Pavement, the 600lbs gorilla in the room

[Fyathyrio]

I am lucky in that I can go from my driveway to hundreds of miles of trails, just minutes away, that cover mountains & deserts. The downside is that I often spend a decent chunk of a trip on pavement getting to those trails, sometimes doing 40 or 50MPH with the speed limit & traffic flow. This is wearing the stock tires like a high speed belt sander, particularly the locked rears.

I ride trails in sand, rock, snow, and light mud. The stock tires have served me well in all those environments, and just about any general aftermarket tire will likely be fine, too, since I don't need to specialize for a particular type.

Is there a tire out there that has good wear on pavement? Stock size to 30" as I don't want/need huge tires throwing off the gearing & power. If I have to get new wheels, that's OK.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Admin]

 

[Vikes79]

Have you checked the alignment?

 

[PaulF]

I am lucky in that I can go from my driveway to hundreds of miles of trails, just minutes away, that cover mountains & deserts. The downside is that I often spend a decent chunk of a trip on pavement getting to those trails, sometimes doing 40 or 50MPH with the speed limit & traffic flow. This is wearing the stock tires like a high speed belt sander, particularly the locked rears.

I ride trails in sand, rock, snow, and light mud. The stock tires have served me well in all those environments, and just about any general aftermarket tire will likely be fine, too, since I don't need to specialize for a particular type.

Is there a tire out there that has good wear on pavement? Stock size to 30" as I don't want/need huge tires throwing off the gearing & power. If I have to get new wheels, that's OK.

Thanks,
Mark

Yes, those locked rear tires are soft as butter when it comes to pavement. I do the same (drive a lot of pavement to get to trails) and my rears were half gone at 300 miles before I replaced them with Tusk TerraBite Kevlars.

The Terrabites are DOT approved and are faring MUCH better. I think any DOT rated tire will wear better in your driving style. For even better wear, you might consider a light truck tire.

 

[906UP]

I 2nd the Terrabites, they work awesome for rigs that have to run pavement from time to time, low noise, smooth ride but still retain good off road traction.

 

[Fyathyrio]

Thanks for the tire info!

I'd like to do the rear 1.5" spacer setup so front & rear are on the same wheel, but both Rough Country and Super ATV are out. Any other trustworthy brands my weakass google-fu can't find?

4x136/7 bolt pattern and 12mmx1.5 pitch studs, right? Seems to be same as Can Am Maverick.

 

[bjniceguy]

rb3 offroad makes them besure to confirm stud pitch

 

[PaulF]

Thanks for the tire info!

I'd like to do the rear 1.5" spacer setup so front & rear are on the same wheel, but both Rough Country and Super ATV are out. Any other trustworthy brands my weakass google-fu can't find?

4x136/7 bolt pattern and 12mmx1.5 pitch studs, right? Seems to be same as Can Am Maverick.

Yes, Talon is 12mm X 1.5

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[hondabob]

My Terrabite 30's have 11,700 miles and I will get at least another 2,000 miles. I'm annoyed they are lasting so long. I'm going back to 28's and will get the 28x10x15 Mongrels so I can keep up with the Turbo guys in the high speed sand washes. The 30's suck the balls off my Talon in 6th gear. I had Mongrels on my Pioneer 1000 that lasted 9,800 miles. I do some 65 mph pavement riding when my RZR buddy's break down getting them back to their truck and trailer. I use 5 Talon front wheels with 1.5 wheel spacers in the back and rotate them every 2,000 miles.

 

[PaulF]

My Terrabite 30's have 11,700 miles and I will get at least another 2,000 miles. I'm annoyed they are lasting so long. I'm going back to 28's and will get the 28x10x15 Mongrels so I can keep up with the Turbo guys in the high speed sand washes. The 30's suck the balls off my Talon in 6th gear. I had Mongrels on my Pioneer 1000 that lasted 9,800 miles. I do some 65 mph pavement riding when my RZR buddy's break down getting them back to their truck and trailer. I use 5 Talon front wheels with 1.5 wheel spacers in the back and rotate them every 2,000 miles.

Bob, have you considered 25% IGR and sticking with 30's or even 32's???

 

[hondabob]

Yes I have but I need a narrow close to 1,000 pound SxS for some of our rides.

 

[PaulF]

Yes I have but I need a narrow close to 1,000 pound SxS for some of our rides.

I think you thought I was talking about Portals and I am not. I am talking about something MUCH cheaper and no added width or weight...

IGR = Internal Gear Reduction. New machined gears that go in where the clutches are and reduce the gearing internally. They now have this for the Talon.

