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158
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2/5/2019
Location
USA
Edited Date/Time
11/5/2020 10:00am
Looking for tire recommendations for PNW (Western Oregon). For singletrack, the guys I ride with rave about the Shinko 525 hybrid cheater rear and goldentyre fatty front combo set up with tubliss system.
I trust that recommendation for wet/muddy/rooty singletrack riding and I will be converting to tubliss, but none of the guys I talked to take their bikes to the moto track, so I dont know if those tires would work at all for MX. I'll be doing about 50/50 singletrack and track days.
Currently running the stock Dunlop AT81s that came on my bike (2019 yz250x) which have been fine for me on the track, but are a bit lacking on slippery singletrack.
At some point I'd love to build up a spare set of 19/21 wheels for the track and keep the stock 18" rear for trail duty, but for now looking to know if I can get away with the tire combo mentioned above on the track, or if there is another option.
I trust that recommendation for wet/muddy/rooty singletrack riding and I will be converting to tubliss, but none of the guys I talked to take their bikes to the moto track, so I dont know if those tires would work at all for MX. I'll be doing about 50/50 singletrack and track days.
Currently running the stock Dunlop AT81s that came on my bike (2019 yz250x) which have been fine for me on the track, but are a bit lacking on slippery singletrack.
At some point I'd love to build up a spare set of 19/21 wheels for the track and keep the stock 18" rear for trail duty, but for now looking to know if I can get away with the tire combo mentioned above on the track, or if there is another option.
Take that for what it's worth, but I'd probably go for a traditional size front tire for all around use.
I also think that Cheater rear is gonna feel a little wobbly/wollowy on the track, under real hard cornering, accelerating out of berms etc.
Both of the tires are known to be great for their intended purposes but if you ride aggressively on the track and need a set to "do it all" I'd go for a Michelin Starcross 5 Medium in the Front and Starcross 5 Soft in the rear. I ride a lot in North Idaho, which is similar dirt/terrain to Western OR/WA, and those tires are excellent for all around use. I also find Michelin holds traction better than others once the knobs are a little rounded.
Your mileage may vary
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Last year on my 250FX I tried a set of "woods" specific tires, the IRC VE-35 front and VE-33 rear and hated the front with a passion and only marginally liked the rear. I tend to lean on the mx side of riding but still love sweet single track, but my riding style offroad is definitely aggressive and push into corners. The front was just so squirmy and would react differently depending on the corner. Straight line over rocks/roots was ok.
Ps it’s a 18in
On the rear any of the new gen stiffer carcass gummies are good. Right now I have a Shinko 525 Cheater and IRC VE33 gummy installed. On the shelf is a Dunlop AT81EX and a Kenda Ibex.
I am not a fan of gummy soft carcass tires like the Goldentyre 216 Gummy. They are just too squirmy when the pace picks up.
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