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ATV Product Review: Maxxis Bighorn Tire
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The tread pattern and wide footprint give this radial exceptional traction, and the Bighorn’s shoulder lugs protect the sidewalls. |
Living
in an ATV friendly state like West Virginia really has its
advantages. We can legally ride on practically any road that does
not have a center line. Having this ability translates into an
infinite amount of trail access. Riding toall these trails means
we ride quite a bit on blacktop. Unfortunately, ATV tires wear
out faster than car and truck tires.
Over the past few
years I have gone through many different types of tires. My tire
of choice is normally one with aggressive lugs that was designed for
the mud. This type of tire fit the bill quite nicely.
Unfortunately, the tires seemed to wear quickly and required me to
replace them before I (or really my wallet) was ready to.
I
sought out to conduct my own research or quest so to speak for a tire
that was neither a dedicated mud tire or a tame little trail
tire. I based my research on the following criteria:
- Aggressive tread design, but not a mud tire
- Weight
- Wear characteristics
- Durability
I
wanted a tread design that was more aggressive than stock, but not as
aggressive as a mud tire. Another key element of the tread design
was the need for the tire to have a center. This design provides a
smooth ride on the pavement and hard pack trails. The last thing
I wanted to do was add a lot of unsprung weight, this meant my new
tires needed to stay under 35 lbs. per tire. Rubber compound was
another area I needed to pay close attention too. I wanted a tire that
was going to give me more than 1000 miles of tread life. Very few
tires can do this in my opinion without showing a lot of wear.
Lastly, I needed a tire that was durable. I am very hard on tires
and for some reason I’m always the guy in the group who gets a
punctured sidewall. Quite frankly, that was starting to get old.
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Extra lugs on the shoulder protect the sidewall and rim as well as raised white lettering on one side. |
With
all of the above criteria in mind I began my research on the web.
Searching through forum after forum, I kept coming up with the Maxxis
Bighorn. Everyone has always touted this tire as being the “best
all around tire” and “tough as nails.” But was it really? I
think I just narrowed my quest down to one.
At first glance, the Maxxis Bighorn looked just like an ordinary tire to me. Not extremely
aggressive, but aggressive enough to tackle nearly all of my riding
needs. My decision was made, I was going to give these tires a
try. I decided on the 26” X 9” X 12” for the front and the 26” X
12” X 12” for the rear.
Here are some of the features and benefits of the Maxxis Bighorn Radial.
- Radial construction offers a significantly smoother ride over rough trails.
- Extra lugs on the shoulder protect the sidewall and rim.
- Raised white lettering on one side.
- Tire is suitable for a variety of terrains such as: desert, dirt, and rocks.
Maxxis Bighorn First Inspection
Upon
first inspection I thought, “What have I done?” These tires
looked huge! This wasn’t a problem it’s just that I wasn’t expecting
the Bighorns to be this big. A word of caution when choosing
sizes for this tire would be to choose accordingly. As it turns
out, the Maxxis Bighorns tend to
run a little larger in size. For instance, the 26” diameter tires
we have are really closer to a 27” tire. As stated earlier, this
isn’t a problem or a negative for us. What this did was allow us to
experiment with air pressures and vary our ride height.
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The Maxxis Bighorn tire is suitable for desert, dirt, and rock applications. |
The Maxxis Bighorns also come with raised white lettering on one side. These tires
are non-directional which means you can mount them any way you
wish. Another thing we noticed on each tires was a yellow dot on
the sidewall. Maxxis calls this dot a “Balancing dot”. I was told when mounting these
tires on the rim; align the dot with the valve stem for a better tire
balance. Although I have nothing to compare this to, I did what Maxxis recommended and it seemed to work just fine. Another thing I
thought worth noting was the sidewall. When transporting these
tires un-mounted I couldn’t help but notice how little the sidewalls
flexed while carrying them. Very few tires hold that quality. For
example, the radial tires we swapped out for these flexed quite a bit
when carried in the same manner.
