My review of the 26.5 Pitbull Tires

I thought i would do a little review of The Pitbull 26.5 tires.
Since i spent a little time with them. I went and picked up Gunny's new black rock
wheels and his New 26.5 pitbull rockers. Since i was the one mounting them up.
I get the perk of stealing them and putting them on my buggy and testing them out....
I only power braked it for 10 min. to make sure thay were nice and round...

here is some picks with his tires and wheels on my S

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Ok , first thing , I have mounted thousands of tires in my day.
and a lot of ATV tires. and all i can say is this is the Michelin of ATV Tires...
It is the highest quality tire i ever seen for an ATV. it is easy to mount. spins true.
and the compound of rubber is of nothing i ever seen. The size is fairly accurate.

The front tire is a tad larger than a bighorn not much. and almost the same size as
an XTR. here is a picture of the 26 bighorn and 26.5 pitbull and 27 XTR front tires
all side by side all mounted on rims with all three with 10 pounds air. keep in mind the bighorn
is on the buggy. so it may make a small difference.

here is the pic.

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As for the rear. the bighorn and the pitbull are very close in size.
the pitbull is just a tad taller. that is due to the lugs being so big. after a little wear
i think thay would be the same size.
The XTR rear is taller than the bighorn and the pitbull that is obvious.
here is a pic of the 26 bighorn and 26.5 pitbull and 27 XTR all
side by side mounted with 10 pounds air in all . once again keep in mind
the bighorn is on the buggy , so that may make a little difference.

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Now for ride Quality......

ok well the pitbull rocker. rides well on hard pack.
it does not ride quite as smooth as a bighorn.
but it does ride much better than and XTR on hard ground.

I climbed a few hills behind my house and the traction
is very good. as i figured it would.
we will just have to test them in a real world environment........

The wheels are black rock revos , and there 4.3 offset.
you are about 2 inches wider all around. not much difference.
but i can tell for a fact. it does not turn quite as sharp.
i did some tests. and places i can go with stock wheels in one
turn. you must back up once with the offset wheels if it is really tight.
but no big deal really in the woods....

ok , now as good as the pitbulls are , it does have a down side.
and that is its weight. it is heavy as hell. and thay do take HP to turn them.

I have a scale i weight NOS bottles on for the race cars , it is very
accurate. So i weighed all tires and wheels , and here is the numbers.
keep in mind the black rock wheels and the stock S wheels are very close
in weight and did not make much difference.

Here is the numbers

Front 26 Bighorn mounted on stock S wheel with center cap. WEIGHT---- 30 1/2 pounds each

Front 27 XRT mounted on stock S wheel with center cap. WEIGHT-------- 34 3/4 pounds each

Front 26.5 pitbull mounted on black rock wheel with center cap. WEIGHT--- 41 pounds each

as you see the pitbull is by far heavier.

Here is the numbers on the rears.


Rear 26 bighorn mounted on stock S wheel with center cap. WEIGHT------ 39 1/2 pounds each

Rear 27 XTR mounted on stock S wheel with center cap. WEIGHT---------42 1/2 pounds each

Rear 26.5 pitbull rocker on Black rock wheels with center cap. WEIGHT----- 49 pounds each

As you can see the pitbull is very heavy. and i could tell it takes some power.
The XTR's takes a little more power than the bighorns.
and these seem to take even more. to me it feels like it takes 4 or 5 HP from the
buggy over the bighorn.
and 1 to 2 HP over an XTR.

But i dont think you will hurt this tire. it is bad ass.
So we will see in the woods how it does.

So here is a final thought.

4.3 offset wheels.
More stable
looks cool...
does not turn as sharp

pitbull Rocker
highest quality ATV tire i ever seen
very durable
good traction
killer rim guard almost inch deep.

The Bad
Very Heavy
robs a good bit of HP
very Expensive.

Gunny said he just wanted good traction and
not pinching tires. I think he will be very happy with them.....

Thats my review.....

Great review Chris. I think the wgt. thing is an important consideration.

showtime wrote:

Great review Chris. I think the wgt. thing is an important consideration.

I think in low range 4wd it may not be to notesable .
just mainly in high grear.....

Another good review on this tire. Can't wait to hear how the do on the trail. I believe they will be better on punctures and pinch flats than the Big Horns. I wonder if they will wear as good too?

Thanks Chris, info like this is what makes the forum so informative!

