VOLUME 57 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 P99
MX-208SR TIRES
S TANDOUT FEATURE
Steel-belt radial construction
RIDER AN ALYSIS
The hidden little secret here is the DOT stamp
on the MX-208SR sidewalls, which really caught
our attention with these aggressive-looking tires.
So we immediately mounted them up to a dual
sport bike, for which we feel these tires will be
ideal. And we had just the bike—a 2020 Suzuki
DR-Z400S, a motorcycle in desperate need of
better tires in stock form.
Because of the steel belt design, the MX-
208SR has an incredibly stiff sidewall, which
requires a lot more muscle to install than usual,
more so with the rear. Be sure to have plenty
of lube on hand and long tires irons (for good
leverage) when mounting these babies.
The ultra-stiff sidewall also means you run
very little air pressure. We found the rear needs
no more than five psi (and even that's pushing
LOWDOWN
it), while the front seems to work
best with around 10 psi.
We have about 100 miles on the
MX-208SR, and so far, so good. Of
those 100 miles, approximately 60
of them are on dirt and the other 40
on pavement, though we consider
this tire a 90/10 (dirt/street) tire,
which means it is, for all intents and
purposes, a 100-percent dirt tire. The
MX-208SR tires handle pretty much
as you would expect on the pave-
ment—like moto tires. The front espe-
cially feels wallowy on the asphalt,
but both are surprisingly quiet. Relief
comes instantly when you transition
from pavement to dirt.
The MX-208SR is a vast improve-
ment both front and rear over the
DR-Z's stock rubber (hardly a shocker
here). The back tire can find good
traction on various surfaces, even
on hard-packed and dusty fire roads
where it performs surprisingly well
for having such rigid knobbies. The
front isn't as confidence-inspiring as
the rear on the hardpack; we just
could never entirely give it our com-
plete trust. However, our confidence
level with the front did rise as the
The MX-208SR is
DOT stamped. This
aggressive-looking tire
is ideal for dual sporting
as long as 99% of the
riding is on dirt.
The MX-208SR rear tire can make
its own traction everywhere and
wears well. This is how our rear
Sedona tire looks after 100 miles,
approximately 40 of those coming
on pavement and the other 60 on
mostly hard-packed dirt.
