I'm looking for some information on recommended after market tires for a Grizzly. The dealer recommends Blackwater XT 27" by ITP. Anyone have any experience on these tires on a Grizzly? I will mostly be riding woods trails; however, would like the extra traction for mud and creek crossings. Are the Blackwater XT's overkill? Will the 27" tire cause problems with the turning radius? Will I loose allot of speed due to the more bulky tire or will the greater Circumference actually help top end? Is there another brand that works well for the Grizzly? Lastly, can anyone recommend a good mail order company? Thanks in advance.

[This message has been edited by jkeirste (edited 07-21-1999).]

 

I just bought a 99 Grizzly with 27 Blackwaters. Will be busting its cherry on the trail this weekend.Will let you know how they do after i get back.They do not seem to hurt the Grizz in any other way.

 

JK,
I had a Grizzly(for a brief time.. long story) and a buddy of mine also had one... I had 25" Swampers on it. He had installed 27" Vamps on his.. and HATED them.. The Traction is great, the extra weight is livable, but its harder to turn them on the bottom end, and it the belt heats up EASY..... So he pulled them off, and went with Blackwater XT's.. Everything was better, except extreme mud traction... (But he has a REALLY good winch and he can drive decent) BUT.. we go into the woods just to find impossible mudholes to get stuck in.. If youre NOT spending most of your time in the deep sticky stuff.. Blackwaters or Bearclaws are the way to go!
I would suggest some minor clutch mods to help compensate for the heavier oversize tires though!!! Good Luck In Your Decision!

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going back and forth between the 27" Blackwater XT's and the Mud Machine 27" Tri Claws. I understand that the Tri Claws are suppose to handle pretty well too. Any insight?

 

Unless you just have to vave 27s i would
go with bear claws in the 26x12x12 sizes.
A friend of mine has his griz like this
and they work real well in the mud and
trails. I know these wont go in the mud as good as the Vamps but there adequete.
As for the vamps being hard to steer,
my dad put 26x12x12s on the back and 26x9.5x12s on the front of his foreman 450 and they dont steer much harder than stock.
My sisters boyfriends dad has the new mud machines on his Griz and they did OK but i wasnt impressed to much with them. He backed out of stuff just as easy if not easier than he did gouing foreward.
Hope this helps!

 

I have a 99 Grizzly and i spoke to the guy i got my tires from and many of other people and i went with the 26-12-12 vamps they dont turn as hard as the 27 but have the superior traction your looking for and its just 1 inch larger than stock so you wont have to
worry about your belt thats just propoganda the grizzly deserves the best tire and it just loves the mud the 26 tri or bi claw will put just as much strain on your bike oh yeah and the cheapest place i found to get the tires is from ronnies mail order you can find there number in dirt wheel's i spoke to a guy named tom there and he was very informed and gave me lots of help
just my 2 cents

Mike Bencivengo 99Grizzly

 

You have the biggest engine for an atv right now. I would go as big as possible. I would not go with over 10 inch wide tires on the front.in a previous posting a guy with a grizz was having trouble with the front 12 inch tires rubbing. Good luck. I'm about to put 24 and 25 inch vampires on my 300 honda 4x4. P.S the bear claws are a great tire.

[This message has been edited by mattsibley (edited 08-02-1999).]