Well when i saw the pics of my new tires/wheels on chrisc's buggy i was dissapointed at how ugly it was, but on final inspection i realized it was the part above the tires giving it that awful look

Here is the right look for this setup;
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My feelings on the tires; great fit and finish, ride is somewhat smoother than the xtr, not sure if traction will equal the xtr, they were the best pulling tire ive ever had. Weight did not seem to be a factor, it accelerated to me same as the xtrs did. yes compared to a bighorn i guess it would be different, but i have not run bighorns on a rzr in a very long time so i dont miss it. I will post my thoughts on how they do after our may 8 ride.

Looking forward to a full review.

I think you will like them just fine.....

Even though its a dammed old white one...

Those look killer!

that's some great info. 40 lbs of extra weight is hard to live with. do you think it will be hard on the cv's?

rzr king wrote:

that's some great info. 40 lbs of extra weight is hard to live with. do you think it will be hard on the cv's?

it is extra mass. but time will only tell , we just need to wait till he gets some miles
on it in real riding conditions to see how everything is going to work out.

I think gunny will like them if thay are as good as thay seem.
The one thing about it. its really no big deal. Gunny has all way been the type
that if he rides it a couple months. if he decides he don't like it. he will just go get something
else and sale these. he don't worry about it.....

good review Chris!

sure wish i could have a FREE set to try out! Just tires, thats not asken for much!

loosenut wrote:

sure wish i could have a FREE set to try out! Just tires, thats not asken for much!

Good luck with that! I couldnt find that so i had to shell out the bucks

i have sold alot of pit bull tires for 4x4 lifted trucks been selling them for at least 5 yrs and thier far better than most of the mud tires they compare really well to the super swamper line in durability in off road use if they built the sxs tires with the same quality as thier 4x4 tires they will be the most durable atv tire made and they look like the same quality tires as thier bigger tires they look good cannot wait to here your review oon them in the deep sloppy mud

well guys i got me 4 grim reapers for the S just rode in wv for 3 days 197 miles and i love them made sure i tested them on sharp rocks and tight places no cuts are anything tryed to see if i could hurt them rode real good went great in rocks on hills and all rode smooth on pavement but you have to watch on turns where tread is so deep has give to it bush said when i got on it i through mud 30 feet back so i fixed him up good i am very pleased with them they get good traction and grip on rocks. they are way better than big horns. also the emp lift worked great .

mason wrote:

well guys i got me 4 grim reapers for the S just rode in wv for 3 days 197 miles and i love them made sure i tested them on sharp rocks and tight places no cuts are anything tryed to see if i could hurt them rode real good went great in rocks on hills and all rode smooth on pavement but you have to watch on turns where tread is so deep has give to it bush said when i got on it i through mud 30 feet back so i fixed him up good i am very pleased with them they get good traction and grip on rocks. they are way better than big horns. also the emp lift worked great .

Yea, the grim reaper's are 8 ply rated too, good looking tire.

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Mason that is a good looking tire...
Nice review , glad you like them.
That may be something i would like to look at.
Anyone have any idea about size and weight of these tires...

loosenut wrote:

sure wish i could have a FREE set to try out! Just tires, thats not asken for much!

Stacy , if you let me have your wheels.
I will buy you a set of pitbulls.....

But you have to get Brian to paint the rings red.
Orange don't go with my silver.....

thanks for the info on the pitbull / does anyone know when the 27.5 are supposed to be out

Chris, thanks for the great review of the pit bulls. I've been eyeballing those tires for a long time. I was always put on the waiting list for them and I finally gave up waiting on them. But now that they are available, I went ahead and ordered a set of them tonight. Hopfully they will get here before the May ride so I can try them out.. I knew they were heavy, but I get real tired of sticking tire plugs in my bighornes... We'll see how the rockers hold up to the rocks and punctures ----I'm hoping they will do well...

Jerry , if you puncturing bighorns. that is about the most puncture resistant tire
out there. So you surly need to try these. most guys seem to think bighorns
are very durable. so if your having trouble. the pitbull may be your last option.....

a side from the weight. it is a bad ass tire.....

The guys from ATV Direct brought my 26.5 Rockers to Windrock this weekend. But I am planning to "save" them until this winter when it gets good and wet. Till then I will just run the Bighorns. I have a set of Pit Bull Growlers on my Renegade and I love them so I figure I will like the Rockers too. In the snow early this year they really out preformed the Bighorns.