IF you are ONLY used to riding on paved roads riding off road it's better to have knobby tires for safety

 Why?

Because laying your bike down on pavement is one thing but unless you are used to riding on dirt or rock roads you really should have knobby tires for extra traction. Usually on a dualsport your front tire is larger than your rear tire. This helps in both control and stability off road. An off road or dualsport bike like my KLR 650 is okay on freeways because it can do 70 mph all day because it is a 650. However, if you are on really rugged terrain a smaller bike might be better with lower gears.

A KLR 650 is for basically any kind of road and around the world travel and is very dependable because it is usually (depending upon the year you buy) a much simpler bike that reminds me more of an old VW Bug sort of. In other words it starts pretty easily and runs forever, is water cooled and is okay at slow speeds as long as it isn't too hot outside for it to be able to cool itself properly. I have always been very suprised at how versatile this bike actually is because I was always equally comfortable off road and on the freeway.

I owned a 1974 Honda 250 Dualsport from 1975 to around 1989 or 1990 when my oldest stepson traded it for a sound system for his room then. This was the best off road dualsport I ever owned if you wanted to be able to jump a bike 8 feet or more off the ground. I wouldn't even attempt something like this with my KLR 650 because it is just too big for jumping (at least for me) and also I'm 73 now not in my 20s anymore when I did more crazy things that I barely survived then. However, it's true by the time I bought this bike my first child, a son was born, so I had to be careful enough to survive everything for him. By 1975 I had already given up rock climbing with pitons and ropes in Yosemite National Park and at Tahquitz near Idyllwild, California which is up on the San Jacinto mountains there. There is also a tram up to near the top of the San Jacinto mountains if they have it running right now.

Also, when you are riding off paved roads you need to never use your front brake unless you are stopped on a hill so you don't coast away backwards or downhill. Putting your front brake on while riding off road is only going to make your bike lay down and possibly injure you or others.

So, the golden rule of off road riding is never use your front brake while moving.

The one thing about my 1974 Honda 250 Dual sport is that I never felt safe on the freeway because I didn't have enough power on the freeway to power out of bad situations. So, on a freeway the minimum amount of power you want is somewhere between 500 and 650 CCs depending upon what kind of weight you will be carrying (1 or 2 passengers regularly) or what kind of weight you add with saddle bags etc. or what you weigh.

You want to have enough power to really take off fast if someone doesn't see you on the freeway because this happens a lot because they are expecting ONLY cars and trucks of various sizes so especially older drivers won't see you at all and then if you can't get away from them fast it's over.