Hoosier is making the normal Tri Trac rear tire again?

[John_Neary]

18x10-10 Hoosier Tri Trac rear tires seem to be back in stock or i am just very confused.

https://www.hoosiermidatlantic.com/product.cfm?InvKey=81515

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hoosier-ATV-Tri-Trac-REAR-18-0x10-0-10-RD20-16115RD20-QUAD-Flat-Track-ATV-/262237328758?hash=item3d0e901576:g:fbsAAOSwYIhWlTS w&vxp=mtr

[poohbee1]

they don"t show a very good picture in the ad . Its a inch wider in the middle than the old ones.18x9x10 https://www.hoosiertire.com/pdfs/pbnew10tritrac.pdf

[350xtrike.rider]

Well they don't say NOS. that would be awesome if they are cuz my original tri trac's are getting dry rotted.

[ironchop]

Damn. I'm about to be out $250 because there is no way I'm not buying at least one set. Plus the cost of a pair of 10" wheels......I need a second job.

Sent from my Z998 using Tapatalk

[John_Neary]

I ordered a set last night, i will post pics once they get here (tracking says that will be on the 26th).

Better pic from the Hoosier website - 226101

[jays375]

To bad it wasn't a harder compound.

[onformula1]

To bad it wasn't a harder compound.

They have a hard compound available-
New 10” Tri Trac Available for 2016
The new 10” Tri Trac Tire will be available in two compounds for 2016. It will be available in the
RD20 and RD30 compounds for blue grooved track conditions. This tire will be suitable for
higher performance on track conditions where other softer compounds will fade. Tires will be
available January 4, 2016 for purchase. Below are the complete specifications:
Item
Number
Tire Size
Tread
Width
Approx.
Circ.
Recom.
Width
Section
Width
Compounds
16115 18.0x10.0-10 9.0” 57.0” 9”-10” 10.5” RD20, RD30
For more information or to place an order, contact your nearest Hoosier Racing Tire
Distributor. A complete list of locations can be found on our website,
www.hoosiertire.com . And follow us on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/HoosierTire),
Twitter (www.Twitter.com/HoosierTire) and Instagram
(www.Instagram.com/HoosierTire).
6

[onformula1]

Now where are the front tires?..LOL

[Joseph Farrow]

Now where are the front tires?..LOL

X2 That would be awesome.

[onformula1]

X2 That would be awesome.

If that happened, I would purchase a updated tire groover, Jackie Meadows style!

[John_Neary]

This is how im gonna groove mine, best tires.....ever

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@jays375 - They have them in the 30 compound...those are hard as rocks (work awesome in loose stuff once grooved). Most everyone used the 20 compound..they had the 05 but it was marshmellow soft and would rip apart on anything but wet clay.

[onformula1]

This is how im gonna groove mine, best tires.....ever

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@jays375 - They have them in the 30 compound...those are hard as rocks (work awesome in loose stuff once grooved). Most everyone used the 20 compound..they had the 05 but it was marshmellow soft and would rip apart on anything but wet clay.

Did you groove those and did you come up with the pattern?

I can't believe you didn't bend the crap out of those hubs, I tacoed a few. (I see a Ohlins too)

[John_Neary]

Yeah i grooved all my own tires except the time i ran HardLine fronts that Terry Varner was selling for Quads in the very early days when there was next to nothing for front tires.They where Pirelli tire meant for some Euro box micro car that he would groove up, worked awesome.

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Needed one of those $300 high end groovers to make them and i never had one of those, i did all mine with the crappy little $70 type...nice work out for the arms.




I never had trouble with hubs or race grade axles but i DNF'ed a ton of races by flat spotting rear wheels once we moved to the 10 inch wheel..cost me the world championship in 86 at Riverside..still finished third with a flat rear but i was gonna win by half a lap if not for that dang flat.

[jays375]

So the 30 would work well with tracks that are more dirt?

[John_Neary]

@jays375 - Only if you groove them, the big triangle blocks normally will wanna get up on top of marbles and float but if you add a few 1/4 inch opening in them they bite right in and are hooked up.

If you have ever followed like F1 racing you know the second the track even semi dries out after a rain those guys go right for the slicks even if its a huge risk because of damp spots. Its like that with a three wheeler when riding MX...if you go with a knobby tire you will lose so much time in like the fast sweeper turns there is no way to make it up in the couple loose sections.

I used them in pretty much every race i rode in 86. (please excuse the Quad pic)

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Even loose tracks like Glen Helen id use them with good results.

Type of groover id use, they would wear out every couple months and stop getting hot but we used the crap out of them. They cost like $70.

226109

The reason the 30s work better in loose stuff is the same reason sand tires for a motocross bike are a hard compound, its so the knobs do not bend and so you do not lose their sharp edges in the first ten minutes of use. You can get half a season out of a pair of 30 compound Hoosiers, i did.

[onformula1]

@jays375 - Only if you groove them, the big triangle blocks normally will wanna get up on top of marbles and float but if you add a few 1/4 inch opening in them they bite right in and are hooked up.

