I am looking to purchase a new se of tires for my 2003 Rincon. I am trying to decide between the ITP Mud-lit XL's and the Maxxis Bighorns. I really do not ride all that much mud but i constantly hear great things about the ITP's holding up very well even in harder pack terrain. Allot of my riding is 50% gravel roads and 50% wooded trails.

Currently, i have the stock tires on which are 25-8-12 and 25-10 12. I am able to get a great deal on slightly larger tires which are 26-9-12 and 26-10 -12 but am concerned with them fitting properly?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

The 26's will fit the stock rims with no problems.

I've ridden around on a set of Bighorns. They handle and ride great and excel in rocky conditions and are OK In mud or sand. I've chatted with a guy who had 6k on his set, and it looks like he could run them to 8k.

ITP wise, if you don't mud ride much and mainly trail ride on hard surfaces, I'd opt for the XTR radial over the XL's.

When my stockers are shot, though, I'll be doing the bighorns.

 

I do mostly trail riding, but where I hunt it is all muck soil. In the fall it gets really sloppy and wet. So I went with the XTR radials on my Rincon. Also, the Mudlites are great in the snow, which is the other reason I went with the XTR's. They are 26" and fit fine. Look cool as well. I like the handling as well, doesn't seem to roll over the sidewalls as much when turning in hard ground.

Heard all good things about the bighorns. If I didn't live in the north with all the mud and snow, I would have bought bighorns.

 

I like my Bighorns, they are an excellent snow tire. They ride a lot nicer than my Goodyear Mud
Runners but don't think they ride any better than the original tires do. They feel "loose" in the
corners at higher speeds.

These only have about 3500 miles on them, I thought they would last a lot longer than they have.


They have taken a beating.

 

Looks like they have quite a bit of tread left, considering stockers are shot after 1000-1200 miles in the rocks...

The other nice riding, nice handling tire to consider might be the Terra Cross radial.

 

ITP TerraCross?? Im not sure how theyd perform but im just throwing that out there incase anyone else would like to describe them in detail. They look like theyd hook up great though.

 

This was the day I put them on, 3475 miles ago.

I won’t run them until they're tread-less. I'm sure I will replace them within the next 500 miles.

Before I bought them I had read posts where others claimed that they lasted 6-9000 miles. The only thing I couldn't figure out was that they had not been out that long when I purchased mine and I couldn't figure out how anyone could put 6-9000 miles on a set in less than one year.

Except for the tread life I am happy with them. Two other people in our group also bought them and love them too, they are a GREAT snow tire and a great trail tire.

PS, I do have a new center cap ordered (missing in previous picture), it should be this week.

One thing to consider too is that the factory tires on Rincons are radials and they are very light in weight so almost any tire that weighs more can affect the ride quality due to the added weight of the tire, sprung and un-sprung weight.

 

From every thing I've seen so far, I'm sure I'll get another set and live with the poor mileage.

I like the looks of the tread pattern of these better than the others. LOL

 

Talking to some folks running them, the seem to handle well and do better in sand or snow than the Bighorns, but don't wear as well.

In their ads I see they say the compound has been adjusted for improved durablity.


The stock radials on the Rincon are light, and less unsprung weight would be better for suspension performance, but they have a pretty flexy sidewall and they seem to squirm around in hard cornering.

 

So do the Bighorns. When I took off those heavy hard Goodyears I thought the bighorns would be way better at high speeds but I actually prefer them to the Bighorns.

I wouldn't want tires that had a shorter life than these Bighorns. I took the Goodyears off at about 4000 miles and they easily had another 1000+ miles left in them.

Any NEW tire is better than an old one. LOL

I'm sure Honda knew what they were doing when they picked those radials, they did have their 600 pound target.