I just used crazy glue. Considering every thing else it just made sense.lol
Purpose of Factory Tires
I've read a lot of stuff about Rincon tires and found the following:
--The OEM tires are overwhelmingly considered bad.
--BigHorns are among the most popular tires to be used as a replacement.
I've got 20 hours on my OEM tires and they are already showing some wear. I have to drive about 500 yds down a paved road to get to and from the trails by my house - but that is the only Pavement they see. I try to drive gently...
So, they are obviously a soft tire that seems like it would grip rock pretty well.
Does anyone know what reasons Honda may have had for choosing this specific tire? It doesn't appear to be a particularly cheap tire and must have some redeeming characteristics. The Rincon rides fine with them but I obviously don't have experience with any other tires on it.
I'm going to run them till they start having flats and plan to get some bighorns when it is time...OEM size.
--The OEM tires are overwhelmingly considered bad.
--BigHorns are among the most popular tires to be used as a replacement.
I've got 20 hours on my OEM tires and they are already showing some wear. I have to drive about 500 yds down a paved road to get to and from the trails by my house - but that is the only Pavement they see. I try to drive gently...
So, they are obviously a soft tire that seems like it would grip rock pretty well.
Does anyone know what reasons Honda may have had for choosing this specific tire? It doesn't appear to be a particularly cheap tire and must have some redeeming characteristics. The Rincon rides fine with them but I obviously don't have experience with any other tires on it.
I'm going to run them till they start having flats and plan to get some bighorns when it is time...OEM size.
21 - 27 of 27 Posts
The whole drive line warranty thing makes perfect sense.
At a Can-am dealer I saw an ATV with large wheels that looked to have something like a honey comb look. Not sure if they were aluminum, carbon or plastic but the tire portion appeared to be thin walled hard rubber tires. they looked like they were not inflatable. They were 12 - 14 inches wide. Looked like a very rough ride to me and no Flex-tire grabbing capability. Anyone else seen these wheels/tires?
Edit: I was mistaken they are Polaris NPT (non-pneumatic tires).....wonder how well they work?
Edit: I was mistaken they are Polaris NPT (non-pneumatic tires).....wonder how well they work?
good god they are in production..
2014 Polaris TerrainArmor Sportsman WV850 HO Avalanche Gray : Features
2014 Polaris TerrainArmor Sportsman WV850 HO Avalanche Gray : Features
IIRC, Honda went for the best handling, smoothest riding big-bore quad in the world when they designed the Rincon. It was designed as a trail dancer, able to float over rough terrain and fly down the trails with little rider effort, fatigue, and discomfort. I think they pretty much succeeded, as the Rincon does indeed handle extremely well and is very easy to ride. I believe that the lightweight tires and wheels played a significant role in making the Rincon such a sweet handling machine.
The stock tires are very light and the suspension, spring, and damping rates were all tuned to work with these lightweight tires. Also, I think the stock tires had a radial construction and I'm not sure but I think there was something unique about the cord lay inside the tire that contributed to the good handling. Another benefit of the stock tires was their low moment of inertia which greatly improved acceleration and braking, if not traction. Suffice it to say, when the Rinny debuted, all of the ATV mags raved about how great it handled and rode. That's why I bought one (also the Honda rep for quality). I have not been disappointed.
I wore out the original OEM tires and my favorite thing to do was race down all the logging roads around here at high speed on them. I could pretty much drift & power slide every corner because of the relatively low traction and lateral tread pattern. WooHoo! Then I put a set of Bighorn 1's on it (26 inch-ers, no less) and the my drifting days were over. Now my Rincon has a lot more traction, but handles noticeably worse as the BH's are much stiffer and heavier. I think the additional traction also makes the steering a lot heavier, which is a big deal for me (I'm a weakling).
In conclusion, the OEM Rincon tires are great if you want your bike to just float effortlessly down the trails, fast and agile or pretend you're a Pike's Peak Racer on the gravel fire roads. If you want to get muddy or do some heavy duty technical off-road mountain-goating, then a heavier, more aggressive tire would probably serve you better.
My $.02
The stock tires are very light and the suspension, spring, and damping rates were all tuned to work with these lightweight tires. Also, I think the stock tires had a radial construction and I'm not sure but I think there was something unique about the cord lay inside the tire that contributed to the good handling. Another benefit of the stock tires was their low moment of inertia which greatly improved acceleration and braking, if not traction. Suffice it to say, when the Rinny debuted, all of the ATV mags raved about how great it handled and rode. That's why I bought one (also the Honda rep for quality). I have not been disappointed.
I wore out the original OEM tires and my favorite thing to do was race down all the logging roads around here at high speed on them. I could pretty much drift & power slide every corner because of the relatively low traction and lateral tread pattern. WooHoo! Then I put a set of Bighorn 1's on it (26 inch-ers, no less) and the my drifting days were over. Now my Rincon has a lot more traction, but handles noticeably worse as the BH's are much stiffer and heavier. I think the additional traction also makes the steering a lot heavier, which is a big deal for me (I'm a weakling).
In conclusion, the OEM Rincon tires are great if you want your bike to just float effortlessly down the trails, fast and agile or pretend you're a Pike's Peak Racer on the gravel fire roads. If you want to get muddy or do some heavy duty technical off-road mountain-goating, then a heavier, more aggressive tire would probably serve you better.
My $.02
and if you run alot of pavement I'll stipulate the BigHorn may be a better choice. I've run the OEM 6k.
Exactly! Honda doesn't do anything by accident. I don't understand how the average Joe thinks he knows what tires work better than the manufacturer. Tires are the single most important thing in your suspension. The same goes for anything with tires on it. I worked in the tire business for 25 years. It's always been the same compromise. Soft tires give better traction, but wear faster. Harder tires are the opposite. As far as tread pattern, I can't believe anyone but Honda knows what is best. Too much traction can be a bad thing! I'd rather spin wheels than have my tires dig in and chuck me off a cliff or something.
Honda's Rincon is their flagship utility model and a benchmark for IRS, do you really think Honda would spec the worst tire for this application? might want to think again.
H-Trac is the original Honda design dated back to at least '87 at that time Ohitsu was the mfg. right thru the first couple Rincon models til Dunlop won the contract.
This wheel weighs half of anything else on the market and if inflated properly and limited to north or south on pavement will deliver 1500-2000 miles of flawless service, nature of the beast, deal with it or prepare to make huge performance and efficiency concessions.
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