Wilsons Sandbox

just got some new tires, k270s, based on recommendations from listers. they seem to perform about as expected. kind of squirmy and weird on pavement, at least the first ride or so, but pretty effective in the dirt. i rode all day yesterday in lots of very loose soil, and lots of very twisty fun trails. my buddy was on his xr650l, and we compared notes. it seemed like he was having a little more luck on steep loose uphills. i got stopped a couple times and once had to back down to get started again (i let some more air out, and went ok after that, but i still got redirected a couple times, and had to stop and restart). so i was puzzling as to the possible reasons he had more success, and here is my list of candidates: 1. he's just more skilled. although he's only been dirt biking a couple times, he's always been a good bike-handler on his mtb. he was the fat-ass, non-trained guy who pedaled the white rim trail in a day with me a couple years ago. 2. he was going faster. i was having a hard time keeping 2nd gear going, so i ended up using first gear (with a 14t sprocket) on most of the steep hills. first seemed a little too low, and too sensitive. i think maybe his bike has a lower 2nd gear, or maybe his engine is a little torquier at low rpms 3. the better suspension on the xr was keeping his tires hooked up a little more effectively. 4. the slightly thinner rear tire (4.60 vs 5.10) on his bike, was letting him dig through to hard stuff underneath a little more effectively, while my tire may have floated on top more. i have noticed bicycle racing that in wet weather, a narrower tire grips better and rolls more easily through the goop, because it cuts down to the hard stuff. it seems plausible that powdery loose soil (including a 1 trail that appeared to have been bulldozed in the last week or two) might work the same way. 5. some other unexplained thing. ideas?? i should mention that it was a fairly subtle difference, but he was definitely going a little faster than me most of the day. we rode quite a bit of terrain that i would never have ventured off into without another strong young fellow to help out in case things got ugly. i would characterize most of the trails as about the same level as the harder and funner stuff on the lasal loop i did with fred and crew in moab. it's certainly a good thing i got better tires and better skills since the start of that ride. -mw