The Dunlop Mutants on the Tracer 9GT have covered just under 5,500 miles. I know this because I’m also trying to schedule the 12,000-mile service on my Tracer so as not to constrain summer riding.
While I get all of that organised, here is how I found the last 5,500 miles riding the Tracer on Dunlop Mutants.
Dunlop Mutant
The Dunlop Mutant looks like a Supermoto wet. Designed to give the grip of a sport tyre, but with the tread pattern of a racing wet, the concept is that it is the one tyre that does it all.
The profile delivers sharp handling while the tread pattern shifts so much water that no one wants to ride behind me on damp days.
The compound is an excellent balance between fast warm-up, good grip and long life, although the grip can encourage exuberant riding. Getting on the throttle, confident the back will stick, does tend to wear tyres out faster.
Dunlop lists the tyres as suitable for a wide range of conditions, circumstances and bikes. Touring, commuting, Sunday scratching, or anything from a middleweight 600 to a GS1250.
Munching Through the Mutants
The first 3,000-miles the Yamaha Tracer 9GT covered on the Dunlop Mutants were heading to Portimão and back on a mixture of roads. Although there is always a strong desire to keep motorway miles to a minimum, some of the roads between the fields in Spain stretch out straight for mile after mile. Other roads, as Spain and Portugal appear to be covered in, were bend, after bend, after bend.
Overall, on our route, the roads in Spain were smoother than those in southern Portugal. Yet, the Dunlop Mutants never seemed to care if the road surface was wet or dry, smooth or cut-up. Even dragging two overstuffed panniers and an excessively large top box made no difference to them.
In The Wet
In their marketing material, Dunlop describes the Mutant as delivering the best wet weather grip, this side of a racing wet. Having never ridden on racing wets, I can’t comment. However, it was noticeable that no one wanted to ride behind me when it was raining. Dunlop’s claim of the Mutant delivering outstanding wet weather grip has a solid foundation.
According to the most sensitive of accelerometers – the one in every rider’s backside – the Mutants have been stuck to the road in the wet, dealing with everything from early morning damp roads to loathsome hours spent riding in heavy rain.
In The Dry
The first thing I noticed was how fast the Mutants allowed me to change direction compared to the OE tyres on the Tracer. Having cruised around for the first 60 miles (100kms) to break them in, my first experience of committed cornering on the Mutants resulted in a few surprises as the Mutants turn much faster than I was expecting.
Cracking on through corners on the Tracer, there always seems to be a few corners where I turn in early, compromising my line through the corner and perhaps the one beyond. The Tracer, on Mutants, doesn’t need anything like the level of advance warning I’m giving it for the upcoming bend.
I’ve needed to move my turn-in point even deeper into the corner to account for the faster roll rate the Mutants bring. Needless to say, I still cock it up, but that is me, not the tyres.
Happily, the quicker steering has not come at the cost of straight-line stability. On the occasions I’ve used motorways and autobahns with the Dunlop Mutants fitted, there has never been an issue with the faster steering profile.
In trying to find the right words to describe their motorway manners, I realised I had nothing to talk about. The Mutants have always been stable at speed to the point of me not thinking about them as the miles ticked by.
Square Jawed
At around 3,500 miles, I noticed the Mutant on the rear was starting to square off slightly. My theory was many miles heavily loaded was the cause; Dunlop, however, explained it differently.
“So you are enjoying the Mutants then”, was their response. Puzzled, I replied, “Errr, yes …”, and asked for a longer explanation.
The more you have confidence in a tyre, the more you use it. The extra side grip the Mutant is delivering compared to the previous tyres is encouraging me to get on the throttle more aggressively and earlier, which results in harder use of the tyre. The shoulder on the tyre is simply an indication of which bit of the tyre I’m torturing the most.
If I truly want to abuse tyres, then giving a set of Mutants to Roger is a good idea. But that would require a trip somewhere iconic … Spa Francorchamps or Estoril perhaps.[Dream on … Ed.]
After a further 1,500 miles, visually, the profile on the rear has flattened off. The turning speed of the Mutants has slowed slightly, but other than the reduced roll rate, there is nothing to suggest the rear now has a flatter profile.
Riding across the Pennine backroads to Scotland and back in a weekend confirmed that. Tight twists, hairpins and flowing bends were all actively enjoyed without restriction.
I’m sure the new pair of Dunlops I have waiting in the garage will turn faster – because they are shiny and new – yet until I get them fitted later this month, my 5,500-mile-old Mutants will not be holding me back.
