BF Goodrich KO2 on a Talon?

[McCarthy]

I get what you are saying about sidewall stiffness, I've tore up everything I've tried so far. I have a used pair of Kanati Mongrel 10 ply UTV tires mounted on the rear of my Talon right now, haven't gotten the chance to try them yet. Just last week I realized how to help prolong my tire sidewall and overall life.... slow the hell down! It took a lot of restraint but I had no tire issues and will try to manage a more sane pace in the future.





What do you recommend?

I don't live in AZ (if I could find a way to move to the states from Canada, i'd go tomorrow, and it'd be to AZ), and of course there's different areas, but the years we've ridden down there has been in the white tank mtn area, and the terrain seems dramatically more forgiving on tires than what we ride up here in Canada, but I could be wrong... Always just run an 8 or 10 ply tire. The toughest tire i've run is Duro Frontiers, they have probably 5000 miles on them and no punctures, and a bunch of those are with chains on front and rear which KILLS tires, riding on ice and snow where you slide sideways into sharp things... A lot. Lol.

 

[Lil_Steve]

I don't live in AZ (if I could find a way to move to the states from Canada, i'd go tomorrow, and it'd be to AZ), and of course there's different areas, but the years we've ridden down there has been in the white tank mtn area, and the terrain seems dramatically more forgiving on tires than what we ride up here in Canada, but I could be wrong... Always just run an 8 or 10 ply tire. The toughest tire i've run is Duro Frontiers, they have probably 5000 miles on them and no punctures, and a bunch of those are with chains on front and rear which KILLS tires, riding on ice and snow where you slide sideways into sharp things... A lot. Lol.

I haven't ridden the White Tank area yet, I'm sort of relatively new to AZ (2.5 years). Lots of available riding here so I intend to explore as much of it as I can, a little bit at a time. BTW, today I pulled out 2 different pieces of branch/wood that pierced the tread carcass of my Terrabites. I run 10-12 psi.

 

[McCarthy]

Bizarre. Maybe i'm just lucky with tires. *Knock on wood*

 

[Boundertom]

Well guys, I decided to go for it. I ordered 5 BFG KO2 30x9.50R15 tires. I also ordered 5 STI HD9 6+1 beadlock wheels. And I ordered 1.5" spacers from RB3. Good or bad, I will let you know how it turns out!

Tom

 

[thashane]

Goodluck! I look forward to the update. Running LT tires is something I've always pondered.

I think tire placement has the biggest impact on sidewalls. I've popped sidewalls on the dumbest small rocks that just happened to be perfectly aligned with the sidewall. Also curious to hear what psi people are running

 

[CID]

Goodluck! I look forward to the update. Running LT tires is something I've always pondered.

I think tire placement has the biggest impact on sidewalls. I've popped sidewalls on the dumbest small rocks that just happened to be perfectly aligned with the sidewall. Also curious to hear what psi people are running.

Which raises the question - what pressures were you running when you popped sidewalls? 🤔 I've been running 10 pounds but I'm running the HD9 beadlocks. Running under 12 made me squirm on downhill off cambers and bermed turns before I got the beadlocks. disclaimer - I'm a newb (one year). 😊

 

[thashane]

Which raises the question - what pressures were you running when you popped sidewalls? 🤔 I've been running 10 pounds but I'm running the HD9 beadlocks. Running under 12 made me squirm on downhill off cambers and bermed turns before I got the beadlocks. disclaimer - I'm a newb (one year). 😊

I haven't popped any utv sidewalls - yet, but in light trucks I've popped lre sidewalls from 30-80psi. I had a truck come with Firestone HTs, I popped 3 of those in 3 days, and two more the next week. That convinced the boss- not to buy any of those. Switched to the les schwab brand at, didn't pop any of those.

 

[Boundertom]

New tires arrived today. I like the way they look. Sidewalls don't feel obnoxiously stiff. Actually, I have had ATV tires that were MUCH stiffer. No ETA on the wheels.
Stay tuned!

 

[McCarthy]

The load rating on the tire is a good indication of how stiff they are.

 

[Rick53]

I haven't ridden the White Tank area yet, I'm sort of relatively new to AZ (2.5 years). Lots of available riding here so I intend to explore as much of it as I can, a little bit at a time. BTW, today I pulled out 2 different pieces of branch/wood that pierced the tread carcass of my Terrabites. I run 10-12 psi.

I don't live to far from the White Tank hills, the powers to be have shut down pretty much the whole area to allow only mountain bikes, horses, and hiking in a small area (park). Three years ago you could ride pretty much the whole thing, except for the park area. We are quickly becoming commieforia with shooting areas also being closed down. My neighbor would definitely disagree about the rocks. He drives a little more careless then I do and real heavy on the gas. Everytime we go out he tears his tires up a little more on the sharp nasty rocks that are in some of the areas. I'm running 30x10R-14 QuadBoss tires and don't really have any damage with a lighter foot on the gas.

