sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
I rode Caleb's bike this past weekend and I am sold on a rekluse. It's insane how easy it is to ride stuff on that bike.
Beater/project Yamaha WR450f
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
anderson750
I'm working on it Rose
- Location
- Price, Utah
I have never ridden with a DOT trials tire, so I am not sure how that compound compares to the non DOT. What I can tell you is that the traction is incredible. I will not ride mountain single track without one. If you get into muddy conditions, they do work as well. However, I still use a knobby in the desert since the speeds we ride and terrain do not really fit it well. I usually run mine at around 11-12 psi.
BTW, you missed a great day of riding @ CR
BTW, you missed a great day of riding @ CR
- Location
- Smithfield Utah
Excited to hear about the tire as well. I'm heard wonderful things about them on rocky mountain/pine tree dirt single track as well. I think a trials tire will replace my D606 when it wears out.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I can imagine it would rock for the technical riding, I'm not the best rider so I need all the help I can get! I'd be willing to try some of the more challenging trails with a Rekluse.
I could see the knobby being king in high speed desert riding... I'm not much of a racer, but do spend most of my time riding in the desert. I'm just hoping that the trails tire will work for most of my riding. I've heard the DOT knobbie is plenty good, far as traction is concerned. I would imagine the rubber compound is a bit harder, but it's still a trials tire.
I really wish I could have made the ride, my back was still giving me problems. It's better now, but that doesn't change anything when the ride already happened! I want to get out this weekend, but I had LASIK yesterday and I'm supposed to avoid dust for a week and not do any straining. I'm hoping I can get out with the trials tire next weekend... perhaps I'll head to Moab?!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
It was kind of painful to spoon off a perfectly good Maxxis Desert IT to put the trials tire on, but it had to be done! Ideally I would love to have 2 sets of rear wheels, one for a trials tire and one for the knobbie. It's quick & easy enough to change, why not?
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
3 tires/ wheels then. one with a paddle too.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Meh, not really into sand riding.
Well, the Supermoto parts are long gone... way too much fun (and danger) for me!
Next on the list of things to try.... a rear trials tire! I've heard nothing but good about the traction that trials tires give to dirt bikes, so I ordered a Pirelli MT43, size 4.00-18, from Rocky Mountain ATV. The Pirelli MT43 is a DOT approved trials tire, I have heard that some guys are getting as much as 2,500 miles out of them! The dowside to the trials tire is that they tend to wash out when leaned over, lock up easier on descents and apparently they get enough traction they you may just wheelie over if you're not careful! The trials tires don't like to be spun a whole lot, apparently knobs will begin to come apart. No biggie! One thing to note, the trials tire is substantially taller than a standard MX tire... my WR was already getting up there with the extra foam in the seat, time will tell if the added height is an issue.
I also included an Ultra HD tube, as the trials tires don't have the greatest sidewalls and are usually run at lower pressures. I mounted the tire up using the factory single rim lock, but have heard that some folks recommend 2 rim locks. I'm going to try the 1 and see if it works fine.
I haven't had a chance to ride the bike with the trials tire, probably not until next weekend... but I'm looking forward to trying it out! I will be sure to report back.
Off topic.
The tail light on your bike. Is this stock or after market? I want a new one for the bike i have that is not a bulky after market one.
Does it have park and brake light?
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
The rear light is a Tusk LED tail/brake light, it's great... very bright and quite inexpensive. You can buy it thru RMATV... Caleb could probably save you a few bucks too. It was easy to install & wire up. The tail light is on whenever the ignition is on, then I have the brake light wired up to just my rear brake. It gives me a sense of safety when I'm on the street and helps my riding buddies know when I'm on the brakes while trail riding.
I can get the light alone for about $25 plus shipping (usually around $4). This is the same basic light that's in a lot of street legal kits, I had one on my CRF with my Baja Designs kit and as Greg said, it's a great light, plus it gives a great place to mount your license plate to.
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
greg, how are you liking the trials tire? Have you had it out yet?
