Okay, I read o lot if you guys recommending 22 inch rear tires to anybody that posts a question about rear tire size. I also read a lot of you recommend dropping a tooth on the front sprocket. Here are my questions.
1) If you need to drop a front tooth on the front sprocket, wouldn't it be better to just run 20's, if the gearing is basically the same? (referring to 22's and a 14 vs. 20's and stock)

2) With the newer model DS's with the shorter swinger' there is obviously clearance issues with 22's rubbing the stock heal guards, why run them?

3) Whith all the talk of lowering rotating mass, wouldn’t it just be natural that the 22 will be heavier (more rubber)? If you're trying to lower your rotating mass, wouldn't 20 be better?

4) Are the 22's recommended for purely ground clearance?

Now, that being said, I run 20's in the rear for paddles. 22's in the rear for knobbies (Razors). I'm sure there are benefits that I an not seeing or understand. What are they? What are your opinions?

 

I run 22" Razrs mostly for ground clearence. They do raise your overall gearing and for my circumstances I have to re-gear, you may not have to. Another benefit they provide is mine are wider than stock which keeps me from going deeper into the ruts. Your are correct the stock 20" would provide less rotating mass and I agree would be a more desirable condition. The bottom line for me was without the additional ground clearence the rotating mass was going no where as I hung up everywhere I went, I had no choice.

 

Yeah better clearance. Almost a necessity for trails. Holeshot xct's are pretty light, and great for trails. Don't sacrifice sidewall thickness for weight savings if you do a lot of trail riding. Definetely re-gear with sprocket changes. Unless you want the added topend, but your bottom end will suffer.

 

Okay guys, that all makes sence. I can understand all that. Well, I made a mistake, my Razors are 20' (don't even know what is on my own bike! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]), anyway, I rode several VERY rocky Jeep trails in Colorado this last summer with no ground clearance issues. I like do like the grearing of the shorter tires. The sidewalls are nice and stiff. I think the jury is still out on this issue. I know I would not like modifying my heal gaurds to get 22 under there. Your guys different takes on this are interesting.

 

Keep in mind the whole rotating mass thing isn't very relevent anywhere you would use regular dirt tires. The rotating mass in only really a concern if you are dragging. 22" tires in a recreational standpoint are better all the way around, it isn't any slower, it has more ground clearance, you get less flats, your rims take less damage, the bike looks better.

Gearing down in the front is an option - I ran 22" rears and stock gearing for at least a year, in and out of sand (mostly out.) I did gear down to a 15t front because I ride a lot of sand and the little extra I get from that makes me feel good. (does it help, who the hell really knows! - it also depends on how you ride.)

On sand, 22" tires are leaps and bounds better because flotation is what you need on sand - you want your machine on top of the sand not in it. If rotating mass was the only concern, why not run 5" tires - they would be much lighter, but they wouldn't float at all you would be sitting still spinning your tires. I once tried Kenda Dune Trakkers on my DS - big mistake. Now these are a tire labeled as being 20" tall which they are not. At the carcass they measure about 16". With the ATV stopped on perfectly flat ground I could not sit on the atv and make it go forward - it would dig holes. I had to get off of the machine, stand next to it, put it in gear, get it moving then jump on. The only way the tires would make the ATV move is if I was facing down hill.

So for the recreational rider, there is everything to gain a GOOD pair of 20" tires will WORK but 22" tires will be much more fun on the sand. (You'll know when you ride them.)

Now for drag racing, there are a million factors that come into play and I don't pretend to know all of them. The larger tires allow for more 'ballooning' effect, they float better (keep going back to this,) the paddles bite differently, a completely different profile, and other stuff I'm not thinking of. Lastly - a good pair of competition cut tires between a 20" and 22" wont have much difference in weight so the other advantages of the larger tire will outweigh the slight weight difference.

It takes less time to modify the heel guards than it takes to install an exhaust pipe - you have an exhaust pipe, don't you? I have 23" rear tires (at the apex in the carcass) and they don't hit my non-modified heel guards on my 2003 Baja. Though my tires are more of a round as opposed to a flat profile.

Wait a second - I just read your 'forum signature' and it reads as long as a hooker's rap sheet - you are telling me you've installed ALL of that stuff and you are nervous about trimming 3" of plastic? I don't have 1/10th the mods that you have and one of my DSs does have trimmed heel guards. (My 2001 - heck, I trimmed those within my first two weeks of owning the ATV!)

 

Blackhawk, don't get me wrong. I am not afraid of doing a little "modding" (as apposed to "mudding", which I am apposed to) as you can see. My quad is a 2001, it has the longer swinger (as you already know) so I would not need to trim my heal guards. I am not trying to sway anyone away from the 22's, heck sounds like I am running the wrong tire (at the time they didn't have any 22's, the 20 were mounted up and ready to go, so that is what I got). I am just trying to get a little education on the different combination and how all this stuff works together. My ultimate goal it to WAX my lil'bro on his NOS powered 400EX. I want every edge I can get and NOT use NOS. I want to beat him "Normally Aspirated"!
So, with that in mind you can see where I am going with this. Trying to get all this information out in the open. I think I am going to go with some 22's for next summer, give them a try.
I don't know what kind of dunes you run on, I am betting mostly wide open hill climbing (my personnel favorite). I know you have been to Little Sahara in Oklahoma, so you know there are a lot of tight sand trails. When you are in them, are you running in 2'ed and 3'ed mainly? That is where I am, will I still be running in second and 3'ed with a stock from sprocket? My group does a lot of tight turns and I like the power to get around them that 2'ed gives me now.

 

I agree with Blackhawk 100%
I too have run 22" rears four a long time. I put new tires on the back about 2 weeks after I got my DS. Up here I do mostly trail riding, so I went to bigger rears for ground clearance as well.

In the sand a 22" paddel make a night and day differance. I did not gear down at first when I installed my 22" rear tires. Once I found out that i could buy different sprocket sizes I played a fair bit and found out that a 15/40 was the best for trail ridding and 14/40 was the best for dune ridding. With the 14/40 in the sand I could take off like a shot out of he** in 2nd gear all the time. 3rd gear is also very fun to ride with this combo because you are always in the power band. I also tryed a 20" rear sand tire as well and did the same thing as Blackhawk - could not get anywhere with them !!!

You will lose some top speed with this combo. This is why I have know switched to a 15/43 combo. I keep this gear ratio on all the time, gives me the best of both- lots of power down low and Ii can still wide it out if I want too. I did have to modify my skid plate to fit the bigger rear sprocket on.

If you do a seach on this forum you should be able to find a gear calculator that lets you plug in different sprocket sizes to figure out gear ratios.