My son is really getting tired of getting stuck with these Dunflops. I know there is a learning curve riding in mud with a 2 wheel drive, but I know tires are an important factor. I am looking at the DD AT and the Bearclaws. My question is not necessarily about these tires, but size. My original Dunlops are 22X10X9. DD come in 22X11X9 which is only a little larger, but better tread pattern for mud. I am confident these will not be too large for the 250. But there are a number or 22X12X9 like the Bearclaw out there. My concern is weather or not these tires will lug down the engine too much in the muck and will it also cut down on the speed in the trails and open ground. What do you think? the 12 width going to be a problem in the mud with the 250? Do any of you know what the tread depth is on the above tires? Thanks for you help.

 

Generally it is no big deal to go with a little wider tire. What you lose in power is offset by the extra flotation of the wider tire. I have a suggestion though. I put a set of 22X10X9 Gators on my 250EX. They made a HUGE difference. They were also considerably lighter than the claws or devils. They were wider than the stockers even though the same size ratings.

 

You may also want to look at the Maxxis SurTraks. They are two ply, so they are lighter than most other aftermarket tires. I never got a flat with them, and I run through a lot of woods, they were pretty durable and wore well. They had a lot of bite for mud/snow, and they rode nice on hardpack as well.

 

I considered the Sur Traks myself because of the light weight. The Gators in the 22X10X9 size were only 1 pound more and 6 ply which won me over. I rode 20 miles on a rough trail one day with less than 1 pound of pressure and they didn't let me down (that was on a 250EX so it was a light machine).

 

Thanks for you help guys. I looked at the surtrac and I really liked it. It would probably be a great tire. I am just a bit concerned with the 2 ply. My son really wants the gators, but I was afraid that it would be too rough riding on the dirt and trails. Does it bounce alot on hard surfaces? Do you have it on a Ozark?

 

trx450 is running the sur-trax on his prairie and real likes them. Just watch the circumfrance of the tire I had 25 in dunflops on the prairie and I bought 27 in DD and they are the same size in cercumferance as the Dunflops. If you do get teh sur-tracks let me know what size you get and what there measurments are.

 

To me it didn't change the ride too much. They were a little stiffer but it helped the handling of my 250EX so it was a good thing to me. The center bars overlap so you don't get a lot of vibration from the tread either. The 250EX has a pretty harsh ride, more so probably than the Ozark, and there wasn't a really noticeable change. In the mud there was a big enough improvement that I could go thru pretty much anything my brother could on his Wolverine with stock tires. The height of the Gators was exactly the same as the stock tires on my honda. They are a flatter profile tire though, so you get more tread on the ground. I will get them for my Eiger soon.

 

I have Kenda Bearclaw 22" mud tires fitted on my Ozark. I have heard from a friend of mine that it might cause damage of the clutch (because of the strong traction of these tires). Has anybody experienced clutch problems who had such mud tires on Ozark?

 

I have 22 inch Kenda Bear Claws on my 02 Ozark since brand new. No problems at all.

By the way this post is almost 5 years old, dude.

 

O.k. I did not want to open new topic and the issue is actual :-)
So you have used the Bearclaw since 2002. Nice. This is what I wanted to know, thank you