All 2st Trials Tire feedback

I'm sure this topic is on the forum if I dig enough.

I'm thinking about running a trials tire on the back of my '08 WR250. After the March-April wet season, I'm riding mostly hard packed Georgia clay mixed in with lots of rocky singletrack up in Tennessee.

What are your first hand experiences with a trials tire and what brand and size are you guys running? Thanks - John

Perrelli mt43 with tubliss insert. 5 to 7 pounds ap. love it except it is tall.

My first and only experiences with a trials tire was last weeken at King Of the Moto
Where I ran a 400.18 IRC comp winner super gummy tire.It was like cheating I finished KOM on a 125
I ran it 14psi with a HD tube and at 100 miles it the tire was about shot.There are many others out there
that might last and work better overall
Golden tyre has 2 different trials tire a regular looking one and a new one called free/cross with a more open patteren that I am going to test also will work with a moose

I have been running michelin x-11's for the last four years and love them in the mountain single tracks I ride,they're like velcro.If I was in a lot of mud and clay they might not be so good?

I have run the Dunlop d803 at 8-10psi,ran it about two years on a kdx200 and on a wr250r. This this is like cheeting. Always held whatever line i picked,roots,rocks,ledge and cross logs,they all made no diffrence. Alwasy went stright ahead. It didnt like slime at all,ok in mud. The only thing that i did wrong was not air it back down after i remounted it. That melted the center knobs like dove chocolate,my bad.

The Pirelli mt43 at 8-10psi. Was on the wr250r as it is dot,after two years of road and trail it still looks new and will be remounted on another bike. This is like velcro and i dont know if i will ever ware it out. Again it dont like slime.

Vee rubber vrm-308r At 8-10psi was spooned on last year for vacation,a week in the Jericho Mt. State park. Lot of fast trails and one real nasty single track large rock infested trail. Again it still looks new,cheepest of the bunch if cost is a factor.
I cannot tell the three apart,all held up well if run at the right air psi. I dont turn and burn so wheel spin is not a factor for me. I like they dont slip off the side of rocks and roots wet or dry like full knobs. I am a legand in my own mind anytime i pick a rock garden.

..just my 2 cents...they sucked on my 125 in Florida....no hook up...but that's what happens when you ride sand,especially sugar sand....should've known better

I've had a Pirelli MT43 on the back of my TXC310 since a trip to Idaho last August. The tire does everything better than a knobby except in slimy conditions which I rarely see ... and sand where it's good but it's best if you carry speed - I also find that I adjust my riding style a little since there are no side knobs.... I like it paired with a 90 series Pirelli MX mid=hard up front .... I like the rear axle a little farther back since the tire has soo much traction ... the trials tire paired with tubliss at 7-8psi masks rear shock action and gives the rear a dead and planted feel... after 6 months of riding and racing I'm thinking about a new one since the knob edges are a little rounded (I go through most tires in 2 months).

In desert conditions my little 310 will out accelerate bigger bikes because I have more traction ... this is really usefull passing in races coming out of corners (square off like RV and get the bike upright early) or climbing rocky hills.

A friend of mine loves what it does for his YZ250. Friends who have tried my bike are shocked at how "normal" it feels ... it just has more traction.

used a michelin mt43 which worked great in winter where the gravel binds together better, summer was hard to get traction slipping on the loose gravel and not being able to dig through to the hard baked clay underneath, but a great tyre in the right conditions loamy or hard just the pee gravel did not suit the tread, also slime on clay was a problem but thats the same for knobby aswell.

The real soft trials competition tires like Michelin won't last long on a dirtbike, maybe only one ride.
Trials riders don't like the Pirelli MT43, they say it is too hard to be competitive.
This makes it perfect for a dirtbike.
Great traction on rock and roots, lasts an amazing long time.
I put a thousand klicks (600 miles?) on one on the TE310 and it has lots of life left.
With no side knobs it scared the daylights out of me on steep off-camber loose downhills.
Unfortunately these Rocky Mountains have a LOT of steep off-camber loose downhills.
So I'm back on a knobby and saving the MT43 for the next Moab trip.
It's magic on that slickrock.

I have recently been running a 19" chen seng on my TC250 and in the dry it is amazing. I even tried it on a very slick day and it still worked well except for some slippery off cambers. I think the biggest thing is how compliant the suspension became.
John, let me know next time you come up to tennessee.

Water racer - As of right now, we don't have a date on the schedule for Coal Creek. In the past, we'll take a Friday and ride the 'unmarked' single track on the North side of CC (sometimes even pucker ridge). Then on Saturday we ride some of the more extreme or difficult numbered trails on the Coal Creek map. It give us a good mix. We normally stay at the Jameson Inn down in Oak Ridge. Good food, nice people and its close to Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Outback! I'll shoot you a PM and we can exchange phone numbers ect... Thanks John

Nahhh, I am getting about 1500 miles out of a dunlop D803 trials tire and 2000 miles out of a Michelin. Unless you do 50+mph on pavement consistently the competition tires last just fine.

Later,

lots of variables: horsepower, terrain, riding style and throttle hand, weight, temperature...
I should have said the obvious, YMMV.

My IRC that I did King of the Moto on has less then 90 miles and it is about done Plus it was only on a 165
BUT I did get a finish on it and that is priceless

What type of terrain?

If you are going slow in rocky or rooty conditions then they work fine. Work great on rocky uphills. Work like crap going down hill or fast into sandy corners. I couldn't get more than 65miles per tire out of mine on the KTM 530 before the knobs started chunking. I tried 2 before giving up. Run a Pirelli MT16 or a Pirelli FIM Pro or even a Metzeler ISDE Extreme at low air pressure to get similar results but with longer life and better hook up in mud and sand. The problem with a trials tire isn't going as much as stopping.

The turn and burn guys never like them. If your more of a "heard the piston fire in the hole" type they last forever. I dont have any problem stopping,i also dont just slide to a stop.How well they work has more to do with your right hand than the tire.
Guys who have a on off switch for the throttle never like trials tires. You can follow me in the woods and count the squares from the tire on the ground,as the guy behind me digs a trench.
They are not for everyone,they are for me.

Goggle King of the Motos and watch a few videos rocks,rocks,then more rocks followed by climb,climb
and more climb then do it all over in the big sand dunes

I am sure I could destroy a trials tire in race conditions in less than 100 miles... But doing that would not be using the trials tire advantages to the fullest. Also when I was riding competitive trials events I never saw an IRC on an actual trials bike, it was all dunlop or michelin.

The quickest way to kill a trials tire is speed, trials tires hate speed because it builds up too much heat. The next best way is spinning and brake sliding. Dragging the brake into every corner and spinning out will destroy a trials tire in a hurry... They are all about traction and using all of it, throttle control is key.

Trials tires really work well for me, on my bikes, with my riding style, on the trails I like to ride. They are not for everyone.

Here is an example of what I ride, from Sunday, slow slick and tight. The guy in front of me rode last man standing twice down there in Texas. He had a knobby but failed to stay on the trail on one down hill...




And another of Kelly and his worn Desert tire that couldn't quite find the traction to make this climb... I barely made it.


Later,

I did every thing wrong with the tire from spinning,climbing,high speed and way to much air pressure and a tube

BUT I finished and so did the tire the tire was one reason I finished it did not fail Would it last longer if not in this type of race I am sure it would but KOM is like no other race Only 12 pro finished 2 laps or 160 miles and only 11 expert who only had to do 80 miles finished I was just relaying my one and only time I used a trials tire Every other race it is a knobby with a moose