 

[Lil_Steve]

I don't live to far from the White Tank hills, the powers to be have shut down pretty much the whole area to allow only mountain bikes, horses, and hiking in a small area (park). Three years ago you could ride pretty much the whole thing, except for the park area. We are quickly becoming commieforia with shooting areas also being closed down. My neighbor would definitely disagree about the rocks. He drives a little more careless then I do and real heavy on the gas. Everytime we go out he tears his tires up a little more on the sharp nasty rocks that are in some of the areas. I'm running 30x10R-14 QuadBoss tires and don't really have any damage with a lighter foot on the gas.

Sucks to hear about the riding area closures, once those closures happen, it seems very unlikely they'll re-open.

After spending the last few days repairing or trying to repair tire damage on my Terrabites, I realized the best way to manage my tire life is to slow down my pace a bit. A lot of my riding is with my buddy on his bike and he can almost always carry more speed through rocky terrain than I can. He'll just have to wait for me!

 

[HavasuDave]

I am wondering if anyone has run the KO2s on a Talon? Yes, I know about the UTV specific KM3s, but they are not DOT approved. I am in AZ, my new Talon 1000R is street legal, and I need DOT tires. I think these tires should do pretty well in the terrain that I run, which is mostly sand, rocks, and pavement. I ride enough pavement that good manners on pavement is important. I might rarely get into snow, and I don't do mud! I am thinking about the 30x9.50R15. BFG lists this at 29.5" diameter, and 9.5" wide when mounted on a 7.5" wide wheel. They are listed at 39.66 pounds, which is at the heavy end of things. I know these tires are well regarded on Jeeps and trucks. I have owned some myself. I just wonder how they would fare on a SxS? I consider this a very high quality tire, from a reputable manufacturer. The icing on the cake is that these are readily available for $148, which I think is a bargain. They have a 50,000 mile tread life warranty, but I suspect that will not apply in SxS use!

I would run the same size front and rear. With a spare, I could do 5 tire rotations. I might use 5 Honda front wheels, or I might go to beadlocks. The leading contender would be the STI HD9 6+1 beadlocks.

I appreciate any thoughts, but would especially appreciate hearing from anyone with actual experience with these. Thanks!

Tom in AZ

I am going to those when my KM3’s wear out. Same size. Went 32” on the KM3’s wish I hadn’t. My buddy runs them on his RZR. I have the same reason as you, street legal in AZ. I think they have even better sidewall protection. I haven’t found that the weight makes a difference. On my rzr with big O big foots and method rims they weighed 63 pounds. I sold my RZR with 11,000 miles, the tires had 8000 miles on them with no repairs or issues. Would have gone KO2 s this time but got a deal through a buddy for the KM3s.

 

[Lil_Steve]

I am going to those when my KM3’s wear out. Same size. Went 32” on the KM3’s wish I hadn’t.

Are your KM3's the UTV specific tires or the light truck version? Anything you didn't like about the KM3's besides the size? Although I really like the ground clearance of my 32" Terrabites I'm pretty sure my next set of tires will be 30's.

 

[HavasuDave]

Are your KM3's the UTV specific tires or the light truck version? Anything you didn't like about the KM3's besides the size? Although I really like the ground clearance of my 32" Terrabites I'm pretty sure my next set of tires will be 30's.

Yes they are the UTV version. You know what, I didn’t catch that. I meant the DOT version of the KM3. I agree with you on going back to 30”. The KM3’s ride is good, the handling is as good, traction good, maybe better than my Tusk Terrabites. I run the K02’s on my FJ Cruiser and have thought about going to them. There must be a reason why the Baja racers are using the KM3 now. Even though considered a mud tire, I found it works very well in sand and rock. It does have more road noise. I will be watching this thread for a ride report on the tires. Maybe I need to keep the KO2’s as a maybe?🤷‍♂️

 

[Boundertom]

Well, we have wheels! Unfortunately only 4 out of 5 arrived. Tracking says the 5th won't be here until Monday. The 5th wheel was originally scheduled to arrive today with its brothers. I suspect something bad happened to it! That puts a little monkey wrench in things, but I guess I will survive. A friend came down and helped me mount 4 tires. That was surprisingly easy. He had some tire lube to put on the back bead, and the tires practically fell onto the wheel! Torquing the beadlock rings was time consuming, but certainly not difficult. Beads seated very easily. We spent about about 2 hours on the task, working at a fairly leisurely pace. We are retired, after all!

I know that y'all are breathlessly awaiting a ride report, but that will have to wait. I want to get the wheels balanced, and I don't want to make 2 trips to the tire shop. And, all of a sudden, we have a lot of rain in the forecast. I also need to take the Talon out on the stock tires and try to get some more accurate RPM readings at various speeds. I did get some pics, and some weights and measurements. The tires weigh 39.6 pounds on my digital bathroom scale. BFG says they weigh 39.66, so right on there. The tire and wheel combo weighs 57.2 pounds. The mounted tire is 29.5" tall (NOT on the Talon) which is exactly what BFG specs. The stock tires (installed on the Talon) measure 27.1" tall. I will get additional weights and measurements on the stock tires when I remove them.

Stay tuned for the ride report, hopefully next week.

