Wheels/Tires Pirelli Trials Tire for Trails and Dessert racing.

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dirtjunkie85

Recently ive swithced to a pirelli trials tire on the rear because of the rants and raves ive heard on different forums about them. Some say to only run like 8 to ten pounds in them so the first ride out i tried that as did my dad who had a tubliss system in his ktm450. Both of our trials tires were flat by the end of the ride. the tire was so soft it was horrible to ride in on flat. I was way dissapointed.
I didnt give up on him though and im currently running normal air pressure (around 16 lbs). Now I think im in love. the thing hooks up in the nasty stuff like it was covered in super glue and duct tape! you wouldnt think so but it is decent in sand as well, although, it doesnt clean out thick mud well.
I went with the pirelli because it supposedly has a stiffer sidewall for dessert applications but most of the other brands ive seen are praised very highly as well. just check out the reviews here.
 
cleonard

cleonard

I picked the Pirelli because it is DOT rated. I would worry that you could overheat the thing in high speed racing. At 16 psi you should be OK. I've been running 11 psi on my XR600, but I'm a big boy. No flats yet, but I'm just trail riding. I do pressure up to 15-16 if I'm going to be doing a lot of high speed riding or pavement

I find that at higher pressures I loose a lot of the incredible stickiness. Try going down a bit in pressure. The sidewall is a lot taller so you can get a way with less than a knobby.

From what I understand the Pirelli can handle the higher speeds somewhat better than the "real" trials tires. They also don't have quite as much stickyness. It's all a tradeoff.

Trials tires have one major downside that I have experienced. On the insanely steep sketchy down hills you loose a lot of your rear breaking. The tire just locks up and slides. Well that and deep mud, but I don't get much of that. Everywhere else it rules. It's like cheating.
 
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