Thoughts on Riding Knobbies on Tarmac

After riding 1000+ kms on tarmac over this weekend the brand new Vee Rubber knobbies have squared off a little. Actually this is the perfect tread pattern for what I do. These tyres aren’t supposed to be ridden on tarmac at all. You are supposed to trailer your dirt bike to the trail, ride the trail and then trailer the bike back home. But we don’t follow this rule book. We use these knobbjes on our dual sport motorcycles which we ride to the trail and back home.

Riding brand news knobbies on tarmac can be a nightmare. The contact patch is really small and the bike floats around using a mind of its own. Due to the smaller contact patch the braking is weak as well. But when the tread gets squared a little, like in this picture, the bike feels a lot more stable on tarmac. There is more than enough tread depth to bite into the dirt while on a trail and there is a decent amount of contact patch when riding on tarmac. This is really the sweet spot right here.