How different wheel sizes affect ride offroad

Hi all,
I have a wr250x and am trying to decide if I should go the full Warp9 route for MX size wheels. Off pavement most of what I ride is hardpack and gravel. I have read over and over that the TW200 can go absolutely anywhere--slowly. I see Shinko 244's on 250x's and the bike looks like a TW. Last night I checked and saw the TW has an 18 inch front wheel!

So here's the thing: I read all the time that for true offroading you need a 21 inch front wheel. How come this is not the case with the TW? Basically, if I put 244's on my X rims how much better/worse will the bike be offroad than MX sized wheels and 244's on the same bike?

Thanks a bunch. I've read a crapload but I've not seen a clear answer to this here.
Gabe

If your not riding fast or hard off road the 17 will be fine, you wont notice the difference until you start pushing it or riding through rocky nasty stuff.

If you want to go kinda fast off road the skinny 21 inch front wheel is the only way to go, you need the front tire to cut through or into the dirt to grab, skinnier tires do this better than wide ones, theres also the height difference, taller is better for rocks, roots, logs or other bumps, the taller tire rolls over stuff easier.

If you just want to explore and cruise along the 17 with a knobby tire works fine but for going fast or difficult terrain it makes things harder.

My buddy has a drz400 sm with some cheng shin knobbies, he can get anywhere he wants to and he has a heavier bike. only thing I noticed compared to 21in tire is that you must air down a lot more or rocks will bounce you right off the trail

Cool. Good info, thanks.

What's the average psi for the front and rear 17" tires for off-road use?

On the rear id say 12-15 psi is okay

For the front 10-12 or maybe even less

Its a balance of whats good on the trail and the road, on the drz we went down to 14 front/back but if it was my bike i would have started at 10/12 with those tires

blusmoke wrote:

On the rear id say 12-15 psi is okay

For the front 10-12 or maybe even less

Its a balance of whats good on the trail and the road, on the drz we went down to 14 front/back but if it was my bike i would have started at 10/12 with those tires

Wow, that low... Ok, thanks.

I'm guessing it doesn't matter what type of inner tubes you're using, correct?

A 17" knoppie is horrible compared to a skinny 21" inch rim, especially in sand, wet gras and muddy conditions.

But the 21'er really shines in theese conditions, so perhaps its not fair to compare them
You can do it for sure with a 17, just not as fast.