Hoosier is making the normal Tri Trac rear tire again?

[ironchop]

Could a guy just groove out the extra inch in the center to reduce contact patch as a way to make up for the extra inch in width for those of us with stockish 250Rs or would the extra groove parallel to the sidewalls slow your lateral sliding ability and negate any thing gained by reducing the contact patch?








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[3WW Star-John_Neary]

@ironchop - I think it would be better to cut a 1/4 off each side of the middle triangle block if you wanted to reduce the contact patch without changing the handling character of the design to much. Just have to trial and error it a bit by cutting a little off here and there till they felt right out on the track.

In my opinion the downside of these is they will not work we well off road due to the width, wide tires never felt right to me on the uneven surfaces of a MX track all grooved up by dirt bikes. But on a San Jose or Porterville style TT track these should be dang near perfect by the looks of them.

[barnett468]

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John, am I missing something or is that the same exact tire I posted on your photo thread several months ago, at which time you mentioned that it was the new style that was 1" wider than the old style?

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

@Barnett - Yeah these are a new 10" tire that just got released on the 4th of this month, the tires you linked are the old 11" ones that really only worked on Quadzilla 500 Quads.

This is the tire you linked that has been around a long time now but really is to wide for a three wheeler imo-

[barnett468]

Are they only good for flat track?

As John mentioned, they worked well on the types of tracks there were in those days . . The tracks I rode never had deep soft dirt . . The softest track I rode was Perris Raceway, and John actually raced there in the same class I was in on the same day, and they seemed to work well enough to me there although it may be that in that particular case, something a little more knobby like might have been a little better, but I can't remember for certain.

Jimmy White gave me a spare set of them on rims that he had right after he came over to visit me when we were both at the San Diego Stadium Race and saw that I still had STOCK TECATE TIRES on my bike, so I guess he was feeling kinda bad for me . . He was at least kind enough not to tell me I was a moron for using them . . Anyway, I put the tires on and proceeded to holeshot that race and came back around still in first place, and as I was going past the trophy girls whom I had talked to before the race, I looked at them and gave them the peace sign because I had plans for them after the race so I thought that might impress them.

Anyway, I did end up getting passed by Jimmy and a couple other guys, one of which may have been John or his brother George, however, it was definitely NOT because of the tires . . If I remember correctly, that track was fairly moist and hard like decomposed granite . . Some of us, including Mickey Dunlap whom was also there, are still PATIENTLY waiting for John to convert the VHS tape he has of that race into digital so he can download it on youtube so we can see it...and yes, I will play it over and over and over again .

I also used them on the Saddleback Short Track course where I again holeshot the race and won it beating Jimmy and I think Donnie Luce and Marty Hart and several others in the process, and that track was as smooth as glass and hard as a rock with a light scattered layer of loose gravel and would actually develop a blue groove from the tire rubber . . I also holeshot several other races and was typically near the front in the ones I didn't.

My point is, after Jimmy gave me these tires, I used them in every single race, so I can attest to the fact that they work very well in both dry and moist tracks, and I can absolutely guarantee you that if you run a stock length swing arm like I did, and you hit the gas hard on a fairly tacky track with a bike that has decent power, they will hook up so f'n hard that the front wheel will come off the ground at which point the bike will happily continue going in the same direction it was pointed whether you want to go that way or not . . I can also tell you that if you use a stock length swing arm, you will have your hands full trying to get them to slide, so sit as far forward as you can and hang off as far as you can then hit the gas and pray . . Of course if you have a Honda, there is far less to be afraid of when you hit the gas .
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[atc007]

John,I'll ask this here. Seeing the purple Hoosier tag on your tire took me right back 28 years. Did you know Slick Sid from Leisure, the Hoosier van at all the nationals? Rick, tire groover? Maybe you guys had a different set of guys? I know they went as far as Texas for all the Nationals. Not sure you would have seen them except for Nationals..

