If im looking for a set of paddles for the rear and sand tires for the front what is the best out there for my money? What do I have to look out for in buying new tires?

 

First thing first - don't cheap out on rear tires. If you buy something cheaper you will hate them. Buy a set of Skat Tracs haulers 22" for the rear (8 or 9 paddles - extreams are the best).
For the front is does not make a whole bunch of differance.
Rocky Mountain is probable you best best for prices !!!

 

What ever you buy, get at least 22" x 10" wide for flaotation, unless you hill shoot stay with 8 paddle, some great tire but not cheap are STU comp groove #01 hook up great, allow you to turn, great duner tire and light, skats are great alsobut take a bit to throw the rear end around

 

My experience with paddles has always been with 20" Haulers (on a Raptor and Banshee) until I bought my 07 DS650. I decided manuverability and appearence were more important and as a result, I bought the new 22x11x12 sized ITP Sand Star's ($144 for a set of rear paddles through the dealer with no shipping charge).

In order to run these, I called OMF @ OMFPERFORMANCE.com and custom ordered a set of 12" Douglas red label rims with an outer reinforcement ring welded on. THEY LOOK AWESOME without the tall sidewall normally attributed to 22" paddles. They were spendy ($160 per wheel) but they are unique which added to my reasoning of buying a DS in the first place.

Bottom line, as the others have stated buy 22" paddles. ITP also recommended this size due to the weight and power the DS has. Be prepared to re-gear a stock bike or it will not pull 5th gear with the larger diameter rear wheels. I re-geared my DS when I bought it (never riding it stock) to a 15/42. It made it a great torque monster that enabled me to pull 5th gear wheelies wide open down the beach with an acceptable/minimal loss of top end when running stock dirt tires.

Good luck.

 

Where is a good place to order the tires from? or should I go down to my friendly motorsports dealer and get them?

 

i agree with gadet. get the itp sand stars. those skat tracks are ok your all you wany to do is drag but even then the sand stars hook up mad. tryed meny other paddels and i think they are the best. you can pick them up at your local dealer but i whould recomend going to a sand sports show or something like that because they are usally like 180-190 at show and 250 and the dealer

 

I just sold a like new set of 22" Sand Stars after getting Skat Trak 22x11x10 8 paddle double buff extremes, I will never go back.

For me there was no comparison, they turn just as well for me and hook up much better. With the Sand Stars I could launch in 2nd with no bogging at all, not even a drop in RPM. With the Extremes I would bog a bit, or the front end would come up.

I hope my recent mods will take care of that and I can launch with them like I did the Sand Stars[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]