Ya, for sure. I have never been able to get 'as advertised' mileage from a bike tire...and it's not like I go around doing burnouts either! In fact I have found especially with dual compounds, I end up wearing through the shoulders first.
Back to the OP however, if you plan on doing anything more than scooting up and down unpaved lanes, I would go more aggressive than a 90/10. In my experience 70/30 is about the minimum required for off road. Anything more street oriented than that and you'll find grass, mud, sand, loose gravel, and ice more challenging than they need to be.

 

I got 7,000 miles out of the stock rear tire. It was pretty flat in the center but it wasn't un-rideable. Could have been horribly cheap and road it another 500-1000. As for the stock front, I have 8,900 and counting on it. It's probably going to be time in another 1,000-1500 to swap that out. 3,000 seems extremely low but i guess it all depends on compound and I did see that a lot of people were getting pretty high mileage out of these stock IRC's.

As for my original problem. I don't want to go more aggressive then a 90/10 because i do ride more road and I want to pound the turns whenever possible. I've ridden it all with these street tires... dirt, mud, loose gravel, rocks, etc so i'm actually pretty comfortable off road. I just had a little scare the other week on some hard pack stuff that was wet(basically mud ice) and if i could get something with just a little more bite it would be nice. I'm starting to think it might be hopeless though. If i ever win the lottery, i'm going to start a tire company that makes dual sport tires of various styles for supermotos so everyone has the perfect tread/size they need and you all will get free ones! Now show me the winning ticket! haha. Thanks everybody for all your info. It's much appreciated!

 

I replaced the stock IRCs after the first 500km because they were so hard and I wanted to go off road, so I'll never know if what kind of mileage I could have gotten out of them. Perhaps they would have faired better than my usual experience.

Regarding your concern that a more aggressive tire may compromise street handling, yes, you are correct, and I initially shared your concern myself. However, the KLX is relatively light, underpowered, and with a pretty low top speed, meaning that it's not generating a lot of forces on the tires. Certatainly when I ran a set of non-DOT Pirelli full knobbies on the KLX, it made it a little squirrely on pavement, but anything at least as street oriented as 50/50, and there's no worries. You'll certainly be gripping no worse than those horrible IRCs!

I come from a background of sportbikes and road course racing. I also frequently test, what I consider to be, the limits of sane riding on public roads with the KLX . I have no concerns running the KLX hard on pavement with more aggressive dual sport tires, and I think you'll be disappointed with the lack of off road traction you'll get with a 90/10.

 

I hit some loose gravel and wiped out, or if I go to fast in the dirt my front tire pushed and I start getting a small speed wobble. It freaks me TFO haha. I'm going to go 90/10 and report back one of these days, I'll also report back when I replace my rear tire and show a picture just for you Cytosis

 

If all you need is a marginal bit of extra traction when you encounter an occasional patch of gravel, than perhaps a 90/10 is your best bet. (I'll be honest, I didn't even know there was any DS tire less aggressive than 80/20). But in my experience, even 80/20 just doesn't cut it if you want to leave pavement behind. You'll be able to run a 70/30 or even 50/50 on the KLX without serious compromise to its streetability.

 

i agree

my kickstand gets dragged alot on the street with my shinko 244s. its pretty amazing the corner speed the bike generates with them. i think my rear will last 3.5k miles and they are cheap to buy.

 

This is good to know. I have no issues scrubbing the chicken strips clean off my Shinko 700s on pavement, and I am planning on 244s for my next set...

 

Thanks for the input. I think i'm going to stick with the street supermoto set up for now. Try to just keeping building confidence off road. In a straight line I don't have a problem going 50-60 mph on dirt. That's why I feel a 90/10 would be fine for me. It would just be nice to hit the corners as hard. lol Although, i shouldn't complain. A buddy of mine is a pretty accomplished MX racer. He rides a drz400SM with us on michelin pilot powers and people with d/s set up's have a hard time keeping up with him. It's quite a sight to see. The KLX is under powered but the handling as opposed to a DRZ400sm is amazing. Throw a full exhaust,bill blue's pumper carb and 351 big bore on it and it's relatively powerful great handling bike. I love it.

 

With slicks you have to fight the bike, at 60mph and deep sand or loose rocks and the cront wheel will snap to the left or right you go flyig

 

OK, if you're talking about going 50 - 60 mph in 'dirt', then we are obviously talking about two different types of terrain. Sorry for the confusion .
If you become interested in getting onto single-track or other gnarlier places where you'll be lucky to get up to 20mph, never mind 50 or 60, you'll definitely not be wanting to try that on a set of Pilots! Then again, one of the things I am enjoying most about dual sport myself is taking the wrong equipment into inappropriate places!