The MEFO's did very well for me in all conditions. Never so much as a hiccup. Other tires with a larger distance between blocks seem to work better for loose rocks and chunks of dirt but overall the stress my friend went through looking for a new tire after 3500 miles was way too much for the amount of dirt that we did. I am going to buy a new pair when these wear out and use my knobbies for local dirt. Highly recommended for the DR.


What was your route through Mexico? Baja too? Did you find much dirt riding
in Mainland Mexico?

We live in Seattle and we drove to Mexico from here using dirt from Bend, OR to Nevada and some sections in Nevada. Then Hermisillo (sorry if I am spelling these towns wrong), Creel, Batopilas, Los Mochis, El Fuerte, MZT, Durango, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Morelia, the coast, DF, Houston. There is a lot of dirt to be done. My favorite part was Batopilas to Los Mochis but there were many, many times when I was glad for the ground clearance of the DR when finding camping spots, riding off through hardly used tracks for a good lunch spot or getting our bikes into hotel lobbies. With a little inginuity and patience, there are many dirt roads and lots of good camping in mainland Mexico. Beaches, desert, mountains- I was suprised at the diversity.

I think I am going for Happy Trails aluminums with the Wolfman 4 liter gas tank saddle bags to get some of the weight up front. We rode with some bikers from AZ and that system looks good on their KLR's. On hard dirt, my biggest problem was too much weight in the back (well, besides my inexperience). My front end would pop up when the road got really steep.


On a long mostly road trip a good shield is imperative IMO. Man, I hope you
were wearing EAR PLUGS!! If not, then yes, you HAVE damaged your hearing) I'm a sound mixer so I know about such things.

I did wear earplugs all the time but it wasn't enough because my ears are still ringing 2 weeks later. It really wasn't that bad until the return trip when I was riding all day for 10 days. I tried many types of disposables as well- the best they had at Home Depo. I think the final straw for my ears was riding from Matamoros to Houston. There was a cold front with a wind gusting 50 mph and I was going 50 to 60. It was comming from the side of the bike so what little the screen did was circumvented. I never had a problem on my vfr or DL1000 so I was suprised. I am willing to spend whatever it takes and I don't care if my bike looks like the popemobile to do it. Any suggestions? What about professional musical earplugs?

How did the DR's do mechanically?

Flawless. Perfect. I love my DR. Just love it. I lost a chain clip and the chain broke. We were doing some rough stuff for days and I think I let the chain get too loose and it popped off. Bent the chain laterally when it went through the sprockets. I had spare master links but the chain was bent on 10 links or so. It limped until I could get a new one. I had a hard crash and bent the handlebars on the throttle. It was a little sticky.

I am new to the dirt aspect of things. I have been riding street for 10 years but just forest roads until now. You know what struck me? I am amazed at the constant abuse that I inflicted on my DR and how well it did. I just never thought that a bike could take that much. Wow. Especially crashes. And deep river crossings. I am glad I didn't have a bigger bike on those days. People tell me they can ride their BMW1200 adv on stuff like that and I just can't see how with all those big rocks.

Thanks for the report.

It is my pleasure- thank you for being interested in my trip.