My XT came with new tyres so I had no choice in tyre selection.

The rear tyre is a Kingstire 4.60 17 tube 625 E and is ok off road but I can feel it stepping out on the road even when it is bone dry so want to get a good road tyre.

Wemoto have a Bridgestone Trail Wing Rear TW48G 120/90-17 64S but I have not heard good reports about it and I think it's a more dual purpose tyre.

I will get another rim and keep the new road tyre on there.
Can anyone recommend a good, wide grippy road tyre?
Is it best to get tubed or tubeless?

My only 'off' in 38 years of riding was as a result of a knobbly tyre and a wet road, so I share your concern!

A good dual-purpose tyre should suit your needs. I have recently fitted Avon Distanzias and they are very grippy, wet or dry. I understand they are a soft compound and wear quicker than most, but I don't mind that. I haven't managed to get it to step out at all. I didn't like the TrailWing that came with the bike, very squirmy.

I'm not sure that tubeless tyres are possible unless you have either cast wheels or special tubeless rims on a spoked wheel.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

Give these a try

Roadrider | Avon Tyres

I had them on my Tenere before I sold it - They were a real confidence booster!!!

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Tom
I'm a country member...

Thanks for the replies.
As the majority of my riding is on the road I would prefer a good road tyre and will keep the one I have on now and buy another rim to put it on for when I go off road.

I'll try to attach a pic of my current tyre and the Bridgestone that wemoto sells.

Avon seems to be a popular choice so I will take a look at them.

Squared off knobblies are never good!!!

The Avons will make it feel like another bike altogether!!!

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Tom
I'm a country member...

Had a pair of michelin annakees which were ok ,

The next pair were metzeler tourance ,a better feel to them wet or dry ,
good mileage too .

For road going 17" tires you have several good choices: all good!

I've run Avon Distanzia's on several bikes, most recently on my DR650 (same size as XT) where the rear tire lasted 8,500 miles. Great in rain and hooligan riding on twisty back roads. Front is very good too, lasting over 10K miles touring. These are tubeless tires. No problem, run your tube as normal. No problem whatsoever.

I've also used the Michelin Anakee, Metzeler Tourance, Dunlop D607 and Pirelli MT90 AT. All come in sizes for your XT. All are good. Here in the US the Distanzia is the least expensive and last well, so I went with it and it's been great. The Tourance is the longest lasting but front Distanzia is better in wet. These are very sporty tires! All have really good side grip. Also consider the Avon Gripster. Good long lasting tire that works everywhere.

Keep in mind you can also go with some very good 50/50 dual sport tires that work very well in ALL conditions (including dirt but not UK mud) and are far cheaper than the tires noted above. These tires will work much better off road than the Distanzias and such, but not last as long.

I really like these:
IRC GP-1 (rear will last 3 to 4K miles)
Shinko 705 (more road oriented but OK on dirt roads, great on tarmac) Rear good for 4K to 5K miles.
Shinko 944 (510/17 or 130/17) Rear good for 4K to 5K miles.

These tires are cheap and work great everywhere but will not last like a Distanzia or Tourance will. They are great in rain, good on dirt roads (not mud) and will not square off like a full knobbly will. Any knobbly, once squared off from road riding, is junk. Toss it out, it will kill you. The Shinko's are great tarmac tires, stick well and can be ridden very aggressively on the road.

I've used several sets of Bridgestone Trailwings as they are stock on many bikes including the DR650. Good tire, not good in mud. The rear Trail wing will wear out in 3000 miles. Front can go past 7000 miles. Both stick pretty well but I like the Shinko's and IRC better overall.

Thanks for the information guys.
I have been reading good things about the Avon Distanzia's 120/90-17 64S from different biking sites.

As I am on the road 90% of the time and off 10% they seem like a good tyre to go for.
If I ever want to go in the wet muddy stuff I will have to put the Kingstire back on.

Is it bad practice to only change the rear tyre?
I ask because I like the front one, it's also a new Kingstyre 90/90-21 60T but nowhere near as knobbly, the gaps in the tread are only 4mm unlike 12mm on the rear.

I want to keep it but if it compromises safety I'll change it too.

Change both tyres - don't mess with your safety!!!

Back to the subject - are you going to be 100% road use?

If not then go for the dual purpose tyres mentioned before like the Distanzia's or Anakee's.

Don't go for cheap Chinese tyres - they are cheap for a reason!!!

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Tom
I'm a country member...

I put a pair of Distanzias on my TTR for a road trip to Portugal, after riding on knobblies I was amazed at the amount of grip either wet or dry. I guarantee with a pair of these bad boys on a decent road you'll run out of bottle long before you run out of grip. Didn't think they wore too badly either, I put 3000 kms on them and they look hardly worn in.