Man I am fed up with the piece of crap Ohtsu tires! I went out rideing today in my usual stomping ground and the next thing I know BLAM! There goes the new Ohtsu that I replaced the old one with that went BLAM! the last time I rode up there. Great traction, no puncture resistance. Nd I dinged the bead on the inside of my rim! Again! Hey didn't I see somewhere a while ago that someona had welded some aluminum rings on the inside of the Baja rims? Also does anyone know where I can get some good full Bead reinforced rims for a good price? I tell ya as soon as I can scrounge up some money I am Buying Bandit X/C's!

 

Only problem with reinforcement rings is that they can't be put on the inside of the front wheels because of the brake calipers.
I must be more careful with my Ohtsus or something, never had a blowout. I know several guys that have, riding the same exact terrain as me, I must be lucky.

 

Same here, I ride rocky terrain rather oten, but have no complaints. You need to understnd though that the Ohtsu's are not your ideal hard terrain tire.

 

I got a whopping 20 minutes on my brand new Ohtsus, before a small tree stump put an eight inch hole in one! I would seriously consider the Maxxis All Traks ove the Bandits. I have the Bandits now and although they do really well on hard pack and mud, they aren't too hot on grass and sand. The All Traks seem to hook up well everywhere, but Im not sure if you can get them in XC's. Good luck either way!

 

I wish the all traks came in 20".
I have a friend who has all traks, they get some serious bite. Don't side slide quite as well as the motorcross style tires, but better than would be expected.

Curiosity : what air pressure were you guys using in your Ohtsus when they got tore?

Does anybody know if the ITP Rolled Edge wheels come in a lug pattern for the DS? The Douglas Ultimate Rolled Edges are .160, the ITP's are .190, I'd rather have the ITP Rolled edges. Chapparral sells them for $57 each - that's an amazing price for a rolled edge wheel! Its 4th of July, can't call them to see if they're offered today!

 

I have the Bandit X/C's, and I love them, they are awesome! Never had a flat, awesome traction, and man do they throw a roost!

 

You think that the Ohtsu's are bad, I had dunlops stock on my Z400 and they blew too. I now run ITP Holeshot XCR's and it has made a big improvement in the confidence department. With 6 plys I do not need to worry as much as I did with the 2 ply Dunlops.

 

A guy just can't have both worlds - you either get the best traction for loose terrain, or you get punture resistance - you can't have both. I opted for the best traction, and slow down at punture potential.
Everybody who has ever said they have a tire that gets better traction than a radial has been either pushed or pulled out of a stuck situation while riding with me. I have to be careful everywhere I go or some of the guys I ride with would be stuck every turn, and I'm not talking about mud - I avoid that crap.

I think that if I bought a tire for higher speed riding in puncture territory, it would probably be the Holeshot XCT, front and back. Its a hard choice though - lots of good choices out there.

 

I got rims with reinforcing rings on the inside and outside from OMF out of california. They are douglas .190's for $95 a peice. They are worth every peney. My factory rims where bent up to the point that the tire would no longer seat and when i tried to get it back in shape with a ruber mallet it cracked. Last time i went riding i hit a small rut at high speed and there was a rock in the side of it that hit the bead directly and sent the back end of the four wheeler up in the air and off to the side. It did nothing to the rim. the factory one would have just folded up. OMF 1-909-354-8272.

 

I used omf reinforcing rings on both sides of the rims on front and rear without hitting caliper, they rubbed on the front fender bracket but a little grinding and it cleared just fine. I sold those rims to Jeffnrivercity and no problems there either.
Bearman