Reviews

Motoz Tractionator Adventure 150/70-18 Review – XLAVD.COM

Monday, February 1st, 2016

Written by: Eric Hall (xladv.com)

I am pleased that XLADV has been chosen as one of the first to review this tire.  I first saw these tires at the KTM Rally in Crested Butte, CO in September of this past year (2015) at the booth of Pacific Powersports (pacificpowersports.info), their US distributor.  At first glance I was stunned!  They looked so chunky and aggressive, really unlike any tire I’ve ever seen.

This one image I posted on Instagram and later Facebook and here at XLADV went incredibly VIRAL!

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Here’s a short video showing a few angles:

And some context is appropriate here… I ride a 2011 KTM 990 Adventure and a bit over half of my miles are from dirt. My typical trip is something like about 450 miles round trip of highway with about 400-600 miles of dirt. I’m not a Starbucks rider and I don’t typically ride two-up.

My inaugural trip on these tires was in early November to Death Valley.

MOTOZ Adventure Tire ReviewI was immediately impressed with the off road traction. This 990 rear wheel spins with little effort but I was noticing how much more grab there was than before. We did a KILLER 170 mile loop out to Furnace Creek, down West Side road and then up Warm Springs through Butte Valley and then down through Mengel pass and Goler wash then back up Panamint Valley to Panamint Springs. This was easily some of the toughest terrain I’d ever ridden on a big bike but these Tractionator Adventure tires handled it all with ease. Zero chunking as well.

The next major test (perhaps an understatement) was riding the famed LA-Barstow-to-Vegas in late November. I rode the 100 miles to the starting line in Palmdale and then the next two days of mostly dirt (not the adventure bike course but the dual sport course) which some years can approach 500 miles. Checking my REVER app showed I rode about 362 miles over the two days and then of course the 263 miles of highway home. This is really as tough as it gets. Miles and miles of DEEP sand, steep rocky climbs, some fun single track are typical.

Again, showing nearly no wear yet after LAB2V

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I can tell the biggest question in your mind right now is “okay Eric enough about the traction, how about longevity?” I had gotten about 2,600 miles off a rear TKC-80 (150/70-18) so that was my benchmark. I’m proud to say I’m at about 3,300 miles now and it’s still going strong! So strong that I’m leaving for a 2,000 mile Copper Canyon trip shortly and plan to simply leave them on. My guess is it will be done around 5,000 miles

After 3,300 miles

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Because I’m not the canyon-carver type of rider and since it rarely rains here in Southern California, I’m not really able to comment all that thoroughly on the street performance. They do hold just fine in twisty canyons on dry roads which I think is a testament to their all natural rubber construction. They still give you that pavement confidence you get from a TKC-80 and aren’t skittish like the harder compound tires one might see in a plastic Heidenau or even the mid-level hardness of a Mitas E09 Dakar.

That is in essence what one gets from an all natural rubber construction; traction and longevity with even traction sustained when worn down.

Bottom line: Considering their longevity AND traction, easily the best adventure bike tire I’ve ever run. One doesn’t have to trade one (longevity) for the other (traction).

Pro’s: Aggressive off-road traction good for rocks, deep soft sand as well as mud. Longevity rivaling some of the plastic tires.

Con’s: May be hard to find for a while as distribution builds; harder given the high interest in this tire

 

Link to the original review: http://xladv.com/reviews/product/788-motoz-tractionator-adventure-15070-18