IRC M5B tire

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canyncarvr
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IRC M5B tire

Post by canyncarvr »

Tried one last week.

I'm a Dunlop 756 fan..but have been using a D952. It's almost as good a gripper as the 756, but lasts considerably longer. I've tried a handful of other types/brands (including IRC)..prefer one of the Dunlops.

Last weekend was a surprise. I tried the M5B because Mr. Wibbens seemed to like his and from what I observed, he had good reason to.

Soil (if you can call it that) was mostly clay..the gummy junk that turns your tire into a huge slimeball. The quite large distance between lugs on the M5B did well with clay.

One note: I DID mount it backwards. The indicated mount direction has the lugs gathering ground instead of shedding it. I haven't ridden it in both directions...but I know my braking took a considerable hit in quality..and that is the direction I'd be using if I had mounted the thing as arrow said.


I purposefully crawled over some sections I generally feel the need for some speed in just to see if the tire would handle the wet/slick roots. It did. I also started in mid-climb on a couple of tracks, both in sections I tried before with the 952..and could NOT get going on (too steep..no traction). If there was ANY problem it was more likely to be keeping the front end down! I've never had to sit so far forward and lean WAY over the bars to keep the front down.

Good tire! It's known to wear quite well...time will tell about that.

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Post by IdahoCharley »

I've run quite a few of the M5B tires and I agree they are a good tire overall and last a good long time. You'll likely notice some relatively quick wear in the middle of the tire and then as the side treads come into play the tire almost stops wearing!! Well relatively speaking anyway. I know of no tire with taller knobbies. Doesn't work too bad in sand either.

The tire is fairly stiff sidewall and you may be surprised how low of pressure that you can run it. The last few I ran were typically run in the 8-9 psig range for technical trail riding. Takes a lot of abuse and you'll see the base of the knobbies start to crack and pull long before you ever start to shed any knobs. Creek crossings (a weak point of mine) is also a weak point for the M5B IMO. :oops:

If your looking for another tire with a tough carass and good traction and wear I recommend an IRC VE40. I put one on last year and will replace it with another when it is worn out. :twisted:
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Post by canyncarvr »

The M5B is the only tire I've ever had POP when the bead seated. Dunlops just kind'a go s-m-u-s-h..fub.

You can quote me on that.

This thing went PING!!!


Yeah...it was in the mid 30ºs...

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Post by skipro3 »

Great............

All I ever USED to use was the M5B. Then Mr. BRADDDDDD comes a callin' and tells me the tire on my bike, the KX250, a Dunlop D952, is the world's most perfect tire and that all others are trash in comparison. (Paraphrased, not a quote)

So I go and buy 2 more; one to replace the one on my bike that is starting to wear pretty well after 5 rides, and a spare to have on hand for when I go to Oregon and want a fresh tire so I can have every advantage I can get when I visit.

Sounds now like I should go back to an M5B then....

I do have very good things to say about the dunlop I have on the bike, but it's a review on M5B so I'll hold off for now. I have always enjoyed the M5B. Start with a fresh one in wet weather, let it wear down until the ground drys out and it's a little less tread and discover it makes a great rock/dry terrain tire too. Get almost a whole year out of one if you time it right when you put it on. Be careful though; it will grip like crazy when leaned way over and under power, but not way WAY over. At a certain point, the back end will let loose and you will go down hard. Not much warning either; good traction, then BAM!!!
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Post by canyncarvr »

I don't lean over...I steer my bike like a trike...

I'm an old fart....... :wink:


I KNEW you'd aprreciate hearing something good about the M5...from me, even!

Ha!

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Post by motorider200 »

I am running an M5B right now and have been very happy with the traction from it. However mine has lost ALOT of knobbies with still quite a bit of wear left in it. I would say that 3/4 of my side knobbies are gone :shock: So for that reason I will not buy another one and think I will get the d952 next. One of my riding buddies runs one and has been happy with it.
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Post by IdahoCharley »

>|<>QBB<
motorider200 wrote:I am running an M5B right now and have been very happy with the traction from it. However mine has lost ALOT of knobbies with still quite a bit of wear left in it. I would say that 3/4 of my side knobbies are gone :shock: So for that reason I will not buy another one and think I will get the d952 next. One of my riding buddies runs one and has been happy with it.
Just wondering what are you riding that puppy in?? I tore up (shredded) a number of knobs spinning on sharp rocks but I always found that tire to take a good beating without much complaining. I have gone through about 6 of the M5B on my 380s and never completely tore off more than 1 or 2 knobs. Jerry is correct - great traction while leaning over then it gooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeee!
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Post by Indawoods »

I think I will stick with the D952's.... I'd like to try a trials tire if I could get one for a decent price that I knew was a good one....
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Post by motorider200 »

Some of the areas where I ride are hard pack clay and I an guessing thats where I would loose them. There are not many rocks where I ride. Maybe I just got a defective one? It doesn't make much since to me with what I have read about the tire. But it does hook up much much better than the maxxis IT I did have on there before the M5B.
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Post by IdahoCharley »

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Indawoods wrote:I think I will stick with the D952's.... I'd like to try a trials tire if I could get one for a decent price that I knew was a good one....
I don't know if you remember but I did run a trials tire (MITAS) on my KTM and it had some strong strengths but also some weaknesses which I decided were not worth risking. (One is that I ride alone more than I should - and the tire going flat was always on my mind due to the areas I was riding) I went back to a knobby for that bike.

On our KDX a trials tire seems to work pretty good. Don't know if it is the tire (DUNLOP 803) or the power differences but we will keep the trial tire for futher evalation. Gummy clay will not clean out of the trials tire even spinning it pretty hard: The additional height of the Dunlop tire combined with low tire pressures does add some weird bounces to the bike (like off of stair steps on trails): The extra tire height (Dunlop) also allows the tube to float around too much within the tire and will pull the stem on the tube. My recommendation for the Dunlop is to run it with a nomal duty tube (NOT Ultra Heavy Duty) due to the floating of the tube within the tire carass.


P.S. The Mitas tire is about 1 inch smaller diameter and an Ultra Heavy Duty Tube was never a problem. The additional suspension bounce was not nearly as pronounced with the Mitas as it was with the Dunlop.

Don't know if this helps anyone but alot of people are totally sold on the Trial tires and you certainly are seeing many more bikes running them. I do like them in that they are very trail friendly and for certain conditions they can not be beat.
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