Here is what riders are saying about TRIALS TIRES:

Read an article reviewing Trials Tires, how to set them up & find out how Stewards members can buy them at cost

 

Jimmy Lewis- "for my trail bike, I'll be running a trials tire for sure"

I don't know who started it, but I'm copying. I have friends from Hawaii to
Idaho to Michigan running trials tires on their dirt bikes and most of them
stick with them once they switch, so I had to give it a try. I chose the
least expensive trials tire, the $115 IRC TR-011 to give it a work out. The
tire, which is made for tubeless applications, has an extremely soft
sidewall and some real gooey rubber, which seems like it wouldn't last very
long in the slide and shred trail riding world. In actuality the sidewall is
a harder rubber in IRC's dual compound, radial construction design. The
age-old square block design looks like nothing special.

I was shocked once I started riding with the tire on the rear of a Yamaha
WR250F. First, since it didn't do anything funny, especially in the turns
where I thought it would be much more prone to sliding out. Second, in deep
sand the tire grips and pulls as good as any normal knobby. It doesn't have
"moments" like a true sand tire does, yet pulls consistently at any power
level or wheel speed, spinning or gripping. In fact the biggest thing about
this tire is that grip stays consistent all the time on any surface, and the
slower the wheel is spinning, the better the grip is regardless of surface.

The other thing the tire does, run at pressures between 12 and 15 psi, is
have great bump absorption, making the rear suspension feel even plusher,
though it does wallow around, especially noticeable on pavement, even more
so when it heats up. We ran it on our gnarliest trails and it did as well as
any tire we've run, especially in, yes you've guessed it, trials-like stuff.

It did great on a two-day, higher speed Baja ride even. The tire seemed less
prone to spinning from a stop or when getting going on a steep incline,
which means it is good for the trails too. Durability is really good,
especially considering the soft rubber. It has outlasted regular knobbies by
about 50%. If there were any disadvantages to this tire it is in braking.
Because if you skid the rear wheel, it tends to slide more and bite less,
hence in racing conditions it may not be a good choice. You can also melt
the knobs off the center of the tire in extended high-speed riding with a
low (8 psi or lower) pressure. But for my trail bike, I'll be running a
trials tire for sure, starting with this IRC.

-Jimmy Lewis

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Bill Dart-"These things are Da Bomb!!!!"

I know that this tire will sound like a crazy idea to most people on this forum, but almost everyone I know that has tried them won't use anything else now. The tire is the Michelin X-11 Trails Competition tire. This is a true Observed Trials competition tire, with a tread pattern like an old DT-1 universal tire, but with very different construction. It is a radial tire with a tall, very soft sidewall and the rubber compound is so soft if feels like you could twist the knobs off with your fingers.

When you look at the tire and feel it, the first thought EVERYONE has is there is no way in hell this tire can work better than any knobby, and if it did, it would be wasted in one ride. The truth is totally opposite. These tires work FAAAAAR better than ANY knobby in just about ANY conditions, including mud, sand, hard pack, loam, rocks, you name it. But where they shine the most is in nasty, rocky, rooty technical conditions. On loose rocky trails, rather than spitting the loose rocks out, it just wraps around them, mashes them into the ground, and uses them for traction. Not only do they hook up far better than anything else, the tall soft sidewall gives you a cushier ride, as the tire effectively gives you a couple inches of very compliant suspension that soaks up rocks and roots and sharp ledges.

The reason these things work so well is the carcass construction. Rather than relying on sharp knob edges to bite, the radial design lays down a larger footprint and wraps around anything on the ground and grips it. They don't want to spin or break traction, even with bikes like 525's or the 300 2T that I ride. My 300 used to be tough to wheelie because it would just spin the tire when you whacked the throttle, now, it is a wheelie king.

As for durability, these things work even after the knob edges round out, and will last well over 1,000 miles with little degradation in traction. I put 1,940 miles on one last summer, and while it was getting pretty loose on steep downhill's, it still was getting incredible traction under power. The knobs were down to about a quarter inch high, but they were still hooking up.

I know this sounds crazy to anybody who hasn't tried one or seen someone use them, but you just have to try one and you will be convinced. I have been riding a long time and I used to race for over 20 years with a modest level of success, plus I ride technical trails more than most people, and I have tried just about every tire made. These things are Da Bomb!!!!

