Maxxis Razr's

I researched for a long time on what kind of rear tire to get for a long time. I heard holeshots wear fast, this kind is too heavy, that kind is too tall. I finally decided when one of my ridding buddies got Razr’s on the rear of his 2001 400ex. After one ride, I was hooked. After he hit a nail with them and rode them with almost 0 pressure for almost the whole ride without any drama, I was hooked on their durability.

I got my set of 20x11-9 6-plys from my dad for Christmas. I had decided that my stock tires where awesome in the snow, and didn’t want to get rid of a set of good tires, so they became my winter tire. I found a set of OEM Honda rims for $75 and bought them. After the long wait between when I ordered the tires and ordered the rims, I finally got everything together, just as the weather started to warm up…sweet. I took the tires and rims over to the local Farm & Fleet to get them mounted. I noticed from my riding buddy that the bead is very hard to set, I am guessing because of the thick sidewalls. This was confirmed after I spent $14 to get them mounted and 3 of the 4 beads where not set. I drove them back and they where fixed free of charge.

Putting them on was a pretty painless excursion. My only tip is to make sure you have a good socket wrench, a good long drive extension (or a few short ones) and a short pipe to give you some more leverage. After I bolted them up I checked all the nuts and aired each tire down to 5psi.

I went for a short ride to try them out. I am fortunate enough to have sand, hard pack, field, and woops, and jumps all in a small area in my “back yard”. The first thing I noticed when going through a tight wooded trail was how easily they are to get sideways. They didn’t seem to break free too much, but would slide on demand. They don’t have the forward traction of the stockers, but not too bad. After I got out of the woods, I went for a short lap around our mini-mx track. My earlier observation was right on, these babies slide! At first, I was only getting them sideways in the dirt, but after some experimentation, they would get really sideways in grass too. They are much more predictable then the stock tires. Going over woops was about the same as before, you do get more of the bump transferred to your butt though. I was surprised how well they did in the sand. I figured that they would have more trouble going up the sandy hill, but they flew right up. They seem to float over the sand instead of digging in. They really shine going off of jumps, it is very easy to get set up just right for the jump using the throttle to get the rear just where you want it.

If you are looking for a summer or dry climate tire, these are amazing. They are very durable, and have worn very well from my experience with other people having them. I have yet to try them in mud, but I’m not expecting too much from them. If you live in the snow belt, I suggest getting another set of rims and keeping the stockers. These tires are perfect for hard pack, do great in sand, and will slide on anything. They add a new dimension of stability to the machine. I give them two thumbs up, and would suggest them to anyone looking for a replacement tire, or another set for the summer. They are a fairly cheap modification to make and make a huge difference.