IRC TR8

Just put the rear TR8 on the bike and took it for a 50 mile ride.   About 40 pavement and 10 off road.   I put a TR8 3.00 X 21 front on the bike at 45 miles, and the rear went on today at 185 miles.   As a heads up, using the TR8 front with the Trailwing rear is not a great idea.   Either the profiles are mismatched or the sidewalls are a different level of rigidity, but on pavement and in the dirt the mismatched set has a slight speed wobble that came and went.   It would be fine then I'd hit a slightly uneven section of pavement and the bike would wiggle a bit and then settle down.   With the TR8 rear, that's completely gone both on and off road.  

I used the 4.00 X 18 size for the rear.   It sounds narrow, but it's within a tenth of an inch or so of the stock Trailwing using a caliper to measure across the knobs.   On the inch size, the 4.00 width is the the measurement across the case, versus the 120/80 stocker which is measured across the knobs.  The nominal width of the TR8 is listed at 121mm, so that's about the same.    The diameter of the TR8 is 675mm versus the Trailwing at 658 (listed specs), so it's only slightly taller.   Weight wise, it's probably very close.   Didn't have a scale, but they feel like they're about a wash holding one in each hand.   I really didn't want a larger, heavier tire since the 250 motor will spin up a lighter tire better than a heavier one.   The 4.00 tire is basically the same diameter as a 130/80-18, so plugging that into the 12 oclock labs calculator, my correction goes from 14.7 to 12.9.  I'll change it tomorrow.

The front tracks well in the desert, and the rear slides predictably and grips very well.   On road, the noise level is very close to the Trailwings in my opinion.   Grip is great on the street, and the cornering is very good and predictable.   No handling issues at all, just good grip, good turn in and no squirming sidewalls.  I'm not sure why more people aren't running these, since at $52 the front tire is a great deal, and $84 for a rear isn't bad.   I'm going to monitor wear, since if these last well it looks like a great option.   For the level of grip both on pavement and off, I'm quite pleased with these.   I'll be watching closely to see how the grip changes with wear.

I'll be wearing the stocker tire off the back of the WR then checking in to see how the tire has lasted for you b4 i purchase a new unit. thanks for the thorough review.

Update: 440 miles on the front, about 340 on the rear. Front still has sharp edges, rear is just starting to round a little on the thrust side. About 50/50 dirt/street. I'll take a couple pics when there's about 750 on them.

Traveller wrote:

Update:  440 miles on the front, about 340 on the rear.  Front still has sharp edges, rear is just starting to round a little on the thrust side.  About 50/50 dirt/street.   I'll take a couple pics when there's about 750 on them.

Considering these TR8's  or the 99's  or 8 rear 99 front
Anyway still liking them, or has the performance degraded?
Have you ridden these in powdery sand?

Edit: just read your post again sorry missed the desert part..so I guess they are good in sugar like sand?

Desert, as in arid, wide open area with lots of sage brush, rabbit brush and varied types of terrain and soil. Woods around here doesn't have a lot of undergrowth, dirt is varied from hard to loam. Mud is an early spring/late fall thing mostly. Some mud around streams and such. Southwest Idaho stuff.

The dirt roads and trails around here are hard pack with loose soil and tiny gravel on top of it when the weather is dry. There are sandy areas, mainly in dry creek beds that are also ATV/dirt bike trails. We have a huge trail system South of Boise and the terrain varies a ton.

I'm up to about 700 miles now, 650 on the front, about 125 less on the rear. The rear is wearing evenly, but is down about 25% from new in the center. Still working great. The front still looks damn near new. It's wearing fantastic. I've been riding on the street back and forth to work about a once a week, then riding it out to the desert and riding in the dirt. About 60% of the riding so far is paved, 40% dirt.

Been experimenting with tires pressures, and have found a sweet spot as of this last weekend. Around 15-16 front, 15-17 rear for the area where we ride. Makes it a TON more stable on the dirt roads and trails with the loose soil on top of hardpack. I ran a couple sandy creek beds, and the tracking is much improved in the loose stuff with the lower pressure. Overall, I had a lot more fun with the tires aired down this weekend. Made a huge difference in how well the bike stuck to whatever surface it was on. No more of the high speed wiggle I was getting.

On the pavement, I aired them up quite a bit. Around 27 front and 26 rear. Again, huge difference in stability. Grooved pavement, especially freshly ground pavement being prepped for repaving was no longer a concern. At 21 psi the bike didn't like pavement grooves. At 27 psi, it was rock solid last weekend.

I took a little "Slime" compressor with me last weekend. It's a little portable tire repair kit with the little compressor in it, and I used that to air back up after riding in the dirt. I have a Wolfman wolf tail bag on the rear rack for both riding on and offroad, so just threw it in and hauled it. It only weighs about a pound.