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I will have it out this weekend and will let you know what I think! The riding should be a good mix of technical rocks & dirt/desert singletrack, should be a great test.
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
I didn't realize that trials tires were much taller than a regular knobby. Was it significantly taller, or did it just appear that way?
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
They're not that much taller, but it's enough that you can see it. I'd be surprised if it was more than 3/4" overall, perhaps 'substantially taller' was an exaggeration?
Your "beater project" looks better than my bike...
Jared
Haahaaaa... it has recovered quite well from it's previous owner, with the help of a decent amount of time & money of course. I love the bike, I've been tempted to sell it in trade for a KTM 525 EXC, for a lighter bike, a bit more power and a six speed transmission... but I really like how the WR is set up now. Makes it hard to get rid of.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
$1000, with a lot of extras. New, retail on all the parts was probably $1600 or so? They went to Canada of all places! You can get into a Bare Bones supermoto kit for around $1200 from Motostrano - http://www.motostrano.com/Supermoto-Conversion-Kit-Bare-Bones-p/kit-bones.htm
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
were you able to test your rear trials tire this weekend? Curious how you liked it and what pressure you're running it at.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Yeah, I have a lot of info to share.
I ran 14 PSI, which is probably on the high end for a trials tire, but we were doing some street riding on the way to the desert and I wanted to keep the pressure high enough that I didn't burn up the tire or the tube. I want to play with lower pressures on rocky terrain, but from what I learned this last weekend, even 14 PSI is plenty good for traction.
Here's my impressions of the trials tire...
It is taller than a standard knobbie... first time I tossed my leg over the bike I noticed that I couldn't flat foot the bike any more! I'm 6' 4" and between the taller seat + the trials tire, I could no longer flat foot both sides of the bike.
The trials tire puts a LOT of traction to the ground... I realize this goes without saying, but riding around town on pavement, I felt that if I opened up the throttle hard, the front end was coming up quick, as the rear tire had a ton of traction.
In the dirt... first time I backed off the throttle, the amount of engine braking and traction from the trials tire was enough that I felt (for about a half-second) as if I could go over the bars. This was while I was standing up, of course. The knobbie never did that before!
In general riding in the dirt, it worked well... hooked up good and put the traction to the ground. Leaning the bike over while on the throttle was interesting... with a knobbie you can do that and play with how far out the rear end drifts, using throttle, then bring it back in when you want to. With the trials tire, I felt like you could reach a point of no return and it would be possible to lay the bike down while doing the same thing, if you weren't careful. The first day out, I let this get into my head and was having a hard time in the corners. After the 2nd day of riding with the trials tire, I grew more comfortable with how the trials tire worked in the corners and had no problems blasting around.
In the rocks... not a surprise, but this is where the trials tire shined. I played around with the traction just to see how well the tire worked. There were more than a couple spots where I'd be riding up an off-camber, ledge-filled climb and I would almost come to a stop, then feather the clutch back out to test out the traction. The trials tire hooked right up, no drama at all. A standard knobbie in this situation would usually spin out, kick the bike sideways and possibly lead to dropping the bike in a bad place.
In the sand... deep sand and the trials tire are NOT good at all. We rode up one long, steep sandy hill that started out with a deep G-out wash at the bottom of the hill. It was one of the first sand hills we made it to and my first time with the trials tire and sand. I didn't carry any real momentum thru the wash, so when I attacked the hill on the throttle, the trials tire didn't really dig down for traction and I had a hell of a time getting up the hill. Seemed like the trials tire just spun on the top of the sand, rather than dig down and find traction like a knobbie would have done... the ride up the hill was slow and painful, with the bike fish-tailing all the way up the hill and my feet off the pegs, paddling the bike up the hill. It was THAT bad!
Riding at speed in dirt... I felt like it was very easy to loft the front end and carry a wheelie over rocks, washouts, etc, etc. The trials tire hooks up so predictably that it's easy to lay into the throttle and pull the front end up and just carry it. I like it!
