Alrighty so update. Did the lake trail twice now, and have been riding the 3km to work every day since (yeah.... My commute is REAL short heh). I think it works out to almost exactly 50-50 on/off-road if don't include the test rides I did
The mold nubs in the front tire are still there, only the middle ones on the rear are missing. Probably from me locking and sliding the rear off-road unintentionally. I go down somewhat steep (not terribly steep) but rather loose areas
(side note, the ABS on these bikes is seriously good, if I lean on it hard on loose stuff, I can feel the ABS back off when the front loads up and gets some more traction. And the Trail doesn't even have the IMU like the Grom does afaik. I'm not sure why people would complain about front ABS heh)
Pros:
First things first: Grip. Man. Complete and absolute night and day. I knew the OEM tires were bad (see my "crash" thread) but not thaaat bad. On hard pack dirt, it feels no different than pavement to be honest, it's crazy. Shallow mud.... You hardly even notice anymore, when I would take everything in me to stay upright with the originals (haven't seen deep mud with them yet)
They look amazing. Normally I already get people taking pictures of the bike in public, but now it seems like even more. I generally park directly outside the front door of our little shop, so it's quite fun to watch people walk by do a double take, and even pull out their phone heh.
They float at a much lower speed. The OEs would just pizza cutter in, but these can stay in top. In sand quite nice, pea gravel is actually oddly a bit more difficult in a way. Instead of sinking through to the dirt, they are more likely to float on the marbles. While I feel they are a bit worse on pea gravel, they are significantly more consistent
The extra sidewall, size, and conformity really really smooth out little things. With how little suspension travel the Cubs have.... to helps more than you'd think.
Mid things:
Some say it feels like "riding on sand", it's more like riding on tires that are low, is a better way of describing it. You can feel them flex and move under you on pavement
They are louder than stock... But they really aren't loud if that makes sense
Top speed is a few km/h slower (GPS). Sure these "up" the gearing because they are bigger. But these bikes' top speed aren't limited by gearing as we all already know, 9hp only gets you going so fast. Just super soft rubber and more tread makes for more rolling resistance. I couldn't care less about a few km/h
They are heavier than stock tires. The extra gyro stability can be nice, but also it feels slower to react. (No..... Weight/rotating mass does not affect top speed)
Cons:
As dmonkey said, the rocks in the front fender hurt my soul. These tires really pick up rocks to begin with, and the 2.75 inch versions are so close to the front fender, they just drag along the inside. My poor fender. I don't think I want to raise the fender, I like the look of a low fender (if you are going through enough mud to cake the fender.... You're probably in over your head anyways on a CT)
Mine have a bit of a wobble to them. I've broken and remounted the bead, even over filled to 45 psi to remount, but there aren't "straight". You can feel them wobble, and see the wobble. Not sure if this is normal or not. Tubes should be fine, the front tube I actually put the tube in first. inflated ever so slightly and then mounted the tire, the tube was perfectly inside.
The extra diameter really do make a difference to the speed/torque. Obviously the speedo will read the same, but its slower to get up to speed, and you need to hit the brakes harder than you normally would with the extra leverage they have over the disks (0 Issues with ABS, works just the same)
Tram line is very real. Not just road grooves, but also off-road ruts. Tread aside; If you just hit the edge of a deeper rut, they flex and really pull you in. Almost went down today because of it
Water and gravel splashing. With the stock tires, I could go through surprisingly deep water crossings and somehow stay bone dry. With the 2.75s, I'm getting wet legs in deep rocky puddles now. Also I'm feeling pebbles pinging off my shins, when I NEVER had that before. (partly the fact they throw rocks, but also the width)
With how much rolling resistance they have now, I suspect fuel economy is lower obviously
Size. While I said the increase in diameter is nice for rolling over small things, you really notice the slower acceleration (probably solved with gearing to compensate the diameter), but more importantly braking. I definitely need to use more force with the brakes
Conclusion:
Probably the cheapest, seriously massive, upgrade you can make. It is hard to really convey how much more grip. At $62 CAD a piece, you can afford to blow through them with the safety they offer. (heck my 1/10 racing buggy goes through dirt tires quicker at $60 a set)
However I wouldn't go for the 2.75s like I did. I would stick to the 2.5 inch. Sure the 2.75 offer more "traction", but these stick like Velcro compared to stock. You are so much more limited by the 2.5 inches of suspension travel (after sag) and 1930's tube style dampers than traction at this point. Staying at 2.5 inch wouldn't be an issue. (Other than load ratings? but these are 4-ply, stock IRCs are 2 ply) The increase diameter is more of a Con than it is a Pro (poor fender and brakes)
(side note: is it just me, or does changing CT tires suck more than normal bikes?)
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