any one use spider tracks?

[lisnup65]

All the complaining that I am reading about this tire does not belong on a trike, or this tire sucks just makes me laugh!! The choice of tire is 100% up to the owner of the trike/quad. Their is no perfect tire for all conditions and thats the bottom line. Most of the machines came with over sized baloon style tires that do the job.

Dependant on the machine and riding conditions, depends on the tire to choose. I have owned at one point over the years almost every machine that was made. When I would replace tires, I would base my decision off power, terrain, and use of the trike. For someone to say that this tire suck or this tire does not belong on a trike is just plain child'ish.

From my expirence I will rate the following:

Spider tracs, mudd lites, etc= The tires are designed for maximun traction is soupy type conditions. They do excellent in Mud, snow, loss packed earth, etc. These tire are normally big in sizes. The large thread pattern makes for a ride that is not really smooth on dry hard packed. Agressive riding is limited as they normally do not slide as other non-agressive tires. The more power you have the better these tires will perform as it takes power to get them turning, espically in a mud bog. The side walls do not offer as much flex as a baloon style tire, therefore I would not recommend for use on a non-suspended trike unlesws you dont mind the rougher ride.

Baloon style tires= These are the original tires that most of the trikes came with from the factory. These tires offer fair to good all around traction. The large side walls provide excellent flex ability to allow for cushion impact which is ideal for a non-suspended trike. Agressive riding will easily push the limits of these tires as the cushion causes extreme flex in the turns creating a more unprdictable response. At high speeds these tires also high center from expansion leaving less contact patch on the ground. For mud and snow these tires are only fair as they have limited grip capabilties due to their design.

Hoeshot type tires= These are tires made for 1 reason and 1 reason only. Agressive riding. Their design is to have a stiffer side wall to limit flex, a greater contact patch with the ground, and lower profile to help eliminate high centering at speeds. The tires provide excellent hard packed traction, but they suffer in soupy conditions. High speed riding is rewarded with these tires as sliding through turns or high speed straight line runs are predictable. A few hours with these tires and you will learn and know what you can expect out of them. Their is a reason why this is THE tire of choice for MX racers. Again, great hard packed, good loos packed, but poor soupy condition tire.


Crossbreeds= I would consider the Titan Fast trekkers and the Dirt hooks to fall into this group. These try to offer the best of the MX and mudd styles in 1 design. Although they semi accomplish the goals, they still fall short of getting the tires completely right. I have the fast trkkers on a machine now. They work well in all conditions, but not excellent. In mudd the provide what I cannot get out of the Holeshot style, but no where close to the Spider tracs. On hard packed the grab, but nothing like the Holeshot style. Tire flex is less than the ballon style, and they dont seem to high center either.

So IMHO, pick the conditions you will encounter the most, consider the machine you are riding, and finally the type of riding you do. This will lead you to the correct tire for your machine regardless of the shallow oppinions of what some will tell you.



My tires of choice! I ride trail and woods, no MX trackes around.
Summer, dry with little rain, holeshot style Maxis Razr, Razr 2, or carlsie badlands.
Summer, rain a few days before a ride, I go to the Fast trekkers.
Fall, Due to rain and foilage on the ground Fast trekkers.
Winter= Spyder tracs
Spring Spider tracs or fast trekkers dependant on conditions.

For this reason I have multiple sets for a choice as to what conditions I will be facing. Nothing like riding with a bunch of sport and sport utiliy quads to find yourself stuck because the tire look better on the machine!!!!!!

[TimSr]

All the complaining that I am reading about this tire does not belong on a trike, or this tire sucks just makes me laugh!! The choice of tire is 100% up to the owner of the trike/quad. Their is no perfect tire for all conditions and thats the bottom line. Most of the machines came with over sized baloon style tires that do the job.

Dependant on the machine and riding conditions, depends on the tire to choose. I have owned at one point over the years almost every machine that was made. When I would replace tires, I would base my decision off power, terrain, and use of the trike. For someone to say that this tire suck or this tire does not belong on a trike is just plain child'ish.

I sit back and laugh at all the nonsense in these type threads, but since since you took the time to actually write an intelligent post on the subject, I wanted to say that I agree with you completely. My tire choices are dfferent, for what works best for me, but based on the exact same logic. Ive seen countless arguments about specific tires, when the bike it will be used on, and what they will be riding in isnt even mentioned! If nothing else, people reveal the extent of their knowledge that way.

There is nothing more ironic than somebody who laughs at a practical choice in a tire, while they think a tire is a cosmetic choice. Tires should be chosen based on appearance if all you are ever going to do is look at it and talk about riding it.

Maybe we should try a thread discussing the best tire for the Armchair Racer!

The two guys who started me on 3 wheels always swore by Spider Tracks on their 350X's. We did woods trails, mud, snow, rocks, and hills year round in Ohio.

[K1500]

straight pipe I have 25x13x9 Vampires on the back of my Big Red. They are a very aggressive mud tire. Their tread is deeper than the Spiders and they ride a little rougher on hard pack, mainly at very slow speeds. I ride mostly in the woods or muddy conditions, they don't slide very well unless you are on a gravel road. Mud traction is great, but if you loose your momentum they will dig theirselves to China in a hurry. They have good floatation, but the lugs are so deep and they clean very well so you can end up stuck deep. I'm an old fart so I don't really care what looks cool anymore, just what works for me. LOL

[straight pipe]

right on k1500! i thought they would be good in mud. i almost bought a older 250 four trax quad last year and it had vampires. the bike was seriously muddy with scredded weeds all over it. before i put the lites on i had the original tires on. they are similar to the carlise stykers. i was surprised how well they worked. the 250sx had originals and i bought new strykers for my 185s and i was riding along the red river after a rain and the 250 plugged up right away and i was sliding everywhere, my 185 on the other hand was good..it had no problems. i still can't figure it out cause the tred pattern is dang near identical. the only explination i have is that the strykers are new and the edges are still sharp contrary to the originals on the 250 which are rounding.i had some who were telling me to install outlaws instead of lite and of coarse i has my bud telling me to go spiders, but no one i personally know has installed lites so that's why i did it. to be different and also to see how they will handle on a trike. when i showed my bud he shock his head and said "they're not spiders" so we'll see when we start hitting the trails.

[honda200]

I run ITP mudlites all around on my warrior, amazing hook up (i got it geared WAY up too) and they are amazing in mud, sand, water, snow,and on hardpacked

only thing dont like about them, if you gotta do a bit of road riding, brace yourself for a not so good ride

Curtis

[straight pipe]

really? what do they do on the roads?

[K1500]

I think they just have some vibration out on the blacktop. One of the guys I ride with has them but he hasn't said much about it. He really likes his Lites. One of my riding buddies has a set of strykers on his old 200SX quad and it amazes me at the places he can go. He laughs and says his old worn out quad just doesn't have enough power to spin the tires.

[honda200]

yea, its a real rough ride, the front end vibrates too much, so i wheelie as much as i can

Curtis