One of my riding buddies has 27x12 Vampires all the way around on his Polaris 500 Sportsman. His brother-in-law, cousin and assorted others he rides with (all are on 500 cc Sportsman bikes) have switced to the 28x10 Vampires.
For the last several rides they have been comparing performance in the mud. He is telling me that he is staying on top of the mud and doing better than the same bikes with the 28's. He is saying the 28's providing better ground clearance, but are digging very quickly and not staying up on the mud. He has a K&N filter, jet kit and pipe from Highlifter and a lift kit. Basically, the others do, too. He did say the 28" tire did have an advantage when climbing a slick stream or river bank. As soon as the agressive tread broke over the top edge, it pulled the bike right on up and over with ease.
He is not going to switch. He also reported to me that the tires are eating up some horsepower and are definitely harder to turn than the 27x12's.
Just wondering what others have seen when the essentially the same bike is running a 27x12 vs a 28x10. If Jeff from Highlifter reads this, I would like to see what he thinks.
Thanks for the responses.

[This message has been edited by TxDoc2 (edited 01-31-2000).]

 

Hey TxDoc2!

I'll let you know in about 2 weeks! As you know I currently have 27x12 Vamps on my 450, but I have 28x10 Vamps on the way. I'm curious to see myself how they work especially after forking out a butt load of money. By the way have you tried the forums over at High Lifter yet? For some reason they really took off today!

"KEEP THE MUD SLINGIN'!!!"
SwampMonster

 

In the high lifter forums one of the high lifter guys said that the 28inch vamps will really eat up the drivetrain components which is really no surprise to me....Maybe instead of just diffrent gearing to turn the big tires high lifter needs to make some beefed up axels so the wear and tear could be minimized

 

Go to the Highlifter forums, and look around. There is a post about exactly this topic. Basicaly it came down to the 28x10 & the 27x12 each ahve their own advantages and disadvantages. The 28" for their deep lugs, and the 27" for the wide footprint.

 

For where I ride, I would rather the higher ground clearance of the 28" Vamps.