Ok guys, I need advice. I am getting a set of wheels and tires for my 05 Kawai BF 750i. I am getting the swamplites on 12x7 ITP type 4 wheels. My question is, should I get 26's or 27's? I do mostly wooded trail riding with some mud. Sometimes pretty good mud. Once or twice a year I go to the UP Michigan for some really wild mud, but we can go around it and I have plenty of buds for recovery if needed. I'm not interested in a strictly mud tire. I don't want to do any mods at this time. My bike is stock except for a Moose Module and a winch. The winch is new and another story, see my other post. So, 26's or 27's, and WHY???

THANKS!!!

 

I had the same dilemma. I say 27's no problem. 26's aren't much bigger than stock. 27's get you away from the stock look and you have more clearance. With the moose module, you have plenty of performance for 27's easy. I am thinkinfg 29.5's for my next tire, just because they will make my machine bigger. I also ride woods trails and mud. With the wider stance of wheels, you will be fine with any size tire (much more stable). My opinion is 26's are too small unless you strictly trail ride.

 

Thanks for the response. I was hoping for more than 1, but I'll take what I can get. I took your advice and purchased a set of Swamplites on ITP type 4 wheels in the 27" size. Now I am waiting for a brown truck to arrive like a black lab looks when your wavin a ball in front of it's nose. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

 

For the most part the bigger the tire the tread depth gets taller. Therefor you will end up with more aggressive tire. The 25" mudlites have a shorter tread than the 26". That was my factor in choosing the 26".

 

Hey ALZATV. I gotta decide in the next 2 hours before I go to bed !!!

Help Guys !

-I narrowed it down to Maxxis BigHorns on 12" Type 7's. ....either 26x(9 &12)x12's or the 27x(9 & 12)x12's .
Question is : 26's or 27's ???

The setup will be for mainly when we do road trips to ROCKY trails etc. Local riding I can always use my stockers.
-Will the 27's be overkill on the BIG BRUTE & bog it down noticeably ? Should I just go with the 26's & sacrifice ground clearance of the 27's for a little better performance of the smaller diamaters tires.
-Is the center of gravity noticeably much worse from the 26's to the 27's ???

That brown truck can be here by midweek if I order tomorrow a.m. first thing !

 

Hello ? Monty ?? Anyone ???

 

Go with 27's. Monty says he is going with 27's next time in the bighorn. You won't notice a difference between the two, so go for the more GC. Best mod after that is the moose module or a cdi to get the power back.

 

sorry i missed this thread for a while. i skip the usual tire threads.

yea, i traded my 25" Bighorns up to the 27" ones. the differences are the 25s are more stable at the high speeds, but the 27s are better on the rocky trails. they give you a little more clearance and soak up some of the bumps. i don't have many places to go fast, but i really can't tell the difference in power between the 25s and 27s without a stopwatch or racing a guy i could beat before and now he wins. the 27s are not the high speed tires (but they don't do bad. i just keep the pressures too low for good handling at high speeds).

a thought on tire weight. everybody looks at a heavy tire as evil, but some of the jeep rock crawlers put some lead shot in each tire to "keep them planted". the heavy tires will lower the center of gravity of your machine, but on off cambers you will still have to use body english like before.

but on rocky trails, i can just drive straight through stuff that i would have to carefully pick a line through before.

i haven't ridden the 26s, but would consider them if i was concerned with speed.

so my thoughts are 25s for high speed handling, the 26s for mixed riding, and the 27s for more hardcore trails.

one more option is to put the narrower 12x9 on all four instead of the wider 12x12 on the rear. this will trim some weight.

monty

 

Thx Roofer & Monty. I ordered the 26's last nite after finding this BigHorn online comparison.
25 26 27 BigHorns Review

I installed the moose module first thing I took off the 650 when I traded in for the 750.

I didnt wanna go too big but now you guys are saying 27's arent as bad as the writer says ??? I like being able to smoke my two buddies 660 Grizzleys. One has 27's & one has stock 25's.

I do local riding climbing sand hills/ trail riding with smaller sport quads mainly & the center of gravity is a big of a concern......as is the ground clearance for the rocky trail riding we road trip to with the utility riders among us. I figured the 26's were perfect blend for the mixed bag of riding like Monty says as well .

I may have to put a hold on my order right now. I"ll let you guys know.

 

yea, the 27s arn't bad. the wheels that were used with the 27s in that review had so much offset that he had problems from them.

monty