Hey this is my first post. I am getting a prairie 650 around chirstmas...and i plan to put new wheels and tired on it right after or soon after i get it. I have read that the stock tires and rims are pretty crappy. I plan to ride mostly mud and hard trail riding. I have riden for about 5 years now but haven't owned one myslef. I would just like some advice on the best tires and rims for me to get? Thanks.Brendan

 

Brendan, make a deal with your dealer and get him to swap your tires before you buy the machine. He should give you a good price on your new skins and he will credit you "X" amount of dollars for your stock skins, making the price of your aftermarket tires a little easier to swallow. As for what kind of tires to get, it depends on where you ride, how you ride, how aggressive a rider you are, and what size you are looking for. IMO, I wouldn't put anything bigger than 26 inch on my wheeler---my choice. When I put my 26 inch 589s on mine, it robbed a lot of power, but took away the 650s tendency for "wheel rollover" when you corner at speed.

For rims, I would look at the ITP c-series and the Highlifter mud lites. Both are nice looking and both are fairly light. I prefer the looks of the mud lites.

 

Thanks for the advice mstrblaster....I was looking at a set of ITP 589 tires and the delta rims. I will take your advice of getting tires smaller than 26. Later

 

bcn14, glad to see you here.

The stock tires are junk. You could get $100 for the set on ebay, just so you know what they are worth. Some quads don't have power for better tires.

The stock rims, although not as tough as the C series or the douglas .190 wheels, are quite useable. If you ride hard, they will bend, but if you aren't that aggressive they are ok. They are cheap to replace and they are the lightest rims. I bent one during a rollover, but the weaker rims may prevent damage to the more expensive axle and front susp.

C-series look the best. Nice wheels. I prefer the widths and spacing that douglas wheels have, I don't like a wider track and the narrower front douglas rims keep the bead stay safer from sticks poking into them (gap between tire and rim is smaler and is pulled in a little). I use douglas .190 wheels with 28" mudillas.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Clearance is worth it, but the larger tires that give you the clearance rob the power. 26" might be a pretty good tradeoff. I'm sure you know that.