Interest in Hoosier Re-Making the Front Tri-Trac

[86T3]

I ran them when I went to Kawasaki for the first time, they were night and day better then anything we had at Honda. They kind of started out backwards at Hoosier because they are building harder tires for the rear because that's what the riders today are looking for because they don't have front tires that really work where you can really drive it in to the corner. We would run front 5's or 10's depending on how hard (blue groove) the track was on the front, most of the time 10's worked good. But then we would run 10's in the short heat races, and 20's in the longer main events on the rear. Now they are running 30's. The lack of corner speed is what I see wrong with the style the racers are running now. When they start backing it in on the blue groove and able to hold their line coming out of the corner then they will go faster. Right now I see letting off too early holding the inside or sliding too much out in the dusty slick parts of the track and they are not going as fast as they could with the right tires. I was told to stay out of it because the riders that are out there helping Hoosier are taking care of it. Well they started going in the wrong direction IMO.

Mickey, you do realise that we as a group are on average old, overweight, and have to go to work on Monday? The new Hoosier tires they made specifically for trikes we're incredible. IMHO, I have never had a front tire push so I don't need to upgrade my front. But there are people who do have soft flat track fronts that also love the new rear tire. Please don't put down something that is a huge step in our sport. And a little FYI, I showed up at the Hoosier trailer at 9am Friday morning to pick up my set of T30 tires. I talked with Mike for a while, he had brought 7 sets with him and had 8 more coming the next day. He was very worried about sales as I was the only person to pre purchase. Guess what?I showed my tires to a couple people, ran a bit on them and was instantly 100% more comfortable than I had ever been on that track, and come Saturday night he was sold out! Thanks to Hoosier, hopefully this experience they had will make them more eager to work with BKM on the fronts

[Mickey Dunlap]

Mickey, you do realise that we as a group are on average old, overweight, and have to go to work on Monday? The new Hoosier tires they made specifically for trikes we're incredible. IMHO, I have never had a front tire push so I don't need to upgrade my front. But there are people who do have soft flat track fronts that also love the new rear tire. Please don't put down something that is a huge step in our sport. And a little FYI, I showed up at the Hoosier trailer at 9am Friday morning to pick up my set of T30 tires. I talked with Mike for a while, he had brought 7 sets with him and had 8 more coming the next day. He was very worried about sales as I was the only person to pre purchase. Guess what?I showed my tires to a couple people, ran a bit on them and was instantly 100% more comfortable than I had ever been on that track, and come Saturday night he was sold out! Thanks to Hoosier, hopefully this experience they had will make them more eager to work with BKM on the fronts

I have been watching how much faster the racers (more of the top 5 or so) are getting over the past 3 years at Pine Lake. So for the real fast guys I see the tire needing to be better, and as a ex Pro racer I think I know a little more about what's needed for more controlled corner speed, that's all I was saying. The rest of the racers are going to want what the Pros race with. Right now they are happy with the quad front tire because they don't run a real sticky tire on the rear. If you look at how much tire is on the ground with there quad fronts it isn't much because they are square on top, not rounded like our old tires. That old tire put a lot on the ground being wider and rounded. If you don't like hearing it from me, ask Jimmy White. When he first got these tire he left Marty so bad it left Honda scrambling to the point Marty had to go to Hoosier too, it's night and day different from the way the pros of today are running the corners. But you are right, most racers today like the tires we ran in 83' and 84', But even then when I switched to the Carlisle tires it killed everyone, and soon after that everyone was running them. I'm not trying to put people down, just telling you what works and why. And again I'm talking to the racers that are going faster and faster, but are not there quite yet.

[86T3]

I'm all for having a conversation and I will listen to you and trust what you have to say Mickey, I just don't want you to put down Hoosier. They really went out on a limb and it looks like it is going to work out. I looked through the open class photos and it seems that about a 1/4 to a 1/3rd are using flat track front tires. I've heard good and bad about then. I can't remember who it was but they said it made a huge difference by planting the front tire. I also talked to someone (a super fast guy) who didn't notice a difference in it. I just don't think that sliding some of these corners, like turn 1 at pine lake, is the fastest way around it. I quit trying to slide into it and I passed a bunch of people there.