If you have ever followed like F1 racing you know the second the track even semi dries out after a rain those guys go right for the slicks even if its a huge risk because of damp spots. Its like that with a three wheeler when riding MX...if you go with a knobby tire you will lose so much time in like the fast sweeper turns there is no way to make it up in the couple loose sections.

I used them in pretty much every race i rode in 86. (please excuse the Quad pic)

226108

Even loose tracks like Glen Helen id use them with good results.

Type of groover id use, they would wear out every couple months and stop getting hot but we used the crap out of them. They cost like $70.

226109

The reason the 30s work better in loose stuff is the same reason sand tires for a motocross bike are a hard compound, its so the knobs do not bend and so you do not lose their sharp edges in the first ten minutes of use. You can get half a season out of a pair of 30 compound Hoosiers, i did.

Front rim flip for track width, don't worry about the quad pics, were talking tires.

Those 10" car tires also came on Mini's and the very first Honda Civics, remember when some guys changed to grooved 12" car tires?

I want one on these-
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaf-all10270/overview/

Nice analogy on the MX & F1 tires.

[John_Neary]

The in 83,84 and 85 Team Honda and Ohtsu worked very closely and there was always two Japanese tire techs with the Honda guys at the big races and i watched them cut slicks into what could pass for production tires it was so clean and perfectly carved up.

The groover they used cost like $350 back then, always wanted one.

[onformula1]

The in 83,84 and 85 Team Honda and Ohtsu worked very closely and there was always two Japanese tire techs with the Honda guys at the big races and i watched them cut slicks into what could pass for production tires it was so clean and perfectly carved up.

The groover they used cost like $350 back then, always wanted one.

Yeah there are some very nice high tech tire groovers out there thanks to the rock crawler guys, they are hard core!

Ever see the movie- On any Sunday 2, where King Kenny Roberts had to cut his own rain tires out of slicks?, cool story.

[phantomtracer]

Wow, that is great news. The tri-trac was the best tire I had. It would slide easily but still hook up when exiting a corner.

[cochran]

I know a guy that just bought a set of NOS Hoosier Tri rears for 1100.

[onformula1]

I know a guy that just bought a set of NOS Hoosier Tri rears for 1100.

Ouch!, that is hard core was it you? :lol:

[The_Steve_Man]

A lot of the quad guys run tri tracs. I think the EDT series are going to require tri tracs in the Pro.

They don't have the 9 wide though.

[86T3]

I wonder if they'll make them in a harder compound? I know the Halls were in contact with hoosier near the end of last season about trying to get some tires in a harder compound specifically for us trikers, but the tread was going to be the square boxy style.

[John_Neary]

Received the tires today, you will see in the photos that the tires they have in their ad are not the tires they are selling now but just a photo of the original 18x9-10 Tri Trac that came out in late 1984. New tire is indeed a 1" wider.

Came very well packaged, the wrap was air tight so good for people who might not use them right away so the rubber stays fresh.

226727

Side by side with a 8.50" RA. You can see where they gained the extra inch if you look at the center of the tire, the middle triangle block is now a inch wider.

226728 226730

Next to a unmounted 9.50" Carlisle Turf Master

226729

8x8" Douglas wheel for reference, i have not decided yet if i am gonna go with 10x8 or 10x9 wheels.

226731

The Hoosiers are light weight compared to the Carlisle tires and have a much firmer carcass and sidewall, they look and feel like a race car tire and not something you find in the garden center at LOWES. :lol:

*edit* added couple more shots of the 8" wheel compared to the tire, as you can see the 8" wheel is plenty wide enough

226732 226733

[christph]

Cool looking tires. Are they only good for flat track?

[John_Neary]

@christph - It depends on how loose the soil is but normally these are the type of tires pro three wheeler racers used on every course. Only a sand or maybe a extremely rutted track would racers not use this style tire back when i was racing in the mid and late 80s. You can add grooves to help in loose soil.

Now days a lot of riders seem to use knobbies on their performance three wheelers when on MX tracks but that was never the case when three racing was at its peak because of the amount of time lost in corners when you gotta try and drive around them like a quad because knobbies do not normally slide well.

Try and find a single photo of like Jimmy White or Marty Hart using a turf tamer style rear tire at a race, they always used their Hoosier or Ohtsu tires.

[bkm]

I really wish they would have went back to the 9" wide tire, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Maybe my set of 18x9-10's will retain some of their value since they were the original Tri-Trac????

[onformula1]

It looks like from the pictures that they added 1" to the center of the original mold.

I think the quad guys are at fault.

[John_Neary]

I agree the 9 inch wide tire was likely a better choice for 250cc and under size three wheelers, on something like our old KTM495 these would be ideal. I think the smoother the track the better these will work and ruts would be when they work against you. Just a guess.

[John_Neary]

use these images to wash your brain of the 250R basket case thread

227013 227014

10x9 wheels showed up today, the good .190 of course. gonna go get them mounted up tomorrow

[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?








Sent from my Z998 using Tapatalk

[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]

.
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?

[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-

227016 227017

[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 . :lol:

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 . :)
.

.

[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.

[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 - 227022

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262237330149?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The tire in reality that shows up on your doorstep - 227023

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]

227024This 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.

[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]

.
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.

[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.

227030

[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.

227447 227448 227449

[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!