One complaint that
surfaced over and over during my research was weight. Most owners
complained that the bighorns were a heavy tire. Granted these
tires are much heavier than the stock tires folks replace them with,
but I personally felt the weight of the tire was comparable to most
other 6 ply rated radial tires in their class.
Here is a list of the Maxxis M917/M918 Bighorn Radial weights:
Tire Size Tire Weight
AT25x8R12
21.4
AT25X10R12
27.1
AT26x9R12
25.7
AT27x9R12
26.2
AT26X12R12
30.6
AT27X12R12
32.8
AT26X9R14
22.9
AT26X11R14
27.7
Maxxis Bighorn Ride Report
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With radial construction, recreational riders as well as ATV racers will immediately appreciate the ride quality and comfort. |
The
first ride was really just a test of ride quality and the ability to
negotiate certainobstacles. We used a large log to test how
easily the Maxxis Bighorn would climb it. I was very impressed with this activity. The Maxxis Bighorns seemed to wrap themselves around objects such as logs and
rocks. Most of the tires we have tested would slip on the log or
rocks. Traction was very good across the all of the terrain we
tested them in.
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Radial construction offers a significantly smoother ride over rough trails. |
Handling
is where these tires really shine. The radial design soaks up the
bumps on the trail and the sidewall flex is minimal during high speed
cornering. On pavement, the Bighorns tended to ride a little
rough at first. We chocked this up to a “break in” period that
most tires require. After approximately a 100 miles I noticed the
tires had smoothed out nicely. The best tire pressure we found
was 7 PSI for overall trail riding. A few times we took the
pressure down to 3 PSI when experimenting with certain trail obstacles
and not once had a problem with loosing a bead.
We were
really fortunate to get the chance to test these tires when we did,
because as luck would have it we had a nice 6 inches of snowfall this
year. This rare for my neck of the woods and gave me a perfect chance
to hit the track and see how the Bighorns perform in the snow.
To
my astonishment I was pleasantly surprised. The aggressive mud
tires I was accustomed to would dig into the snow. The Maxxis
Bighorns on the other hand allowed the ATV to stay on top of the snow
rather than dig down and in. The end result was that they still
provided plenty of traction in snowy conditions.
The next
test was in a section of wet rocks where the last encounter with
different set of tires was nearly disastrous. The Maxxis
Bighorns gripped right onto them and crawled up the hill without a
single hitch. Once again, I was astonished at the amount of grip
these tires provided
The next test left me a bit
disappointed. The test was on a slow, off camber, hillside.
Four days of rain had managed to saturate the ground and cause the
topsoil to become extremely loose. We were crawling at very slow
speeds which prevented the tires from cleaning themselves out.
This caused a problem as I was beginning to lose traction on this steep
hillside. The ATV began sliding sideways down the hill in the mud and
it took a bit more throttle than I was comfortable giving to save me.
This was the only problem I encountered with these tires. It’s
really tough to find fault in these tires and much easier to find fault
in the rider during those situations.
Maxxis Bighorn Qualities
One major consideration in choosing the Maxxis
Bighorn tires originally was wear. I had read many comments
stating they “wear like iron” and are as “tough as nails” all over the
web. As of the writing of this review, I can honestly say that
there is a negligible amount of wear on them after 700 miles. We
will definitely revisit this review after a few thousand miles of Torture and keep you folks updated.
Conclusion
The Maxxis
Bighorn tire seemed to really suite my needs for my overall type of
riding conditions. The radial design truly provided additional strength
as well as sidewall protection. They handle 95% of all trail conditions
with ease making short work of whatever you throw in front of them. If
you are planning on upgrading the tires on your ATV take a long, hard
look at the Maxxis Bighorns. ATVTORTURE gives the Maxxis Brighorn Radial the "Tortured" Stamp of approval.
PROS
- Extremely Durable and long wearing
- Attention to detail in areas like the “balancing dot”
- Exceptional multi-purpose tread design that handles most situations with ease
- Radial design provides exceptional ride and handling characteristics
- Exceptional performance on dimensional trail objects like logs and large rocks
CONS
- The added durability caused additional weight
- Tread design will “gum” up with mud in the slow and technical areas
- Cost
- Tire companies may no longer like you
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