We’re getting ready to head off on another MotoUSA adventure, this time for some beautiful dual-sport adventure riding coupled with gnarly, bone-mashing, BMW-bending enduro challenges. We’ve tapped the versatile 2009 BMW F800GS for this task and when faced with attempting to ride over logs and down rocky dry waterfalls, the first concern of mine was good crash protection. But rather than load up on weight, since it already tips the scales at over 450 pounds, I remembered the old boxing adage – the best defense is a good offense. With that I decided that providing traction for the heavy, powerful motorcycle would be my best bet, and so the tire hunt was on.

Dual-sport tires come in all varieties, but I was concerned with finding whichever had the deepest, burliest knobbies – street performance be damned. Honestly, I’m not a fan of the Metzeler Karoo tires that come with the bike, nor the Karoo 2 for that matter. They wear quickly, spin easily and have terrifying gaps in the tread pattern which have sent me and a former $20,000 BMW HP2 test bike to the pavement and dirt on several occasions. I was very happy with the Continental Twinduro during our F800GS First Ride experience, but it was a very 50-50 type of tire. I need bigger knobs.

Frustrated of searching every manufacturer and finding loads of unusable 18-inch meats like the Dunlop 907 and Dunlop 908RR tires, I called Dunlop rep Jay Clark to get some advice. His solution was the Dunlop D606, which I argued with him high and low. My experience with the 606 has been very good, but it was during our test of the Suzuki DR-Z400, a light (relatively), agile and very dirt-oriented dual-sport motorcycle with normal sized rims. The BMW with its impressive size and 4.25-inch rear rim is on quite the opposite end of the spectrum.

Ultimately I was convinced. I can’t argue that it’s the best 17-inch offering I could find on short notice and I did love it with the 400, so we’ll see if it works equally as well for larger adventure bikes. After getting a set mounted with heavy-duty tubes underneath I’m already feeling better about the whole thing. Watch the next issue of MotoUSA Magazine for a feature on the Adventure Rider Challenge. Inside the pages of Issue 3 you’ll find more of Jay Clark’s influence with a review of this CRF250R project bike, which he built.

So, adventure riders and dual-sport know-alls, is the 606 up to the task? How many spare tubes should I carry? I'm only a week out from this ride, if you have experience with this particular tire then speak up and let me know what I'm in for.