I was willing to rate these tires as a compromise initially. They are great on the street, but didn't like pavement grooves a ton. They were okay in the dirt, but I never felt really confident on them. After playing with pressures this weekend and putting another 125 miles on it street and trail, I can rate them quite a bit higher. They don't move around on the street at higher pressures and are very solid cornering tires. Very confident on the street for a dual sport tire and stick well at high lean angles. I like them a ton better than the stockers. On the dirt, I would have only rated them as a compromise at best. Until I aired them down to 15, I just didn't like them that much. I was running 21-22 psi as a compromise between street and dirt, and after experimenting I realize that was a bad idea. It reduced the performance of the tires for both uses instead of being a compromise.

At 15ish psi the tires worked so much better offroad I felt like I'd wasted some of my time riding them offroad on previous outings. Seriously, it's a different bike as far as confidence in the dirt. No more sliding around in the loose stuff. Didn't like it much at all in sand before, but it's a lot better now. I'm not a huge fan of sand on a bike (love it on a quad). Still not as nice as a 250 lb machine, but for a dual sport it flat out kicks butt on most terrain. I've ridden a lot of old school dual sports over the years, and they were ALWAYS a compromise. They might go down the road okay but not great, but they always sucked in the dirt in my opinion. This bike isn't like that.

Still not decided on the rear tire yet, just because I need to wear both tires down quite a bit before I can make a call on value. Need to get up around 1500 miles on them to see what I think.

So, to sum up, just air up or down for the situation with these. They just aren't great unless you adjust the pressures for type of terrain and use.

Here's some pics of the TR8's when I replaced them Thursday.   They aren't worn out, but I'm trying something new this spring.  

Here's the rear from a couple different angles.   The knobs are wearing tapered front to rear, but other than that they're pretty even.   They only have about 750 miles of mixed terrain on them, and they're about what I would consider 1/2 gone.   I don't know if they'll wear better the next half or not, but they're getting a little slippery in the loose stuff already.   They work well on the street, but they aren't a great desert tire.   I think these tires would prefer loam versus desert terrain.   In my opinion, they are a solid road tire that does trails and will probably suit a great many riders.   I'm heavy on the throttle offroad, and they aren't up to the accelerated pace I like to ride in the terrain I'm mostly riding in.   I really liked them on the pavement for a 60/40 dirt/road tire, maybe 70/30.   They're a good compromise tire, but if you're heavy on the throttle, I don't think you'll get more than 1500 or so miles out of them.   2K if you're easier on them.   I used to destroy a new rear tire in a weekend with my KX500, so I'm not the easiest on rear tires.  





And here it is next to the new Kenda Parker DT.   Lot's of difference in tread height.   The Kenda starts with a lot taller knobs than the TR8



Here's the front with about 850 miles on it.   In my opinion, it will easily go 2000+ miles.   Wear is even across the surface, and looks to be progressing slowly.  Braking and cornering traction on pavement is very good.   It doesn't squirm around on pavement, and feels very confident.   Not bad on wet pavement either.   It's a decent dual sport tire for 60/40-70/30 in my opinion.   It's not aggressive enough for loose soil, and likes to move around with loose stuff on top of hardpack.   That's the main reason I'm changing it.   It's not a great tire for desert terrain or loose sand in my opinion although it did work okay in the rocks, but it's an inexpensive tire for dual sport that will probably go 2-3000 miles on the WR.  Notice that the nubs on the sides are still there.   I can't lean it over offroad like I'd like to without it pushing, so I slid the rear more.   That gives you an idea of how it doesn't stick as well in desert terrain.  Funny thing is, I DO lean it over on the street, but the nubs stayed.   Weird.  I had the nubs off the front Trailwing in 45 miles.





And the new Kendas.   Lots more agressive, but reputed to wear very well.   This is a tire that's designed specifically for desert Southwest terrain.   Should work for Moab, Southern Idaho, Nevada, AZ, CA, etc.  The cost for a set is really good.  The front tire was $50, the rear was $74.   Motorcycle Superstore has the pictures mixed up on their site.   I'm using 80/100-21 for the front, 110/100-18 for the rear.   The rear 110/100-18 has an O.D. of 670mm which is very close to the 676mm the TR8 was supposed to be originally.   My TR8 is worn smaller than that now, so the gear ratio will change ever so slightly.  Both are larger than the stock Trailwing by a bit, but smaller than the Dunlop 606.   I'm running 13/48 gearing, which is approx. the same as running 13/47 with a close to stock diameter rear tire.  Using the Speedo DRD site, the correction is around -14% which is very close to the TR8.  







The Kendas can be run one way for "intermediate" terrain, and the other for "hard" terrain.   From the tests I've read online, they say to just run them towards the hard direction because they work in either terrain that way, and you really don't lose any grip in intermediate terrain.   That's the way I'm running mine, since that's the main terrain I deal with.   They are a D.O.T. tire, and have a rounded profile for dual sport use.  I'm running a heavier tube in it without rim locks for the time being, but have a set of light weight rim locks to add if needed.   Time will tell.