TrailMax Tires in Mud! Removal of front fender?

Mud is just no fun. There’s many different kinds, like snow. And it varies with moisture content. Once it starts sticking and building up….you Can easily end up trying to walk. Like sand, gear can compensate some. But like sand, best avoided if you can. Unlike sand you can’t gas it and float on top of mud. You need dig in and churn, try not to fall down or stop.
When I was running TW 200s on farms, replacing the front hugger fender with a high one kept the front tire from locking up but the back tire could still lock up depending on mud type. Removing the hugger fender did get the front of bike much much dirtier which could show up on the radiator on the 310. On the air cooled TW mud could build up on fins impacting cooling. Flip side being “proper” consistency mud with big knob tires and some power is more fun than a bag of snakes. Mud conditions would be a good time for an extra set of deadicated wheels and tires. Good mud tires that are good road tires are scarce. I’d guess that tires good in mud would also be good in snow, another thing I avoid riding in if I can. But the two do run together.

ARBOLMANO said:

Whole different World in your zone, actually rains regular there eh?

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Yeah. It's actually green here, all year round. Regarding cold: There's a saying in, I think, Norway: There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear. I layer up and the cold doesn't stop me until there's ice or snow.

Report:

I was one of four, the other three riding Honda CRF 300s with knobbies. I was on my GS310 with newly installed TKC80s and the lower front fender removed. The ride started just south of Asheville in foggy conditions from the previous day's rain and today's warm mid-50s temperatures clearing to a mostly cloudy low-60s day. The day ended with a bone-chilling down-pour after we were back on pavement and headed home. I was just close enough to home to not want to stop to put on rain gear and I paid the price. I was soaked to the skin and let me tell you soaked to the skin while in the low 60s with riding speeds mostly in the 50s was a tolerable, but very chilly, 25 minutes.

The off-road ATV trails in the Jocassee Gorges Wilderness Area in South Carolina got some rain the day before but not enough to pose a problem on the trails or at the one water crossing - Laurel Fork Creek crossing. The road was continuous up and down and tight turns with a few places to get up to speed, both because we were playing in mountains and because the roads were constructed like a roller coaster with lots of 3-7' humps that I'm sure more skillful and/or crazy riders use to grab air. With only one side-by-side sighting, we had the whole area pretty much to ourselves.

The TKC80s were amazing - recall I started out using TKC80s for about 2,000 miles on my GS310 before switching to Trailmax Missions for the next 8,000 miles so I wouldn't have to change tires during my 7,000 mile run on Nova Scotia last June - the difference between the TKC80s and the Trailmax tires reminded me of the Mark Twain quote on the right word: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. 'tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” The TKC80s gripped everything all the time and laughed at the few really slippery parts. I'm am absolutely positive that had I still been running Trailmax tires, I would have had to go half speed and slid out several times even then. While the Trailmax tires are excellent, they don't do wet/mud anywhere near as good as TKC80s - I see mostly TKC80's in my future. That said, I did get sloppy and slid out as I rounded one tight corner because I wasn't been extreme enough with my counter leaning - I'm sure my instructors would have been slapping their foreheads.

My fender experiment, removing the lower front fender (see pic below), went without incident. It was a excellent test of riding in rain without it, but there wasn't enough mud to be a useful test in that regard. I'm probably going to keep the fender off, but I need to buy or make some lower fork protectors to reduce the potential for fork seal problems.

There will be a video - John was running front and rear cameras - he led and I followed behind him on the way out and I led in front of him on the way back in. When it's posted on YouTube, I'll provide the link here.

This was our planned ride in Jocassee Gorges Wilderness Area in South Carolina...I look forward to going back and doing more...


But as you can see from my InReach Track, we deviated in favor of visiting the lake and a couple of overlooks of the lake...


The other three culprits (L to R: Harry, John, and Tom) posing behind my GS310 where Bootleg Road ends at the Lake Jocassee...

ARBOLMANO said:

engineers usually have a reason for doing things

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Your engineer comment is spot on. My background is engineering in two disciplines, chemical and then military ops research/test and evaluation.

The problem: I've watched enough BDR videos to see some very advanced adventure riders get brought down by mud build up under that lower fender, so I'm willing to experiment as a beta. I've been breaking this into three parts:

- Fork boots vs skins: I think fork boots on upside down forks would be so close to the ground that they'd quickly get torn up. To check this, I searched on "fork boot" images and couldn't find a single image showing fork boots installed on upside down forks. Even when I searched on "upside down fork boots", all I found was fork skins and fork guards, no fork boots on lower part of the upside down forks.

- Fork guards: When I searched on "adventure motorcycles" and "dirt motorcycles", fork guards were universal on upsidedown forks. There were quite a few with both fork guards and fork skins. This has led me to think that the guards are there for protecting the tubes as much as the seals. So that's were I leaning. I have skins enroute and I'm going cut down my lower fender to provide a fork guard on each side. Fortunately, it's only a $100 part if I have to switch back.

- Upper fenders: The biggest unknown in my mind is whether the GS310 upper beck/fender will suffice or should be extended forward and/or backward like those found on dirt bikes. I think that's going to take a messy ride to find out.

More to follow.

Nice thought, but the R fender won't work. Look at the distance from the top fender mounting bolt to the top of the fender; it's sized for a 17" tire and shorter travel. Now look at the same distance on the GS fender; it's sized for a 19" tire and longer travel.