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My friend swears by the Pirelli MT44 rears. So today I spent a pretty penny buying one from him (shop owner) for a ride this weekend. I've gotta say, that is a pretty sick looking tread!


I've been doing alot of cinder/really loose dirt riding in the last few weeks so I'm thinking this should be a pretty good tire for those conditions.

So anyone try one and what are your thoughts on it? I was reading about them and it seems that transitions between terrains can be exciting.

That does have sort of a paddle-tire-ish kinda look about it, eh?

Rick

General consensus is this;

CONS.
A little sketchy on hard pack and gravel, as you noted sketchy in terrain transitions, knobs crack easily if riding alot of rock, even worse so on tarmac...

PROS.
Awesome sand/soft terrain tire, MT44 front tires are awesome also, MT44 Laguna Cross are the next best thing to a paddle tire in deep sand...

MT32 back + MT44 front =

Hmmm, from what my friend told me he can't destroy one of these. Rocks, sand, hardpack, asphalt nothing fazes the thing. Hopefully he's right, I spent a good chunk of cash on the thing, I want my monies worth!

I'm putting it on when I get back from work tonight and going riding really early tomorrow morning on some gnarly rocky trails. It should be a good test in rocky conditions, this is the kind of stuff that they hold trials competitions in!

I'll get some before and after pics.

I was reading about the MT44 front, sounds amazing! I'm going to have to try that next time. I currently have a Maxxis SI up there and it's the best front I've run so far.

My dad had one on his WR 400. lasted nearly a year, if not over. we ride in some rock, lots of intermediate/packed dirt and it lasted a LONG time. also had some of the worst roost-in-the-face times with it. i am in need of a new tire, i had forgotten about this one mabe i will plan on buying one from what you think.

Looks like a sweet tire to me. I might still stick with the good 'ol D756 for next tire.

The 44 front rules!!!!!!
I run the 16 out back.

'Aight, I put about 130 miles on the tire over the last weekend. First impressions were amazing! Incredible traction in loose conditions that I doubt I would have gotten with my previous Kings. Hard pack was something else though, due to the design of the knobs you have less area touching the ground and it slipped easy, it was fun throwing large rocks at the person behind me though! Braking was the same way, I had to use more front brake then I normally do (I really need to use my front even MORE) but was great in the loose stuff, again.

Larger loose rocks were downright scary though. Once the back lands on baseball size rocks the whole rear end would jump and deflect. I crashed a few times because of this. One of the crashes had be sliding down a hill with my bike coming behind me (I know have a cut running the length of arm because of it).

Other than the tire deflecting I really like it and would think it would be an awesome tire in loose, rock free areas. Too bad the places I ride are extremely rocky and because of that I don't think I would buy another one.

If we ever have another 100mile Cinder race up here I'll be buying another MT44 because my cinder ride yesterday was incredible, never had that much traction in deep cinders before. But until then I'll stick with my Maxxis Desert IT.

You might try the pirelli 16 on the back, especially if you ride in a lot of rocky areas. I took off a fairly new maxxis and mounted up one of the beat-up 16's I had kicking around and couldn't believe the difference in traction, much better with the pirelli. It's not so much the tread pattern as the rubber compound... it just sticks.

Plus the 16's are a big tire - lot's of rim protection.

I will 2nd the 44 Front....Will try the 32 back as I'm in need of a new one back there...

Bleakness - Try dropping the pressure a few pounds to get more tread on the ground. When I ran the MT44 rear I believe I ran about 9 lbs pressure.

I'll have to check that out. I decided to run the 44 at the Spanish Peaks Qualifier and it was amazing. Mud and water crossings were a breeze and I had trouble keeping the front down coming out of corners. After that race I think I might be buying more of these tires, they really work quite well!