[barnett468]

@Barnett - Yeah these are a new 10" tire that just got released on the 4th of this month, the tires you linked are the old 11" ones that really only worked on Quadzilla 500 Quads. This is the tire you linked that has been around a long time now but really is to wide for a three wheeler imo-

Got ya, thanks for the info, and yes, based on my experience with the 9" wide ones I had, 10" wide ones would definitely be a little too wide for a 3 Wheeler if one wanted to slide it easily.

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

@atc007 - I was sponsored by Hoosier in 1986 and 1987, they would give me a half dozen or so sets of tires for free over the course of the season. The guy we dealt with was Faron Lubbers, i just checked and he is still with them and heads their drag race program. He went to all the big races and was a really nice guy, he would make sure we had our stickers on and would give us free shirts and hats to wear for the weekend. I mostly only ever used the 20 compound and we would keep a few more grooved than others depending on the track surfaces.

@Barnett - Yeah the original 9" tire was the best and most all purpose tire in three wheeler racing history, there was almost no track it would not work at that hosted pro events. To be honest i got kinda scammed on this because the picture in the Ebay ad IS the 9" tire of old and not this new tire, they do not even have this new tire on the website yet.

Picture of the current Hoosier ad showing the 9" tire instead of the 10" they are selling -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262237330149...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The tire in reality that shows up on your doorstep -

It is like they cut the 9" tire right down the center and glued it back together with a 1" strip of rubber added. More than the width what i think will work against this tire is how flat it is across the top, the old 9" on a 8" wheel would get a nice rounded curve that was more consistent on rough or rutted tracks.

[Keith Salyer]

This is my Cammex 200 in 85 and these tires look wide and were a great all around tire. I used the same set in Miami that year and they worked great there also. I will get me a set of these new ones and make them slide. Might go with the 20 or 30 compound though.

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

You might of had some wide wheels on your Cammex because yeah those do look on the wide side for the original 9" tires.

[barnett468]

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A far as what compound is "best", I know the ones I had were not the hardest and they were actually pretty soft to the touch, but even so, they still lasted me a very long time and I beat the bejesus out of them.

Based on my experience, I would not use a hard compound in a 9" wide tire, however, since these new ones are 1" wider, it might be better to try the hard compound if you want to be sure they will slide easily enough, otherwise if you get the soft compound and they throw you off your bike in a turn, then i would groove them as per ironchops idea but use Johns technique . . if you remove material from the outside and don't round the sharp edges off afterwards which could probably be done, it will make them pretty hard to slide.

I can also pretty much guarantee that if one uses them on a stock width axle, they are gonna end up on their ass sooner or later.

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

I honestly think these would be best suited for a open class motor that has the torque to keep them spinning, reason so many of us loved our 16x8.50-8 RA tires on our 200s is they would rarely dig in and fight you when you threw it in sideways for a fast turn.

We used 10" Carlisle tires a bit on our KTM495 because it would wear out the smaller tires very quickly, cost George the open class national championship at San Jose in 83...his right rear tire was down to cords by the mid way point of the race because he did not put on brand new rubber for the main. His 250cc bike was give them fits all day, i think it seized or something, and he simply forgot to put new tires on his 495 in all the confusion.

18x10-10 turf savers that they sadly no longer make worked good and did not wear out fast, here on the KTM495 at the score world championship in 84.

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

Some pics of the tires now that they are mounted, they have a nice shape to them and are less flat across the top than i worried. My only complaint is the rear is a little to wide now with the 6" over axle and the 6+3 wheel offset but such is life. If i was rich and famous i would get some custom wheels made with a 5+4 offset.

[xrider]

Looks awesome John

[Orangecnty250r]

I was going to pull the trigger on these about a month ago. I even emailed him and asked if they were the same in the picture and he said YES. Beggars cant be choosers but being I saw the picture of the "old school" style like you and emailed him I would have had that WTF! moment opening up this package. . . John they look nice but to be honest with you I would have been unhappy if these showed up at my door. I think your grooving will hide the "untriangle like" triangle. They couldn't keep it the same could they!!! Bastards! I have two new sets of the 11 inch and at least they are better than those!