Has anyone tried low profile tires on a 650 cat. In the size of 22 diameter? I ride mostly in Michigan which has sand and some mud. Our spring and winter months are fun with mud and snow, but our summers are sand. My question is will the small tires allow the engine to rev higher and still keep my top speed ?
I know the acceleration will increase, as well as the handling will improve for trail riding. If I pick a good set of tires and aluminum rims I can reduce the rotating mass and again improve acceleration.

Any thoughts ?

 

I am not sure about that, you should just buy a DVX...

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]It is so easy spending other peoples money!!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Well that was a complete waste of time.

Theoretically, yes you could do that. I dont know where you live in michigan, but the trails can go south pretty fast in my neck of the woods. If it was my money, I'd just get a set of holeshot atr's of about 25" and run those. Great trail tire and not heavy like the mudders.

 

that 650 engine loves 25 mudrunners on the kawi650 I would seriously consider those. By the way we have a *%^)43$#) freaken rev limitor and if you want to fix that you will need a CDI. I don't know about sand but trail and mud the mudrunners would be perfect.

 

do they even make a 22" tire for a 12" rim?

25" ATR's are what you are looking for. Man 22" would just look stupid!

 

I guess what I'm trying to achieve is a great improvement in trail riding handling. The back end on these 650's really stick to the ground, this seems to cause the front end to plow and not turn as it could. I've tried different air pressure settings and have improved it, but not enough. Maybee a stiff sidewall tire is all that is really needed. The ground clearance is more than I could ever want.

I thought maybee someone out there has tried a set of sport bike tires on the 4x4.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks

 

you said it right there man those goodyears radial have REALLY soft sidewalls, people complain about them almost everyday. My 500 has dunlop bias tires and it handles beautifully on hard trails and pavement, they just have crap for mud and snow traction. Go with the atr's like everyone has said, you will be much impressed. having a tank like quad like these ac's and putting little dinky tires would be like seeing bigfoot cruising around with geo metro tires on it

 

Offroadcat
I've ran a Prairie 650,Polaris 500 and a 660 Griz. at the Imperial Sand Dunes in Calif. and we have found that a 25 x 12 or larger tire works way better than a 22" tall tire. The idea with sand is to get on top. A smaller tire seems to dig in and you have to rev the daylights out of them to get on top. The sand is probably the only place where the stock ATR's will work.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

A Cat lowrider? Now there's a contradiction in terms...

 

just a quick reply i think you would loose top end with 22s and increase accel and take corners better plus more low end grunt off the line