Motoz tyres are an Australian brand. They produce tyres, inner tubes and a tyre mousse – all aimed at Adventure and off-road riding. They are designed in Australia and all their products are made in a factory in Thailand.
Motoz have produced a range of tyres for the off-road and enduro scene for years – generally for smaller capacity bikes. But now that they produce tyres for Adventure bikes are they are on the radar of less extreme riders and are gaining a bit of a following in the more road-orientated circles.
Motoz has a staunch following, something of a cult, with a lot of people claiming they are the answer to everything and also making it clear they found them before you did. Can a tyre from a small manufacturer really compete with the big boys?
David vs Goliath
Motoz are also a bit of an anti-brand, a young upstart going up against the titans like Michelin, Pirelli and Bridgestone. Unlike the established tyre manufacturers, Motoz don’t claim to be race winners or have huge Research & Development teams, they just state they’re dirtbike riders who design tyres. The main image to this article is the Motoz chief product designer competing in a rally on his KTM.
I think it’s fair to say this David vs. Goliath approach is well recieved in motorcycling circles. We like an outsider. We support the rough and ready riders vs the marketing men in suits. This all works well to give Motoz credibility.
The Adventure bike scene has its fair share of voodoo magic and experts who will tell you exactly what you need to be riding, how to ride it and what the ‘next big thing’ is going to be. Motoz fits well into this scene as it’s a bit of an unknown and some riders like to be able to ‘show you the enlightened path’.
Motoz Range
As I write this guide, Motoz currently produces 12 different tyres, three different thickness inner tubes and one tyre mousse.
Broadly speaking their tyres are broken down into two specific applications: road-ready and purely off-road. The pure off-road tyres are marked NHS (Not Highway Suitable) which means they are not road legal.
The range is broken down as follows:
Tractionator – Tyres mainly for Adventure bikes that will see both on-road and off-road use
Terrapactor – Off-road tyres for Motocross and Enduro
Hybrid – A tyre that’s heavily off-road biased but homologated to be road legal
Understanding the Motoz naming conventions
Motoz have their own way of identifying their tyres. For example you have a Terrapactor I/T and a Terrapactor S/T, but what’s the difference?
S/T = This stands for Soft terrain (loose, sandy loam, pine forest, clay) great traction, shorter tyre life.
I/T = This stands for Intermediate (a mix of everything) all round traction, medium wear life.
H/T = This stands for Hard Terrain (gravel roads, rocky fire trails, hard pack desert and sand). Extreme.
In other words this naming convention gives you an indiciation of the terrain the tyre is designed for and not the compound of the tyre. So you have to first choose the type of terrain you’ll be riding on most often, Soft, Middle or Hard Terrain.
Motoz Adventure tyres
Then there are tyres that don’t use this naming convention. A bit of a hint is that if the Tractionator tyre doesn’t have this naming convention in it, it gives you an indication that this is more of a road-focused Adventure tyre. Confused? You’d be forgiven if you are as their naming convention isn’t all that straight forward.
These are the current Motoz Adventure bike tyres.
Motoz Tractionator GPS
A 50% road and 50% off-road tyre
According to Motoz, the Tractionator GPS has been designed for long mileage, serious traction and smooth transition from tarmac to gravel and dirt. The Motoz Tractionator GPS rear tyre is reversible to suit the rider’s needs – either 50/50 or Mostly Off Road. In 50/50 direction the GPS is a well behaved street-able tire with smooth cornering transition from centre to cranked all the way over. In Mostly Off Road direction the aggressive straight line hook up and cornering drive is engaged. You can see the Motoz Tractionator GPS prices here.
Motoz Tractionator Adventure
A 25% road and 75% off-road tyre
According to Motoz, the Tractionator Adventure is designed for serious off road traction. The firm claim they are technically stronger than many other adventure tyres with a deeper tread than most adventure tyres, with distance proven compound specifically formulated to cater for a wide variety of conditions. The tread of the new Tractionator Adventure Tyre is unique: blocks that self sharpen for better grip through the life of the tyre and self protect for longer tyre life. You can see the Motoz Tractionator Adventure prices here.
Motoz Tractionator Rallz
A 20% road and 80% off-road tyre
According to Motoz the RallZÂ is based on the popular Tractionator Adventure but with more aggressive off-road traction in all weather extremes. It is the most aggressive off-road adventure tyre in the Motoz range. Its DNA is part desert race tyre and part long distance adventure tyre. You can see the Motoz Tractionator Rallz prices here.
Motoz Tyre Issues
While we have heard lots of good things about Motoz tyres, you can find lots of owner feedback in search engines where the tyre’s performance wasn’t quite as expected.
We have seen mentions of issues with:
- Wear rates and tyre life
- Cupping
- Cracking between tread blocks
- Tread blocks chipping
- Strange handlng characteristics
Quite a few reviews state that the tyres start to cup early on in their use, in some cases before the tyre has travelled 600 miles.
Other riders have complained about the tyres cracking in between the tread blocks. In other cases we’ve seen riders report the tyres are defective and chunks of the tread blocks have come away from the tyre after only a few miles.
Any tyre can have issues – they are so manu variables from the way the tyre is produced to how it is fitted, how it has been stored, inflated and ultimately ridden.
However the quality control of the more established manufacturers is very good. Manufacturers like Michelin, Pirelli, Continental, Metzeler and Bridgestone have serious good production tolerances. When we have weighed tyres some of them come out to within a few grams of each other which is quite incredible. We very rarely see problems with tyres from the major manufacturers. It stands to reason that if you’re a smaller manufacturer you’re going to have some issues with production consistency.
Here at Two Tyres we’re keeping a close eye on these issues so that we’re able to offer an impartial view on the quality of Motoz tyres.
Motoz Rivals
Hopefully you’ll have seen from this guide we like to take any hype with a pinch of salt. It’s easy for a forum guru to claim anything from the safety of their keyboard but we sell a lot of tyres and get a lot of real world feedback from riders who use their Adventure bikes for all types of application. From the daily commute to Trans Euro Trail and everything in between, we fit all sorts of tyres to every type of bike and we get a lot of good feedback.
There is a lot of hype behind Motoz but the well-known tyre manufacturers also produce some seriously good off-road capable Adventure tyres. Did you really think that with Michelin’s Research & Development budget or Continental’s love-in with KTM that the big tyre manufacters wouldn’t be able to produce brilliant off-road tyres? No, I didn’t think you’d fall for that one..
Often those forum threads would have you believe the little guy in the shed is onto something the big boys couldn’t figure out. It’s possible but not probable.
Motoz make good tyres but they’re not the only company to produce Adventue bike rubber. Here are some of the best-selling and best-rated tyres for your Adventure bike:
Motoz Tractionator GPS alternatives
For Adventure bike riders who like to tackle the odd green lane or trail.
Continental TKC70 Rocks rear with a TKC70 front
Motoz Tractionator Adventure alternatives
For Adventure bike riders who like to tackle proper off-road trails with mud, wet rocks and slippery tree roots.
Motoz Tractionator Rallz alternatives
For Adventure bike riders who spend a majority of their time riding off-road.
Questions?
If you have any questions about MOTOZ tyres or any Adventure bike tyres, just give us a call on 0207 205 2205. We stock almost every Adventure bike tyre out there and can supply to you mail order or fit in our London motorcycle workshop.
