Dunlop refers to their new Mutant tire as a crossover tire. The idea behind that is that it blends the best parts of the DNA from sport, touring, off-road/trail, and wet race tires into a single magic do-it-all tire. Unfortunately, the problem with trying to be good at everything, is that you often end up not really being particularly good at anything. Fortunately, the Dunlop Mutants don’t have that problem, and generally succeed at their stated mission of being a pretty legit do-it-all tire.
I’ve now gone through a couple sets of Mutants on my Z900RS, and have developed a good sense of what they’re all about.
So, let’s break down where the Dunlop Mutants land in each of those do-it-all categories they draw their DNA from: sport riding, touring, off-road/trail, and wet weather.
Sport Riding
A tire needs to nail a couple of fundamental qualities to ace the sportier side of street riding:
- Soft, sticky, compliant compound on the outer edges for getting onto the side of the tire.
- A sharp profile for quick and consistent handling.
- Durable construction for reliable performance over the life of the tire.
The Mutants crush it across the board on all these fundamentals. The compounds of the tire, especially the MT Multi-Tread compound of the rear, provides a soft rubber that sticks to the road across the entire width of the tire.
The profile is very conical, providing sharp, light handling with quick turn in, but not so much that handling feels twitchy. It’s a good balance, that feels responsive and just right.
Finally, these are tough tires with a very durable construction. The combination of Dunlop’s Jointless Belt (JLB) design and MT compound makes for a tough, but compliant tire that retains much of its initial performance and capability throughout the life of the tire.
With roughly 7,000 miles, they still feel like new tires. I think we’ve all been there with some tires where the handling and traction turns to total crap like you flipped a light switch or rapidly degrades as you put more miles on them. The Mutants don’t do that.
Now, I’m not a track guy or anything, and while these are good for sporty street riding, I don’t think these would be particularly great track tires. You could probably make them work, for a more chill track day, as they’re every bit as good as (if not better than) the majority of other sport touring tires on the market, but at the end of the day, the rubber probably isn’t soft and sticky enough to push super hard.
Touring
What makes a good touring (or rather, sport touring) tire is longevity. They need to be in for the long haul, and capable of racking up huge mileage. The Mutants are pretty great in that regard.
I put close to 13,000 miles on the rear tire before having to replace it, and the front is still going strong. It’s starting to show some wear, but should last until the second rear tire wears out. It’s typical to go through two rear tires for every front tire, and the Mutants are no exception to that. This is more mileage than you’ll get out of a set of GPR300’s, but less than the 12,000-15,000+ you’d get out of some Roadsmart III’s or Roadmsart IV’s. The Mutant’s fall somewhere in the middle. They’re not the best, but I can’t complain too much about it.
Off-road/Trail Riding
Is an off-road capable sport tire for the street really even possible? Well, yes and no. Despite having the look, the deep blocky tread channels on the Mutant aren’t exactly comparable to the tread on a true adventure tire, let alone an actual off-road trail tire. They are much more functional in low traction situations than typical street tires, though.
What this translates to in my experience with the Mutants is more traction on loose road surfaces, sand, gravel, grass, and surfaces like that than you’d get out of other sport or sport-touring tire made exclusively for the street. Whether that’s riding through a field of wet grass to park at Southern Throwdown, taking an unpaved gravel-strewn farm road detour, or hitting a patch of wet leaves in front of my driveway, the Mutants have excelled at maintaining traction 100% of the time.
But they’re not an off-road tire, or even a 50/50 adventure tire, by any stretch of the imagination. They’re more like a 90/10 tire, or an 80/20 at best. They’re designed for street riding, and just happen to feature an off-road inspired tread design that gives them some extra grip when traction is compromised.
So, I wouldn’t do something stupid like race the Baja 1000 on a set of Mutants, unless I wanted to embarrass myself. However, for a daily commuter like my Z900RS, or an adventure or sport-tourer that sees mostly paved roads and just needs extra insurance when facing the occasional loose surface that pops up, they’re going to consistently perform better than other sport tires out there.
Wet Weather
This is probably where the Mutants are at their most impressive. I’ve never use a tire this good in rainy and wet conditions. That deep, aggressive tread pattern combined with a high-silica compound pushes water away from the tire surface as if they were made out of ducks, and the Mutants do a great job keeping their composure when the road gets wet.
Eric and I happened to get caught in a biblical downpour on the way back from Southern Throwdown. The water got so deep on the road in a few places that I half expected to hydroplane, but the Mutants didn’t skip a beat.
I’ve dealt with more than a few gnarly Texas thunderstorms since, and the Mutants are rock solid every single time.
The bad stuff
Do the Mutants have any downsides? When it comes to their overall performance and versatility for riding on the street, it’s hard to find fault. They do everything they set out to do, and do it all very well. They come in a wide variety of sizes that’ll fit the majority of sport, naked, sport-touring, and adventure bikes out there. There really aren’t very many tires out there that are on the Mutant’s level.
That performance and versatility does not come cheap. A set of Mutants for my Z900RS set me back almost $400. Are they worth it? Yes. They are great tires; very likely the best tires on the market. However, Dunlop’s GPR300 and Roadsport 2 tires punch way above their weight, which it makes it somewhat harder to justify the expense.
You can go through a few sets of either of Dunlop’s budget tires for the cost of one set of Mutants, or save $50-100 for some Roadsmart III’s or other similar tires in that class.
There are numerous scenarios where the Mutants are likely the best option for you. If you routinely have to deal with unpaved roads with sand, dirt, and gravel; you don’t have a quick, accessible, or affordable way to change your tires and need the longevity so you don’t have to deal with changing tires as frequently; you live in a very wet and rainy place and your motorcycle is your primary form of transportation; or you just love the way they look and can’t live without that aggressive tread pattern, then don’t hesitate to go with the Mutants. Honestly, if the Mutants fit your bike, they’re probably the best option.
Final rating
Awesome tires that deliver on the promise of being a serious do-it-all sport touring tire with a dash of off-road DNA. Under certain scenarios, they fall a tiny bit short in the value department since Dunlop’s cheaper street tires are way better than they have any business being.
Bottom line: they’re just cool as hell, get looks and comments from other riders, and deliver mind-blowing performance.
