That article says a few things that are contrary to standard thinking. The one I am most curious about is that less paddles give more traction. This is a major contradiction to anything I have ever read or believed myself. In fact, I think they should have used 7 paddle Edges instead of 8s. The Edges have the same height paddles as Haulers, but have more surface area because of the angle. They say how much traction the Edges they tested gave and I think the reason was too many paddles.

I think the whole test was kind of skewed. They should have tested all the rears with the same fronts and both the fronts with the same rears. The Dune Runners are lighter than the ITP fronts, but maybe the ITPs have less rolling resistance. It's almost as if they punished the companies that did not give them free fronts. I don't care if I run the same brand front and rear tires. I would would want the best of each.

One thing I would like to have seen is a test between different number of paddles with everything else being the same. This would have required Skat-Trak (the only one that offers different numbers of paddles) to send multiple sets though. That was probably not likely since they did not send a set of fronts.

They also said they don't think the V paddles help turning. I don't agree with this, but it may have been because of the test machine. I really don't think you need V paddles on a Banshee. I ran a couple different straight paddles on a Banshee (Kendas and 10 paddle Haulers) and had no problem turning with either. I could blip the throttle and throw it sideways. I have run 4 different sets of rear paddles on my FL350. It is a lot heavier machine that is a lot wider track. The 20" Hualers did not give enough floatation so where not a valid test. I could turn with the Kendas because they spun so much. I ran a set of 25x12x9 10 paddle Haulers that were great for dragging, hillshooting and jumping (lots of sidewall). They don't turn for crap though. I have a pair of 22x11x10 8 paddle edges that I can do donuts in the sand with. They still get better straight line traction than the Kendas or the 20" Haulers.

CVT machines can and I think do better with more traction (more paddles). With too much traction on the Banshee, it makes you have to shift a lot. If they spin, it allows the engine to rev up, but there is still enough drag to keep from over revving. You can then stay in the same gear longer. With a CVT, you don't have to worry about being in the right gear. The CVT will adjust where needed. With more traction, I find that my clutch tuning does not need to be changed between the sand and the dirt. There may be some benefit to changing the clutch tuning, but I race on dirt and play on sand. I also don't want to spend my weekend at the dunes tweaking my clutch.

I need to get paddles for my Drakart. My only real choice was Skat-Trak because I need 22" tall tires. I don't know who has these new ITP paddles. I test drove one with Sand-Skate IIs. I think I actually do better with Holeshots. I also test drove one with 25x12x10 12 paddle Edges. Those got good acceleration and cornered well. I think it will handle better with 22" though. Also, it will do 100 with 22" tires. I don't really think I need to gear for 114. So I was thinking 22x11x10 12 paddle Edges.