Finally going to pull the trigger on tires for my near 11year old 660. Looking for a good aggressive trail tire. Have a set of 27" Mud Machine Claws on other rims that I've had for nearly 13 years, so mud performance is a zero factor. Mainly will be woods riding. Rocks, leaves, loose dirt, places that Mud tires really suck at. Keeping the stock 660 rims since they are so light (plus, have spacers already). Probably will stay at 25" unless there is a 26" option that isn't too bad on added weight. I've looked at these Bear Claw HTR's, but there isn't that much out there to read on them so far. Here are my options with shipping:

25" Bighorns -$460 - Everyone seems to have them, I'm trying to find any excuse not to buy.
25" Bear Claw HTR - $398 - I like them, but want to hear more. Will I wish I spent the extra $60?
25" GBC Dirt Commander - $428 - Read good reviews and a couple not so good. Undecided.
25" GBC Dirt Tamer - $344 -Cheaper alternative to BH's. Read 1 post that slammed them. Currenty turned off of these.
25" Duro Power Grip - read too many bad reviews. Out of the equation.
26" Holeshot ATR - $428 - This would be an impulse buy. 26" at lower weight, not as aggressive. Undecided.
25" GBC Dirt Devil - $319 - This and original Bear Claws are my low cost fall back plan.
25" Bear Claws - $250 - In case I low ball it and back out of the coolness factor and go old school.
25" ITP Terra Cross - $420 - Read good reviews, but not sure I'd take these over BH or even the Bear Claw HTR for the price range if not convinced otherwise.

I'm leaning hard towards a radial, which shuns a couple choices, but right now is the fun part of this anyway. Reading a crapload of stuff and trying to make a decision that I won't wish I had gone the other way later on.

As far as longevity, that should be a non-factor. This is a 2002 Grizzly 660 that has about 2600 miles on it. And probably 300 of those are in the last 7-8 years. When I got married, riding slowed (as did my time on ATV connection), and when I had kids it became literally non-existant. This is why I have 11 year old stock tires and original brakes that still have life in them.

Tell me anything about tires. I want to read as much as I can. The last time I really looked at tires, BH's were a bias ply still.

 

I wouldn't shy away from the Bighorns just because everyone else has them. Besides, everyone can't be wrong. And they are a radial.
For the "old school" Bear Claws, they are a good tire as well, however, they are not a radial. Tough as nails but they also have a pretty harsh ride.
If you want to stand out a little (and spend more money) Pitbull makes a couple of different tires that would work great for the riding you described. The Rockers are an 8 ply radial and the Growlers come in a 6 or 8 ply radial. The 8 ply Rockers ride almost a smooth as the BH's.
Happy hunting....

 

I like the looks of the PB's, but too heavy of a tire for what I'd be looking at. The BH's are probably the heaviest tire I'd consider. I know how much the 27" Mud Machine's rob power, and while I'll concede a little this time, I'm still going to keep an eye on the weight.

 

ive been a fan of interco swamplites,and with almost 4,500 miles on my 28s they have half the tread since new. maybe a little more. i always use 4wd when going up rock,gravel hills to help save tread life whether i need to or not so it dont spin and wear the tread down. we do alot of rock crawling.

 

ITP Bajacross are doing the best for me. I did have the Bighorns because they are so popular but they were the worst tire tire for flats.

 

I think there is a much overlooked tire that I use on my Rancher 400 AT and it's the Swamplite Radial called Reptiles. I run 26" on mine and they have tackled everything from mountain, mud, sand and hardpack riding with ease.

 

Pulled the trigger tonight on 25" Bear Claw HTR's on STI C7 rims. Spent forever coming to the decision. Not a lot written on them, but of what few posts/reviews I found, there were some good ones from some Polaris website. Enough to take the GBC Dirt Tamer out of the equation. Well that and only $35 difference in price. $666.96 from RM with lugnuts. (I actually got 17 lugnuts just to make the price not be $666, and figured it would be practical to have a spare around) We'll see how they do.

 

Did you buy them online? if so what store would you recommend?

 

ITP Mudlite XTR's, 6 ply radial and great all around use tire. They are pricy and a little heavy but they last forever if you take care of them.

 

Anyone have any encounters with water and floatability? Don't think that's a wrod but you get the idea. I want either swamp lite or Bear claw. I plan on doing a lot more riding and have crossed many deep streams and would like input about this.