This ride was the 3rd time I've had this bike in the dirt, aside from fairly smooth gravel roads. The Pirelli MT21s are excellent DOT legal offroad tires. This bike is fairly big and heavy compared to my KDX and I was a little skittish at first. Mostly because I didn't want to have to pick the darn thing up if I dropped it. It didn't take long to realize that this is a true dirt bike that likes to be ridden hard and thrown around like a dirt bike. Definitely a better bike than my meager skills really require.