Started at 11:30 this morning, riding some great trails in northern MI. We're ripping down the trails, every now and then we come up on in some wash out areas with some small, medium and large rocks. I'm behind my friend and I catch a large rock on the inside of my rear rim. I didn't even see the darn thing; I came up on it so quickly. The rim bends (a nice bend I should add) and I put a large gash in the stock rear right tire (Ohtsu). I ride for another 100' and realize that something is seriously wrong. I stop and look at my front suspension, everything looks okay, look at the right rear and the tire is flat. So, we have time early on a Saturday to get to town and see what can be salvaged. I took the rim/tire to four places and everyone tells me they wouldn't even try to fix the tire. I believe I can get the rim bent back with some work at my friends machine shop.

What would most of you do regarding this situation?

* Bend out rim to as close to round as possible?
* Buy another stock Ohtsu and put it on my fix-up job rim?
* Buy a new set of rears for the stock rims? If so, I'd consider Razr, Razr2 or ITP XCR Holeshots. The Razr2's look good on the X. Looks don't matter though, it's best performance I'd like.

The stock Ohtsu tires are 20x10x9. I don't exactly know/understand how tire sizes work, but most I see for sale are 20x11x9 or 22x11x9. Will 20x11x9 fit the stock rim?

I'd consider the 22x11x9 if they would fit the stock rim. Although, I don't want to do any cutting to the plastic.

Opinions and online recommendations for purchase are appreciated.

TIA

 

The 22X11X9 will work on the stock rims. I would get a new rim and re work the bent one as a spare. Thestock tires are great on lose dirt but add rock roots and other sharp thing and the side walls will go. Just get 6 ply tires and .190 rims I like the XCR my self. If you go with the 22 rears allso get the 23 fronts to blance out the ride.

 

Do yourself a favor and start replacing the Ohtsus with a 6ply. I went through 3 Ohtsu tires in 2 months before getting a set of RazrII's. No problems since. RazrII's = excellent traction, durability, wear. Just my .02

 

The reason you bent the rim is because the stock Ohtsu tires are about as strong as tissue paper. They are horrible tires if you encounter any rocks at all, and on my current DS I swapped tires before even bringing it home for the first time. On my last DS I had tried to use the Ohtsu tires, and on my very first ride in the desert I got a flat within a mile of the truck. I took the tire to the nearest town and had it repaired. Then I got a flat in the other rear tire within a few miles of the truck on our second attempt at riding that day. Another trip to town got that tire repaired. On our third attempt to ride that day I got another flat on the rear tire that had gone flat initially, and this time the sidewall was badly torn and the rim was bent. On our third trip to town on the same day we bought a set of Razr rear tires, and I never got another flat for the life of that DS.

On this DS I run light weight ITP T9 wheels, without reinforcing rings, and with good tires I don't have problems with bent rims, even riding in the rocks. Pretty much any rear tire will be better than the stock Ohtsu tires when it comes to strength, even though the stock tires do provide good traction. As to which rear tires to get, ... opinions very. I prefer 22" rear tires over 20" tires for the extra ground clearance and for the higher top speed. Holeshots are good all around tires, but don't hook up well in sand, and when new they have almost too much sideways grip, and don't slide as easily as some other brands. Razr's are even a little worse than Holeshots in sand, but hook up better on hard pack, and slide better on dirt than the Holeshots do. Bandits hook up very good in sand, and have good forward bite on dirt and hard pack. But Bandits slip sideways too easily on hard pack, which limits their overall performance. If I were to pick a "best tire" for dry conditions it would be the Holeshots, because once they wear in, they slide good but still have good all around traction. I've never ridden in Michigan, but I would suspect the Razr 2 would be a contender there as well, because it was designed for more wet conditions (at least that is what Maxxis says).

 

Just ordered a pair of Razr II's (20x11x9) from Rocky Mountain ATV. My friend and I plan to rework the rim with a hammer at his machine shop. He believes we won't have a problem getting the new tires to bead up. Thanks for the input.