Best sand tire??

[Rustytinhorn]

All you 250r veteran riders, I need some info on what sand tires to choose for my '85 250r. I ride at the Little Saharas in Utah and soon to be St. Anthonys in Idaho.
There are lots of sand tires, but is one design better than the other. Also how many paddles should I look for?? Just wanted to know what SAND tires everyone likes to run since I want to buy the right pair the first time. Thanks
I have the usual mods-
extended swingarm
wheel spacers on each end
fmf fatty pipe and silencer
flatslide carb
boysen reeds

[breastman569]

i really like my edge paddle tires made by skat trak they are 20-10-10 8 paddle tire. they are really light and have a great scoop and great hook up. most people will tell you not to go with the haulers because you cant turn on them or what not, but just ask dammit he is running them and i have run them as well. the only reason why i went with them edge is because they were a little cheaper than the haulers from www.rockymountainatv.com hope this helps. remember in the sand you want a light tire not something heavy thats going to be unsprung weight.

[random-strike]

i like sand skate II

[El'Capitan]

Skat track haulers IMO, best paddle, and go for the straight ones.

[cr480r]

I have haulers on my quad, and before that I had the edge's. The haulers do not turn as well under power. I can picture it being even worse on a trike. The haulers put way more power to the sand though.

[350xBomb]

I have the Edge on my 86R and I love em...I had sand sharks on my 350x (straight paddle) and they did fine. Turned that bike into a wheelie machine, but the R has a lot more wheel spin so I think a V married with a lower profile tire makes for easy slidin.

[tecat-z]

Oh yeah, skat track buffed 9 blade haulers on 10'' lightweight wheels. Turning is really not an issue, i have used straight an V and prefer the hook of a lightweight straight the best.

[3WW Star-Yamahondaman]

in 200 foot or Hill Climbing i run the 9-paddle TALLER HALLER on 22-11x8..
300 foot sand drags i use the Zipper or the Pro-Wedge Paddles
LOTS of people like the "in-between" Paddle .. 8-10 Paddle Hallers

[GPracer2500]

Choosing sand tires is tough. There's so many variables.

Best performing set I've tried on my 85 (+2 swing, +4 axle, stock(ish) bore, mild port) were 20x10x8 6 paddle Haulers. That's not to say it's the very "best" tire but it's the best I've tried and they worked very well. All the 8 paddlers I've tried on my 250r where too much paddle. In my experience with a vareity of paddles on a variety of ATVs, most settups I've played with ended up being overpaddled.

I did some paddle tire testing at Oldsmobile hill in Glamis. 20x10x8 6 paddle Haulers on .190 rims (14lbs ??oz per) vs. 20x11x10 8 paddle GBC Sand Sharks on .160 rims (17lbs 11.2oz). The 6 paddle Haulers dominated the Sand Sharks in basically every way. The Haulers would pull 5 gear up Olds while the Sand Sharks would not. That equaled a multiple bike length difference vs. the control (a Raptor 700). The difference was so drastic, not only for drag racing but in the general responsiveness of the engine, that I didn't even care to dune my ATC until I got some better tires (I've got something else to ride). If not for the back-to-back testing I wouldn't have felt that way and would likely have trooped along with my sucky Sand Sharks not even knowing how bad they sucked.

At first I was sure the weight difference in the tire/wheels combos was making all the difference. After more testing I realize that too much paddle can slow down even a fairly light tire.

I have another set of Sand Sharks (8" rims) that I've been cutting down to figure out what works best for me. At first I just removed weight (from 17lbs 6oz to 13lbs 14oz) and kept the paddles themselves the same shape and height relative to the carcass. They were improved in this form but still dragged on the engine too much. Simply TOO MUCH TRACTION. We all know what it feels like when there isn't enough traction. Having too much traction is harder to spot and it's easy to get there with paddle tires in the sand.

I've since made more changes and should be trying them this weekend.

Here's what I've been experimenting with. These tires are my first attempt at comp cutting my own tires--so don't laugh at the irregularities. I've yet to figure out how to use my cutting tool effectively on the sidewalls. Cutting tires reminds me of polishing--it takes some skill, the right tools, and practice to get pro results. These are 20x11x8 8 paddle GBC Sand Sharks on Dick Cepek rims. They originally weighed 17lbs 6oz each. After cutting the carcass (and a little bit of the paddles) down I was at 13lbs 14oz.




They were improved but they still would not spin up effectively for top end performance like the 6 paddle Haulers. So I've cut the paddles themselves down a bunch to reduce the traction. I'm expecting these to work similarly to the Haulers. I should know next weekend.



Most of the focus in my testing has been drag and/or hill climb performance. But I do snake and play dune so all-around performance is important to me. If I could afford them I'd have some STU Padla Brat 21x12x8 6 paddles. Also, I'd really like to try some 22x11x8 7 paddle Haulers with a bead-to-bead or tripple buff.

[Dammit!]

Skat track haulers IMO, best paddle, and go for the straight ones.

That's what I'm running now too. I love them and can turn and pitch it out no problem at all. Mine are 20x10 8 paddle.

I used to run 20x8 sand sharks and another problem with those is that they're not 20 inches tall. They're closer to 22 if you measure them or put them next to some real 20's. Don't know who the hell measured them but they're tall so that's like going up a tooth on the front sprocket which costs you some power.

[Rustytinhorn]

Thanks guys. I've looked at the Skat trak haulers, but what about the gliders??
I can get that one in 6 paddle and is appears to be a little lighter of a tire (despite the shorter paddles)??
Thanks for the help. You hit the nail on the head.

To get technical....is there much performance difference between running a 20x11 on a 9 inch rim or an 8 inch. The bigger sidewall should give me more cusion, but anything else...?? Also I'd like to get 11inch wide if I could, but would downsizing to a 10inch make much differnce in flotation??
Thanks again.

[GPracer2500]

Hauler: 7/8" tall


Extreme: 7/8" tall but thicker and stiffer than regular Haulers


Glider: 5/8" tall, intended for youth ATVs in low paddle counts but available with up to 14 paddles for high HP machines


For comparison, my uncut SandSharks have paddles over 1" tall (nearly 1 1/4").

Tractionwise, I believe it works out to something like this (approximately): 6 paddle Extreme = 7 paddle Hauler = 9 paddle Glider.

AFAIK, wider and/or larger diameter rims will turn and slide sideways better at the expense of drag perfromance.

[3Razors]

Just stick with the 8 paddle hauler. It is tried and true and the best setup for a stock or pretty built 250r.

[NOS_350X]

Haulers are good for a straight line. The Xtrems, thats what i run on my banshee because it goes in a straight line REAL fast. For general riding you cant beat a sand skate II they are light and you can turn them, when riding on harder surfaces they dont bounce as bad as a straight paddle. They hook up extremely good for a v paddle also. On a bike thats not EXTREMELY high in the hp department your not going to notice a diffrence between the haulers and sand skate II's except you can turn the sand skates much easyer. The edge is actualy heavyer than the sand sake II and sand star's.

[Rustytinhorn]

What is a good wheel to put your sand tires on. I don't need it to be fancy, just needs to do its job.
I was thinking about an ITP Steel Wheel and also the Douglas's .125-.190 from rockymountainatv.com . Much preference between the two??
Thanks