I rode my BF750 in the snow today for the first time. I have 26" 589 tires on it. I started out at 4.5psi and then lowered to 3psi. I was having trouble in the deep powder snow, once it got about 2 feet deep I couldn't go anymore. The quad would break through and I'd be high centered. I eventually went down to less than 1psi air in the tires but it didn't help much if any.

What can I do to increase performance in deep snow?

 

In two feet of snow? Man, that's pretty deep stuff. 'Bout the only thing I can think of is to 'pop' for a set of tracks for the winter. It doesn't snow is Brookings does it? You've got to truck your 750 TOO the snow.

I got stuck in less snow than that (see my pictures), but we were also on sort of an uphill. We also weren't running 589's either, which I'd guess are far better in the snow than our Carlisle Badlands.

 

The trick to riding and breaking trails in deep snow is not to spin out. If you spin out and high center yourself, you're diggin', pushing and swearing. Try to keep momentum, but once you stop moving, don't spin the tires, or you're done. Depends on the snow conditions too, if the snow is powdery or granular, nothing you do is going to help. Flat faced tires such as Bearclaws help a lot, they're not rounded like, say, Mudlights, and tend to "float" better on top of the snow. Airing them down really won't change the "footprint" on an ATV tire, the sidewalls are so stiff on most, that they'll run with 0 Psi and won't get any wider. Radials are the exception, they'll flatten right out. You BF has a lot of power and will spin very easily, so you're going to have to be really light on the throttle to keep it from spinning out.

 

I am interested in the tire choice you are employing.... are they wide tracks like you use for mudding? It has been my experience that for snow, you need a tall and NARROW tire that can dig down to the ground for traction, not float over it. I used to plow snow with an old ww-II ****** Jeep, with a little flat head four banger... I could go anywhere with that configuration because I used tall, but narrow tires, where my buddies with their 4x4 trucks would get stuck with their wide mudders and v-8's. Once they switched to narrow tires, they were good to go...

 

I try to stay on top to create less drag on the undercarrige. I am running 26" dirt devils and they do pretty good up to about 2' and then it will compress the snow under the skid plate and eventually I am stuck. I rode up some 4' drifts that were crusted over pretty hard and I high centered over the peak. When I got off to push, I sunk in up to my waist and couldn't even get back on my griz. I literally had to drag my griz off with nothing to hook the winch to. It was still a blast.

 

When you are young, you can do that sort of thing... get a few more years under your belt and then you might understand why people have heart attacks out "having fun"... When it gets that bad outside, I snuggle up to a warm fire with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy a good book...

 

My reasoning for using wider tires, is that if there is 4 feet of snow, narrow tires won't reach the ground underneath the bike, it'll spin out and high center itself. Narrow tires are fine if you have more ground clearance than there is snow. Airing down ATV tires is useless, with the exception of radials, the sidewalls on most tires are stiff, enough that you can run 0 PSI in them and not get a bigger "footprint". A lot depends on the snow conditions, if it's granular or powder, there's not much you can do to aid your traction, if it has any moisture to it, it will pack hard the more you go over it, as long as you don't spin.
Clutch engagement has an effect on traction as well. My bike revs a tiny bit before engagement, and spins the tires, which can be bad. My buddies old Honda will roll away at the slightest throttle input, so he usually breaks the first trails. Tire choice has a lot to do with a bikes ability as well. Forget the paddle tires, they're good in the mud, but dig holes faster than a Marine at boot camp in the snow. You want a "flat profile" tire, like bearclaws, or dirt devils. They aren't rounded like the stock dunlops, or radials. They help a lot in keeping the bike up and "on plane" if you will.

 

For the deep snow a tire like the ATR's keep you up on top much more. The less agressive tread will allow a little spinning w/o digging holes, momentum is very important as is actual weight. The difference in rider weight is enough to make a difference but on a quad I go for the tallest and fattest tire so you have less lbs/sq inch

 

i was driving my 800 through 22" of ice pellets, didnt stop it, although i had to keep the rpm above 2000 in 4x4 or i wouldent go any were [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

 

I don't ever get snow that deep, but I read a few weeks ago a comment stating " . . . once you bury the frame . . . " the riding is over! Sounds like you may be a little over-zealous! I've seen 4x4 trucks bog down in two feet. Have fun trying though!