 

[denniswestfall]

I've got 32" Blackwater's on machine now. One of the closer areas we ride is mainly seasonal roads with some pavement to get between areas. It's more high speed than technical, so I just picked up a set of 28" interco snipers and some system 3 wheels to swap out for such rides. I'm heading up thursday to try them out. Had the 32s on since new, so it will be interesting to see how the x4 performs.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Fyathyrio]

Nice pointer to RB3, thanks!

 

[hondabob]

Portals won't work for me but I did consider building a deep snow UTV. It would be way too dangerous for us to have a breakdown so I quit the deep snow riding. I'm aware of the Internal Gear Reduction and the easy install. I need a narrow UTV for some of our extreme rock crawling, under 60 inches wide.

 

[bjniceguy]

looks like need a snowmobile lol

 

[Hometeam]

Portals won't work for me but I did consider building a deep snow UTV. It would be way too dangerous for us to have a breakdown so I quit the deep snow riding. I'm aware of the Internal Gear Reduction and the easy install. I need a narrow UTV for some of our extreme rock crawling, under 60 inches wide.

View attachment 206100

I hate saying this but we have a Polaris Ace also (actually had 3 for a spell) and it is a pretty fun machine and does turtle up some crazy stuff. They make a 570 and 900. The 570 is powerful enough to hit 60 but not really tear itself up. My son drives it with me! They are around 54" with a good set of wheels and tires!

 

[Fyathyrio]

Yesterday I installed a set of System3 ST-3 wheels (5+2, +40mm, non-beadlocks) wrapped in 30" Tusk Kevlar Terrabites. I used RB3 1.5" spacers on the rear, and I did use blue locktite for the hidden studs. The wheel track is a little wider, but that shouldn't be an issue on the trails I usually ride.

The new tires are a bit harder than the stockers, but have better grip on gravel & dirt trails right up until they suddenly don't. They break loose without too much warning unlike the stock ones that were more dependable. Not a terrible situation, will just take a small change in driving habits and changing my throttle steering inputs some. At 15 PSI, they did great at 40-50 MPH on pavement and packed gravel hardpan, too.

The increase to 30" tires did seem to confuse the shift points a bit, but I'm sure the brain will relearn my habits after a few rides. A quick ride up to over 9k ft didn't show any real noticeable loss of power according to the butt dyno.

 

[JimmyA]

My Terrabite 30's have 11,700 miles and I will get at least another 2,000 miles. I'm annoyed they are lasting so long. I'm going back to 28's and will get the 28x10x15 Mongrels so I can keep up with the Turbo guys in the high speed sand washes. The 30's suck the balls off my Talon in 6th gear. I had Mongrels on my Pioneer 1000 that lasted 9,800 miles. I do some 65 mph pavement riding when my RZR buddy's break down getting them back to their truck and trailer. I use 5 Talon front wheels with 1.5 wheel spacers in the back and rotate them every 2,000 miles.

Impressive on the mileage!

 

[JimmyA]

Nice pointer to RB3, thanks!

They are good to do business with!

 

[PaulF]

Yesterday I installed a set of System3 ST-3 wheels (5+2, +40mm, non-beadlocks) wrapped in 30" Tusk Kevlar Terrabites. I used RB3 1.5" spacers on the rear, and I did use blue locktite for the hidden studs. The wheel track is a little wider, but that shouldn't be an issue on the trails I usually ride.

The new tires are a bit harder than the stockers, but have better grip on gravel & dirt trails right up until they suddenly don't. They break loose without too much warning unlike the stock ones that were more dependable. Not a terrible situation, will just take a small change in driving habits and changing my throttle steering inputs some. At 15 PSI, they did great at 40-50 MPH on pavement and packed gravel hardpan, too.

The increase to 30" tires did seem to confuse the shift points a bit, but I'm sure the brain will relearn my habits after a few rides. A quick ride up to over 9k ft didn't show any real noticeable loss of power according to the butt dyno.

View attachment 210275

Looks GREAT!

I run the same exact tire. Try lowering your pressure, it will help the ride and traction. The stock tires are smaller up front but the machine is lighter too so the factory recommends the same pressure front and rear. The Terrabites have a much higher rating (1000 lbs at 22 psi) but your Talon doesn't weigh anywhere near 4000 lbs but more like half of that loaded.

For that reason, I run 10 up front and 12 in the rear on pavement and dirt. I drop as low as 5 and 6 for sand and rock crawling but you may not want to go that low without beadlocks.