 

[Boundertom]

Another little update. The 5th wheel and the RB3 wheel spacers arrived Friday. The spacers are a work of art! Very nicely machined. Too bad they are going to be hidden. I mounted up the last tire by myself, easy peasy. Of course, I had to mount them up to see how they looked. I didn't want to get the tires and wheels dirty before I took them in to be balanced. So I just went for a quick blast up the highway. The tires ran very smooth, with just a little bit of vibration. I didn't perceive much difference in acceleration, but braking power was diminished with the heavier wheels and tires. I don't feel like that will be a problem. I took RPM readings at various speeds. At an actual 55 mph (on the GPS) the RPMs dropped from 6300 to 6000. At an actual 65 mph, RPMs dropped from 7500 to 7100. It is a very noticeable and welcome difference.

I took the 5 wheels and tires into Big O this morning to be balanced. I feel like they bent me over on the job, at $16 each, but there are few local options. I didn't want to drive 45 miles one way to the city.. Anyway, it has been raining all day. When I got home, I decided to wait until the rain let up before I unloaded the tires. I heard the rain apparently stop, so I headed out to unload. Well, the rain stopped, because it started SNOWING! Now, we do get snow once or twice a winter in my location, but it usually comes at night. Oh well, it isn't much. I used to love winter and snow, but I used to be into snowmobiling.

I will post again when I get it out for a good ride.

 

[Lil_Steve]

Looks great! Good thing you got photos while they're shiny and new, they'll be muddy soon! After a record breaking hot summer and about 100 days without rain, the trails will be great after the recent rains, go have some fun!

 

[Boundertom]

Ha! Hondabob took me on a rainy ride last week, and we got it good and muddy. That reminds me, gotta order some Rokblokz! We haven't had a decent rain here since last April, so we did need it. And we are cooler than the valley, but it was still crazy hot last summer. I hope this year is not a repeat!

Tom

 

[CID]

Ha! Hondabob took me on a rainy ride last week, and we got it good and muddy. That reminds me, gotta order some Rokblokz! We haven't had a decent rain here since last April, so we did need it. And we are cooler than the valley, but it was still crazy hot last summer. I hope this year is not a repeat!

Tom

Do you have door lowers? (your photo clearly shows you don't 😊 ) A year ago, I wondered why so many SxSs didn't have complete doors and one of my first add ons was door lowers. Well, after cooking myself like a lobster most of last summer, even at 10,000 + feet, I won't be putting them on the new Talon. The Rokblokz keep the front tires from filling the cab with debris and, with the radiator up front, I need all the air transfer possible.

I've ridden at mid 30's temps so far this winter and have been completely comfortable. Admittedly, I'm wearing snomo bibs, 2 t-shirts, a sweatshirt and winter jacket but velcro tennies. 😊 I do carry my snomo boots in case things go south north. 🥶 🥶 🥶

PaulF blocks off the tunnel, keeping a lot of that heat from turning the passenger compartment into an oven - post #11.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-gZ8LJpB/0/e8d52923/L/i-gZ8LJpB-L.jpg

ETA: pay attention when ordering Rokblokz, there are color choices that are easy to miss.

 

[Boundertom]

Do you have door lowers? (your photo clearly shows you don't 😊 ) A year ago, I wondered why so many SxSs didn't have complete doors and one of my first add ons was door lowers. Well, after cooking myself like a lobster most of last summer, even at 10,000 + feet, I won't be putting them on the new Talon. The Rokblokz keep the front tires from filling the cab with debris and, with the radiator up front, I need all the air transfer possible.

I've ridden at mid 30's temps so far this winter and have been completely comfortable. Admittedly, I'm wearing snomo bibs, 2 t-shirts, a sweatshirt and winter jacket but velcro tennies. 😊 I do carry my snomo boots in case things go south north. 🥶 🥶 🥶

PaulF blocks off the tunnel, keeping a lot of that heat from turning the passenger compartment into an oven - post #11.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-gZ8LJpB/0/e8d52923/L/i-gZ8LJpB-L.jpg

ETA: pay attention when ordering Rokblokz, there are color choices that are easy to miss.

I do not have door lowers. Before I got my Talon, those were near the top of my list of stuff to buy. I thought it was just stupid to leave that hole. After I got the Talon, I thought I would just wait and see. I was looking hard at the EMP lowers, as they could be easily removed with just 4 screws. On that ride last week, I got just a small amount of mud in through the lower door openings, but it really wasn't much. I don't seem to get a lot of air in there either. I have crossed the door lowers off my list for now.

Yes, I am a little uncertain about the colors on the Rokblokz. All of their pictures seem to show gray front lower mudflaps, which I don't really care for. I am guessing that the gray is the "Accent Color". I am going to call them for clarification before I order. I think LilSteve said his were all black?

I am interested in the tunnel blocking mod. I don't think that is what is shown in the pic in your link? I am looking forward to riding this summer in shorts and t-shirts, which I would never do on an ATV. Nevertheless, I think we are going to cook here in AZ!

Thanks!

Tom