Did not enjoy the Kenda 270 combo on the street- noisy, rough ride... changed the character of the ride. Put the old Dunlops back on. Alot of riders knock that OEM tire but I had no issues at all except in deep sand (front washes out).

I just received a set of IRC GP1 trials tires and am anxious to try them out. I ride 60/40 dirt/street.

 

I had Kenda 270 on another bike. I think the tread squirms alot when you get near the limit. The tread blocks are just not big enough, then they put a cut in them.

 

I've been running Michelin T63's for a little over a month now, and really like them. Spent a week in Moab with them, and they performed great. Just did a little mud today on local ride, and they did very well in that as well, and still held the pavement very well in the twisties coming home!

 

I think the K270 is a confused tire set. The front is really good on the street, but not in the dirt. The rear is great in the dirt, but squirmy on the street. I would say the rear is a good 50/50 tire. The front is more of a 70/30

 

If a rider wants a good tire that they aren't afraid to throw away when worn to the point of poor performance, but not bald, consider the Duro Median HF903/904. They work well off road on par with the K270s my friends use, but they stick like glue on the road. They are worn to the point of mediocre performance at about 4000 miles on my KLX650, but at about $140 for both I don't feel bad about putting on a new set.



You cannot see it in the picture, but the blocks have a web side to side between blocks to cut squirming when cornering on pavement, but have full depth between around the tire, which gives a bit of a paddle effect in soft terrain. They seem to clean out well too, friends say it throws a good rooster tail when in mud.

I've got over 25,000 miles riding with them too, so it isn't some "got them last week" review. It is fairly time tested. I could get 5000-6000 miles if I ran them bald, but I don't. I toss them when there is about 1/4"-3/8" tread in the center on the rear tire. At that point the traction in gravel is poor and the squaring of the tread makes it a bit wonky when rolling from the flat onto the side tread.

So here's set of tires that can be had for the cost of some of the high buck front tires alone.

 

I liked the Kenda k270, but I wore it out pretty fast. The Shinko 244 clone has a slightly larger block. It has some squirm when new, but not as bad as the Kenda. It seems to be wearing slower too. I have the Track Master 2 up front and have been impressed with it's road manners. I've never had it on wet pavement, but other than that it sticks pretty good. So far I like this combo for my street/dirt style. I'll give up street miles for a tire that doesn't washout in the dirt when I get to it. The rear Shinko and the frontTM2 are the newer tires in the photos. They've been on since Sept and once worn I'll probably do the same combo again.

 

oem front tires size is 80/100x21 and rear oem tire size is 100/100x18....what size and tires do you run on your klx250s?

so, it's about 3.15 x 21 front and 3.95 x 18 rear?

 

My stock front says 3.0 and rear 4.10. I've used the 3.25F/5.1R kenda k270 (good rear tire off-road but slows the acceleration a bit compared to stock size, front is ok).
Dunlop D606 90/90-21 and 120/90-18 is nice off-road.
Knobbies wear out fast if you ride on road a lot, so sometimes inexpensive tires are nice.

 

'09 250S stock rim protectors: F - 3.00 , R 4.60

 

My stock tires were 3.00-21 and 4.60-18. Funny how the Kawi site uses metric numbers on the specs, but puts imperial numbers on the bike.