Overall impression... running a trials tire on the back of a dirt bike for trail riding offers a lot of advantages over a knobbie, but the downfalls of the trials tire are pretty significant. Leaning the trials tire over while on the throttle and riding in deep sand are it's weaknesses. Amazing traction on the rocks and in the dirt are the strengths.
Hope that helps! I'll have some videos from our weekend up sooner or later.
I ran 14 PSI, which is probably on the high end for a trials tire, but we were doing some street riding on the way to the desert and I wanted to keep the pressure high enough that I didn't burn up the tire or the tube. I want to play with lower pressures on rocky terrain, but from what I learned this last weekend, even 14 PSI is plenty good for traction.
Here's my impressions of the trials tire...
It is taller than a standard knobbie... first time I tossed my leg over the bike I noticed that I couldn't flat foot the bike any more! I'm 6' 4" and between the taller seat + the trials tire, I could no longer flat foot both sides of the bike.
The trials tire puts a LOT of traction to the ground... I realize this goes without saying, but riding around town on pavement, I felt that if I opened up the throttle hard, the front end was coming up quick, as the rear tire had a ton of traction.
In the dirt... first time I backed off the throttle, the amount of engine braking and traction from the trials tire was enough that I felt (for about a half-second) as if I could go over the bars. This was while I was standing up, of course. The knobbie never did that before!
In general riding in the dirt, it worked well... hooked up good and put the traction to the ground. Leaning the bike over while on the throttle was interesting... with a knobbie you can do that and play with how far out the rear end drifts, using throttle, then bring it back in when you want to. With the trials tire, I felt like you could reach a point of no return and it would be possible to lay the bike down while doing the same thing, if you weren't careful. The first day out, I let this get into my head and was having a hard time in the corners. After the 2nd day of riding with the trials tire, I grew more comfortable with how the trials tire worked in the corners and had no problems blasting around.
In the rocks... not a surprise, but this is where the trials tire shined. I played around with the traction just to see how well the tire worked. There were more than a couple spots where I'd be riding up an off-camber, ledge-filled climb and I would almost come to a stop, then feather the clutch back out to test out the traction. The trials tire hooked right up, no drama at all. A standard knobbie in this situation would usually spin out, kick the bike sideways and possibly lead to dropping the bike in a bad place.
In the sand... deep sand and the trials tire are NOT good at all. We rode up one long, steep sandy hill that started out with a deep G-out wash at the bottom of the hill. It was one of the first sand hills we made it to and my first time with the trials tire and sand. I didn't carry any real momentum thru the wash, so when I attacked the hill on the throttle, the trials tire didn't really dig down for traction and I had a hell of a time getting up the hill. Seemed like the trials tire just spun on the top of the sand, rather than dig down and find traction like a knobbie would have done... the ride up the hill was slow and painful, with the bike fish-tailing all the way up the hill and my feet off the pegs, paddling the bike up the hill. It was THAT bad!
Riding at speed in dirt... I felt like it was very easy to loft the front end and carry a wheelie over rocks, washouts, etc, etc. The trials tire hooks up so predictably that it's easy to lay into the throttle and pull the front end up and just carry it. I like it!
Overall impression... running a trials tire on the back of a dirt bike for trail riding offers a lot of advantages over a knobbie, but the downfalls of the trials tire are pretty significant. Leaning the trials tire over while on the throttle and riding in deep sand are it's weaknesses. Amazing traction on the rocks and in the dirt are the strengths.
Hope that helps! I'll have some videos from our weekend up sooner or later.
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
excellent review with some interesting feedback. Too many reviews either say "why didn't I do this before, I'm never going back." or "I will never use a trials tire again". Great report.
Welcome to the club
I wish I could tip-toe on one side of the bike without having to have my knee on the seat. I didn't realize you were 6'4"!
Welcome to the club
I wish I could tip-toe on one side of the bike without having to have my knee on the seat. I didn't realize you were 6'4"!
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