[Mickey Dunlap]

I'm all for having a conversation and I will listen to you and trust what you have to say Mickey, I just don't want you to put down Hoosier. They really went out on a limb and it looks like it is going to work out. I looked through the open class photos and it seems that about a 1/4 to a 1/3rd are using flat track front tires. I've heard good and bad about then. I can't remember who it was but they said it made a huge difference by planting the front tire. I also talked to someone (a super fast guy) who didn't notice a difference in it. I just don't think that sliding some of these corners, like turn 1 at pine lake, is the fastest way around it. I quit trying to slide into it and I passed a bunch of people there.

I'm not putting down Hoosier, I'm saying they need to not only rely only on the fast guys today, and go back to the Pro's that made their tire the best back in the day. Those pros were faster! And I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about Team Green and more so JW.

[86T3]

I'm not saying that Jacob is more talented than JW, you, or any of the racers back in the day but IMHO him on a his 450 would be very hard to beat by you guys in the 80s. The game has changed a lot in 30 years, and the biggest change is the 450 motors. They don't need the same tires as the pros in the 80s, and they certainly don't have to get as sideways to get around the track fast. I think we can both agree that this can never be proven by either of us so its better if we just agree to disagree on this one.

[poohbee1]

I will buy one if you can get it done

[Mickey Dunlap]

I'm not saying that Jacob is more talented than JW, you, or any of the racers back in the day but IMHO him on a his 450 would be very hard to beat by you guys in the 80s. The game has changed a lot in 30 years, and the biggest change is the 450 motors. They don't need the same tires as the pros in the 80s, and they certainly don't have to get as sideways to get around the track fast. I think we can both agree that this can never be proven by either of us so its better if we just agree to disagree on this one.

I agree, I see too much going side ways, and that's the point, they need to hook up better at a faster speed, and right now they are building tires that doesn't hook up as much. The point of this thread is to give them a reason to bring back that tire, with the facts. If the old guys were still there that worked with JW they would already know this.


I think the 450's are faster for sure, and all the more reason to increase the corner speed. Right now they drive them in the corner, but because they take longer to stop and longer to get going again because of the 20-30 pounds heavier. Getting corner speed up is more important thenHP. HP is good, if you can ride it just as hard. Case and point, I could set faster lap times on my 200r over my Team Honda team mates on 250's because I could go into the corner faster and get back on it sooner while turning quicker on one of the biggest fastest ovals , Boyd TX.

[DohcBikes]

Please god don't let this turn into what it's turning into.

Yes the tires are cool. Yes, Hoosier, people will buy them. I searched and search and found absolutely no viable option. Cut right, they'd even work as pairs for quads in certain riding conditions.

[86T3]

The T30 tire they made for us is just a harder version of a tire they make already. Jacob has a d20 set he's used at all the needt races prior to Pine lake (I'm not sure if he ran the 20 or 30 there) and they have softer ones also. Its very hard to get those soft tires spinning though, which is why we wanted the harder tire. I think the controlavility of the t30 will increase your average speed vs fighting to get that soft tire sliding. I really like this conversation, I hope you aren't put off about it. I'm definitely learning and understanding more from the back and forth.

[86T3]

I hope I'm not putting anyone off either, I was typing that out before I saw Damon's post. This is interesting to me, I've been traveling the east coast racing almost every weekend for 2 months and fighting rear tires the whole way. I finally got a set I like, this conversation is giving me more to think about.

[DohcBikes]

The tire discussion is great. The "I, I, I, me, me, me," is what I'm worried about getting out of hand. So far we know that Mickey can take corners faster than anyone in the universe and that the general public will buy whichever tire he has on his trike, because ex pro racer. It's not 1983, and 450's arent 250's. No reason to even compare. Bench racing really grinds my gears.

Let's not forget that no matter what, a small group won't make this profitable. There needs to be a market. Quads could use this tire as well. I think Hoosier should make it.

[bkm]

I've come across some old quad pics from around 86-88 and they were using the tri trac on the front grooved for the quad. My theory as to why they stopped, is when quads first came out guys were still riding them like 4 wheeled trikes sliding them around, but as time went on, they started setting them up to handle like formula one cars so they went to the squared off profile tires and the rounded Tri Trac's days were numbered.

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[DohcBikes]

I see them potentially being used more for certain drag racing conditions, and possibly sand, but I also see some flat track quads using tires that aren't as square as others. Flat tracking on snow also comes to mind.

[86T3]

This are definitely rounded. Probably as much as a tri Trac.

[The_Steve_Man]

This tire works pretty well.