectations. But the Trailmax Raid has so far exceeded our expectations.
The creation of the Trailmax Raid wasn’t about making a lot of money; it was about delivering performance, making a statement in the adventure motorcycle tyre segment. So the guys really pulled out all the stops to make sure that in every aspect of performance, we got to the level where we needed to be.
So much so that we’re at a bit of a loss now. Where do we take this kind of tyre from here? What would we change? We need to be careful not to upset the balance of performance because, apparently, we’ve struck the right nerve with the properties of this product.
And what about for adventure bike riders for whom the Trailmax Raid isn’t quite the right fit?
I’m confident in saying that Dunlop has a suitable tyre for every kind of adventure rider today. That could be a guy who used to ride a Honda Fireblade or Suzuki GSX-R and now rides a GS because it’s more comfortable, but still wants that same performance. For those guys we have the SportSmart TT tyre. And then, at the other end, you have the guys that go to Africa to ride organised competitive events who will fit their KTM Super Adventure R with a set of 908RRs.
And might that include the Dunlop Trailmax Mission?
Absolutely. The Mission is a higher-mileage take on the Raid, the trade-off being that the more closed tread pattern reduces off-road performance. But imagine someone on an R 1300 GS, fully loaded, riding to Chechnya. He wants to get there and do some off-roading on tough and quite aggressive gravel roads, all on the same set of tyres. The Trailmax Mission is the kind of tyre for that kind of adventure rider.
It seems like Dunlop has all bases covered?
I’m confident in saying that we have a suitable tyre for every kind of rider today. In the adventure bike segment, I believe we really have one of the most comprehensive ranges among all the established brands. We’ve got every variation of usage covered.
