I went with Dunlops because I hadn’t spent much time on them and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. On the rear I went with the MX52, intermediate-to-hard but on the front I asked for the soft-intermediate MX33.
The timing could not have been better. I left it to the week before the Kowen Forest Ride because new tyres go a long way at Kowen. The top layer in the pine plantation is so soft from all the timber harvesting and pine needles that every millimetre of rubber helps.
Despite being advertised as an intermediate-to-hard terrain tyre, the MX52 had me thinking it was a softie. The front excelled on the soft, loamy singletrack and is strong under hard braking. There are plenty of steep, loose descents at Kowen where you rely on the front brake, especially on a two-stroke.
I still need to play around with tyre pressures to find the tyre’s happy spot. I had both at 13psi with ultra-heavy-duty tubes at Kowen and had no complaints but I think they could go a little softer.
The rear was a little skatey on the fireroads and the front, at times, felt disconnected, but only on the really loose dry stuff. Olly Malone
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BILL: MX33 80/100-21, $94.95. MX52 110/100-18, $117.95
BROWSER: ficeda.com.au
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