Please tell me more about terra flex and the like

[Bibleman]

When I pick up my XRL next week I'm considering more aggressive tires. I know everything is a tradeoff, but how much do I give up in street performance to gain something in the dirt? Is cornering and stopping power greatly compromised on pavement? How about vibration. Just by looking at those knobs with the spaces in between I would imagine there would be significant vibration and/or road noise. Any input?

[goblin127]

Do a search on the tire you will get more hits than you will have time to read. There are good and bad thins about them. I personally have found that the conti tkc 80 is the way to go for me.No dirt tire should handle the road as well as those things do.

[drop]

The terra flex used to be a good tire but apparently they are building them in China now and quality went way down. The old one had steel belts for strength and the new ones don't I think. If you want a DOT rear tire, try the Kenda Trackmaster II. If you're offroad only try the Maxxis Desert IT. These seem to have the tallest knobs out of the tires I've seen. I'm personally running the Michelin Baja 140/80-18 for my XRR. It's DOT legal but isn't quite as aggressive as the above mentioned.

[Owyhee]

The terra flex used to be a good tire but apparently they are building them in China now and quality went way down. The old one had steel belts for strength and the new ones don't I think. If you want a DOT rear tire, try the Kenda Trackmaster II. If you're offroad only try the Maxxis Desert IT. These seem to have the tallest knobs out of the tires I've seen. I'm personally running the Michelin Baja 140/80-18 for my XRR. It's DOT legal but isn't quite as aggressive as the above mentioned.

What do you think of the Michelin Baja on the street? They look like an S-12 with shorter knobs. Do they last a reasonable amount of time?

"O"

[drop]

I'll let you know Owyhee. I have to get the bike safetied and insured first. I expect the shorter knobs will make it a better choice for occasional street use compared to the taller knob DOT rears.

[hill5150]

Teraflex sucks, period.They are horrible on the street, vibrate, chunked to hell on my first lap in mild rock dez, they dont make a 120-100, overpriced and just suck bad,get the Maxxix desert IT......?

[Bibleman]

Thanks for all the input. I'll do a search as suggested to get more info.

[xrltim]

Pirelli Rallycross is what I've been running, they are awesome offroad and a little noisy on road. I wouldn't say they are the highest in mileage but they aren't bad. I go through 3 rears before the front.

[Bibleman]

Any thoughts on the Kings KT 966 tires?

[ez__rider]

I'm new to this sport, and also trying to learn about tires. what I have found though is that aside from being rated off%/street% for usage (or vice-versa?), the dirt tires are also rated for the type of terrain: sand, intermediate, mud, hard, etc...

best way to get tips for tires is to state your usage and terrain. our trails here have a lot of loose sand. I also plan to do some gravel road enduro, and very small amount of local street riding, since eventually I will be plated. I have received a few recommendations for the Kenda Trackmaster both on this site and locally. they are VERY affordable, and supposedly last pretty well. ("compared to Dunlops").

good luck. it's a tricky topic, these tires are...