I saw a pic of the new Maxxis Radial Big Horns and they look like a good all around tire plus the rims they have them mounted on also made by Maxxis are sharp looking,my question is : does anybody out there have them and what is your opinion of those tires?

 

hi teals and tails here,
just got mine today from 4atvtires.com. LOVE THESE!!! have 2003 Kodiak 2WD. didn't get rims though, will get them later maybe. SMMMMOOOOTTTHHH RIDE!!! 25 8 12 and 25 10 12.

 

I have a question for you ,what was your total cost of the tires shipped to you? and did you get them mounted on rims?

 

25 8 12 were 69.95 and 25 10 12 were 74.95 Total cost w shipping was 339.80. no i didn't get the maxlite rims. i kept the stock rims. I had them mounted at walmart, they quoted me on the phone 3.50 per tire, but when i got there it was 10.00. i made them honor the 3.50 price because the rims fit on their machine like any other tire! I love these tires. It was either mudlites or bighorns, i'm glag i chose BIGHORNS.

 

Good news then on your purchase,I have been hearing no so good news lately about the quality control at ITP,sidewall tears and punctures on Mudlites, so maybe the Maxxis Bighorns was the way to go. I did chat with a guy who had the Mudlites mounted on a Grizzly and he was complaining about the drifting of the ATV from side to side at higher speeds and he was blameing it on the Mudlites.

 

Just got a set of 589 M/S on C series rims for the 2003 Grizzly looks great but yes it did make a BIG difference in the ride. kinda shaky

 

I just got back from my mountain trip -- a week in the high Idaho backcountry, on my brand-new Maxxis Bighorn Radial tires. Happy, and tired!

We put about 350 miles on the Hondas, ranging from 3000 ft. to over 6600 ft. It snowed (4-5") the first night, and the snowmelt over the next two days added slickness and muddy patches to our roads & ATV trails. Surfaces included the usual Idaho hardpack sandy dirt, snot-slick mud, occasional slick-rock stream crossings, sharp boulder-tips imbedded in the road surface, snow, hard rock areas, plenty of loose gravel, and fields of loose sharp rocks the size of your hand. And, of course, mixtures of all of those.

The Bighorn radials were awesome.

The first day out (before the snow) I was impressed by the "on rails" cornering. Traction was so solid that cornering at 20-24 mph in hard-surfaced switchback hairpin turns felt like being on a roller coaster track -- the tires simply didn't side-slip on dry or damp-dirt road surfaces. After the first couple of neck-snapping corners, I remembered my rarely-used "leaning" techniques.

On wet dirt & sandy-surfaced hardpack, any sliding was very controlled and predictable. At no point did the quad feel on the edge of "out of control", and the "tail" of the Honda "tucked in" nicely after a four-wheel power slide, without any of that back & forth "wagging" that often accompanies too-fast corner-slide recovery.

Remember, I'm "testing" these tires on a Honda Foreman 450 -- arguably the most truck-like of any Utility Class ATV. The Foreman is so heavy, high, and stiff that I initially expected a really "sticky" tire to tend towards rollover of the whole quad. Not to worry -- my sense of security as a rider was enhanced by these tires, with no discernable "downside". I can only imagine that they'd feel better yet on a faster, softer-riding IRS quad like a Sportsman.

The Bighorns climbed well too, and were as good in the snow (admittedly it wasn't deep snow) as any tire I've ridden. We didnt' encounter any serious mud-bogs, but both slick-rock stream crossings and long patches of soup-muddy road didn't seem to challenge the Bighorns.

Ride comfort was easily equal to the Foreman's OEM 2-ply Dunlops. Maxxis recommended 6-7 psi rear, 7-8 psi front -- I kept it on the lower edge of that, at 6-front & 7 rear. I haven't ridden a softer-riding ATV tire than these radials.

These are my first ATV radials, and rut-performance was easily as stable as I'd expected. Longitudinal ruts (parallel to the road's direction) on this trip ranged from 3-4" wide erosion ruts to serious grooves left by truck tires -- 6-12" wide, and 4-8" deep.

The Bighorns handled the smaller ruts at speed with no scary tire-steering. The ruts were noticeable in at the handlebars, but only required gentle bar-pressure to resist. "Tire-steer" wasn't a factor with any rut narrower than the width of a front tire.

Wider ruts required sensibly slower speeds, especially since the roadside drop-off was usually hundreds of feet. I found that in the worst of these wide ruts the Bighorns could actually "stick" on the side-bevel of the rut, letting me ride along the "bevel" of the rut without dropping the tire all the way to the bottom of that rut, and without a bias-ply tire's tendency to "tire-steer" and climb sideways out of the rut.

I've ridden quite a few other tires -- including the OEM Dunlops, Bridgestone Dirt Hooks, ITP 589's, Blackwaters, and rock-hard Cheng Shins -- and none come even remotely close to the combination of comfort WITH performance of these Bighorn radials. I'd love to see a true side-by-side of Bighorns vs. ITP's ATR's.

Personally, since my riding is 'waay up and a long ways from anywhere on VERY tire-unfriendly, sharprock trails, in terrain where you definitely don't want to get caught after dark without some serious survival gear, I need a tire with plenty of very deep rubber protecting that smooth-surface 6-ply carcass, as do the tread-bars of these Bighorn radials. I'll try to keep you guys posted on how well they handle wear.

Oh yeah -- the Bighorns' visual "oh wow" factor is pretty high out the trail. Several other riders and a couple of hardcore hunting outfitters (guys in diesel 4x4 one-tons, 3 radios, 4 antennas, 10-ply tires) commented on the Bighorns' appearance, as in:

"D*** !! What're those tires? That's some SERIOUSLY aggressive tread! Wish I could get truck tires that look that fierce !!"

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OK -- also a little "thank you" plug for them ol' boys (& girls) at ATV Direct:
fast service, great price on the Bighorns. Check 'em out at http://www.4atvtires.com/
Oddly enough, I got a better deal (2 weeks ago) than "Teals and Tails" -- I paid $ 319 for a set of 4, shipped by Eastern Kentucky's ATV Direct (a.k.a. 4atvtires) from a Louisiana warehouse to North Idaho . . . that's $20 less than Teals and Tails paid for them delivered to Louisiana !! Go figure . . . ?

 

here's the latest scoop on the new Goodyear Rawhide MTR radial...

AT26x8R12 3 ply~ measured on rim size 6.5x12" @ 5.0 psi = width 7.9" / diameter 25.3" (max load @ 7 psi = approx 380#) tire weight = 16.7 lbs; tread depth = 20.2/32"

AT26x11R12 3 ply ~ measured on rim size 8.0x12" @ 5.0 psi = width 10.0" / diameter 26.4" (max load @ 7 psi = approx 475#) tire weight = 24.0 lbs; tread depth = 22.7/32"

* Max loads are approx because these sizes are new to the Tire & Rim Assoc.
- final figures should be available soon

I've been given a set of these for testing, from Goodyear...unless they aren't what I'm expecting, I'll be racing with them in the 12 hours race ... I should recieve them any day now... Artic Cat is trying to work out an exclusive contact with Goodyear on these tires... so when they become available, they may only be available from Artic Cat... let me know if you have any questions, & I'll post my initial impressions of the tire when they arive...

I talked to Dan Doughty, from High lifter the other day... the "new" Radial Outlaws are nearly ready for release... they have shaved several pounds off of each tire, & are adding 2 new pieces of equipment on the tire manufacturing line, that will eliminate some of the past quality control issues & insure that the tires are true & balanced... I may have a set of these towards the end of October, as well, for testing...

has anyone gotten a chance to look at / try the new Carilsle radial ????