I run trails with deep, near bottomless muskeg. Right now I'm running 27" mud lites. I've been happy with their performance, but its time get something more serious. My mods are listed below, I feel I've got more than enough power to make use of a bigger more aggressive tire. I'm looking for opinions of those who have run outlaws. I"ve thought about 28", but right now I've got my name down for a set of 29.5's when they finally arrive. Everyone I ride with are running IRS quads with the exception of a couple. I know it won't make up for lack of IRS, but it will help. For those with 28's, would you step up to 29.5's if cost wasn't a factor?

 

If you are set on Laws I cant help yah. I personally have mudzillas 28x10x12 and 28x12x12 and love them. Everyone says that they are too heavy but I personally dont think that the quad notices with the right mods. Most people will tell you that Laws are a better paddle tire for soupy mud. I think that the zillas are a great tire if you have a bottom to it. And the zillas are slightly smoother on the trails.

 

The key to muskeg riding is not spinning and tires with big wide solid lugs. I run muskeg with my Praire and it works well. I run 26" outlaws and they work great. Any tire that has well spaced solid lugs will work great. What I mean by solid lugs is that the lug needs to travel from the inside of the tire to the outside as one piece. Sort of like paddles. Clearance doesn't make a huge difference in muskeg but the price difference between 26" and 29.5" is not mega huge so why not go with the 29.5's?

Your going to have fun, make sure to get offset rims or wheel spacers.

 

From what I have read, you cannot use wheel spacers with 28" tires or they will rub the fenders.

That isn't fact, just something I read.


I should have my 28" Mudlites this coming week, and will know better then, how they will fit.

 

Uhhh.....I live down here in Illinois. We have mud, believe me, but what the heck is muskeg you guys?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

well in my muddin days the two worst kinds of mud around here and anywheres ive been are muskeg and this clay wet sand stuff. the muskeg is only found in certain regions but is quiet common. it can look like plowed soft dirt at first. sometimes redish, but the stuff is like cement. pulls boots off kind of stuff. very dense mud. just sucks you right in and filss around you. the clay stuff ive only ran into a few times and in the same region here in alberta. it is grayish and yellow very slippery and the smallest whole just kills your momentum. its pretty close two watery cement.

 

Dang. I'll stick to good ol' fashioned regular dirt+water mud[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I'll second that!

 

I'm not sure what you guys call muskeg but this is how I would describe it. Basically its a sponge, its made up of everything in the bush, dead grass, fungus, weeds, new grass, bark, animal droppings, nuts, plants, everything. Think of it as nature compost, then it absorbs a ton of moisture and becomes intertwinded with each other to form a semi-solid surface. This surface can stretch a great deal but when it breaks the stuff under the surface is water soaked and very little traction can be found. Its not intertwinded at all, all loose and lets go.

This is why its key to have big solid lugs and NEVER spin unless your playing around. When the muskeg is dry it can get hard and its harmless stuff. When its damp or soaking wet it can be strange driving in it. When its very wet its like riding ontop of water, you can have the front of the quad pointing towards the sky and back end sunk right down but you keep moving forward so long as you don't break the surface. If you do, you better have a quick friend with a long tow rope and yank it out as fast as possible.

On one trip in the bush a few years ago we took a dead 12' tree and pushed it into the muskeg, it NEVER hit bottom. Scary stuff.

 

Whoa[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] So there's REALLY deep water underneath of it then? That sounds pretty risky.