Michelin only makes the X-11 Trials Competition tire in a 4.00x18 size in either tube type or tubeless. Get the tube type and run a heavy duty tube at about 8-10 pounds. The tall sidewall doesn't pinch very easy, so flats aren't any more of an issue than any other tire, but if you do flat one, you MUST fix it on the spot, as the sidewall is too soft to ride it flat. IRC makes the TR-11 Trials Winner and it works almost as well as the Michelin but with a shorter life.

The only down side is the price of the Michelin, at about $110 mail order, $160 list, but it will outlast at least three knobbies. You can get the IRC for about $75. The only handling quirk is that they feel pretty "squirmy" on hard surfaced roads at speed, as the tall sidewall has some "slack" that lets it move from side to side some. Once the slack is taken up, they hook up on pavement or gravel better than a knobby, but it takes some getting used to at first.

Bill Dart

Read more about Trails tire options from Bill Dart

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Stewards members on Trials Tires

Just a note about the rear Michelin Trials Tire on my 06'WR 450.I have run
the pressure between 10 and 11psi for over 600 miles with no problem, using an
MSR 4.00 Ultra Heavy Duty Tube, and 2 rim locks. I also went to a smaller
sprocket on the engine (by 1 tooth) to compensate for the tire's higher profile.

Myself, I have found that this tire performs superbly, and better than a
knobby in most of the environments we ride in, including steep, soft soil
uphills, low speed rocks, roots and boulders, deep soft sand, hard packed level and
off-camber and various combinations of all of these trail conditions. While it
feels good to break it loose and spin it up, you can easily get out of most
tough spots by using the drive impulses of the engine (low rpm). However, it does
require some creative traction techniques in snow and really wet slippery mud if
you have to start from a dead stop. While my body weight (all of a
150lbs)probably aggravates this situation, I  find that what works for me, is
literally sitting on the rear fender until the bike gets moving and then all is
well.

While I usually get around 500 miles out of a knobby, this tire is still
going strong at 600+ miles. I hear of some riders getting over 2500 miles on
them. If that's the case, it will certainly more than pay for itself.

The question: Would I buy another one?........Absolutely!......Hope this
helps all.

Morrow Fleet

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 Hi Chris,

I don't think I ever got back to you regarding the Michelin rear trials tire I put on my KTM 200, all I can say is wow !!!! what a difference, hugs the trails and rocky area like I was glued to them, so much better then the knobby, doesn't look as good as the knobby but performs better.
I might make it for the trail appreciation days at the end of this month and would love to meet you, you are quite the amazing guy with all the work you do for this cause.
I'll keep you posted.

Thanks,
John Lininger

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 The last club enduro had shredded my S-12 which had 2 D-37 enduro's and 4 club enduro's. I have heard about trials tires working well in a wide range of conditions and threads on this board lean the same way, so I thought it was worth a try.

I got the IRC TR-11, at ~90 buy shipped isn't much more than I would have paid for another S-12.

Yesterday I raced our club enduro with the new tire at 10.5 psi. I didn't do so much as a practice ride but spent Saturday riding around my 6 year old boy, so I was going in blind. The course offered some of everything but no real extremes, but still typical SoCal Dez, sand washes, some whoops, rocks, gravel.

The firs loop of the ride had slow speeds but I took every opportunity of the 3 for free to push to see how the tire handled. First off I noticed I was overdriving the front end with the added traction. The added traction was everywhere, all the conditions listed above. There was a spot immediately after a check that turned up a steep loose decomposed granite sand from a stand still, other bikes were digging away while I just rolled on the throttle and it walked right up, I was literally laughing by the time I got to the top. By the 3rd loop speeds were up and I was used to where to put down the power to rail around the loose corners. What a blast. It still did brake sliding easily but predictable, I found myself going in to corners much faster than I would normally, jam in in a full sideways brake slide and just roll on throttle and it would grip smoothly and drive out perfectly.

The only place it *may* felt a little off was in whoops. But I will add it was a slightly down hill section, I was behind and trying to make it up. It didn't do anything worth raising an eyebrow but felt a little squirley trying to slow down on the down hill whoops.

It worked so well, I felt like I was cheating.

Chris W

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 Trials tire was the single greatest change I have ever made to a bike. It was magic. The rear end never hunts, climbs everything with out wheel spin and it stops much better. Also, you don't chew up the trail. It was far, far better than I thought. Rode at Ragdump and trails that were hard were now easy.

New law - outlaw knobbies!

Thanks for the tip.
Jim Pinsky
Cisco Systems IT Infrastructure

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