It is time to replace tires, and I have been thinking about dropping down to a smaller diameter tire. I use my DS for local desert racing, and have not had any problems with ground clearance with 22" tires, but I do have problems with rather poor manueverability in the tight twisty pinion tree forest sections of the race courses. This DS wants to go straight, LOL. Anyway, will 20" tires help significantly with cornering, and has anyone tried the 20x11x9 Holeshot XCR-03 rear tires, and Holeshot XCR 21x7x10 front tires for desert racing? How do the shorter tires do? Thanks.

DesertViper.

 

dropping the size of the fronts will decrease caster angle, and make the steering much more sensetive, especially at higher speeds, and also increase "bump steer" and bar jerk when you tag stuff. one of the reasons the new ds's handle better than the old is because they increased stock tire size from 21 to 22.
also the smaller tires leave less rubber between the ground and the rim, making dents to the bead all the more easy.
Personally I hated running the 21's, I now run 22" XCR's and I like them alot. one of my favorite things about them is the downhill breaking that is enhanced by the apposing angled tread. I first thought the flat profile of the XCR's would allow them to push more thru the turns than a round tire, but actually they bite pretty good and I really don't have any complaints.

 

"Light bulb goes on inside head".

Thanks Hightower. I think it is actually the size of the front tires relative to the size of the rear tires that changes the caster angle. And right now I am running 22" Pure Sport Bandits front and rear, so if I change to 21" Holeshot XCR front tires and 20" Holeshot XCR-03 rear tires I will "effectively" go to a taller front tire, or at least a front tire that is relatively taller compared to the rear tire. This would be the same as changing to a 23" front tire and keeping the 22" rear tires I have now, except that the whole ATV will be an inch lower with the smaller tires, and hopefully have better cornering characteristics because of the lower height; that's the plan anyway.

 

I see, I was thinking of 22" in the rear combined with the smallies up front, didn't read your first post clear enough, 20 rear and 21 front will make for good handling.
Sure you wanna give up the ground clearance though? 1" doesn't seem like much, but it really is. There are tires that give better handling than the bandits in the same size, bandits are good for slip and slide, not the greatest in the traction department. But you know your courses best, I am just used to rutted trails with rocks and roots where I need the 22's, that may not be an issue for where you run.

 

Independent of whatever rear tire you run, the larger front tire will increase "trail" a term more commonly used in dirtbikes to describe the distance from the imaginary point where the pivot point hits the ground (caster angle) back to the center of the tire patch. The greater this distance, the better the stability. In sand the tire patch actually moves forward, reducing this distance, and stability, which is why you need more caster for sand than for hard surfaces. Too much caster, or trail, makes for hard steering, especially at slow speeds. The size of your rear tires will affect the caster, and therefore the trail, all these are inter-related, change anything, and everything changes.

Lowering the quad will definitely improve cornering, consider using your suspension to lower your quad instead of your tire size.

I love my 22/23 XCTs on my Baja X.....I have all my shocks set at zero preload, this compensates for the added height of the XCTs. I am also using the dual rate two-spring set up on the rear shock from an '03 Baja instead of the single spring that came with it. Lower, wider, lots of sag, won't bottom out because of the dual rate rear spring.

 

I hope you have not bought them yet. Those were my first replacement after the ohtsus (XCR-03). I also do desert racing. In the first 30 miles I was missing at least 5 ***** of each rear tire, the rest were almost gone by mile 100. Not puncture resistant at all (6/ply, of what?). I try contacting ITP, impossible, no answer. I went with the local dealer and he said those where not ment for racing!!. He is probably right, not racing with the Bomb. The XCR03 are light and better suited for smaller machines, they just cant handle the abuse and weight of the bomb. If you go back to 20 on the rear, you'll miss the height clearance.

 

I have not bought them yet, so thanks for the tip DSlider. And even though my Pure Sport Bandits worked GREAT in todays sand race, I haven't liked how my DS handles really tight twisty race courses in the trees. I have already ordered Ohlins suspension for it, which will lower it about an inch (maybe more), so I can't go with Elkas at this point, which would have lowered it more. I want my DS to do better in the corners, so if anybody has any ideas please speak up.