This past week was my first experience with the 21x12 smooth tires on the buggy. I can't find any downsides at all. They seem to just be a plus all the way around. On my grassy fields I ride around the house , they smooth out the bumps very nicely. On a sandy beach, they give you the entire beach to work with. On days that I only had crosswinds, I could roll right up the soft sandy berm at the dune side of the beach up to the edge of where the grasses started. This beach has been "reclaimed" in that they have dredged up sand from offshore and pumped it up onto the beach near the dunes. This created a narrow wet beach at low tide and an extra 60 feet of dry fluffy sand that would've been off limits with the midi tires. This was sand that would shift out from under you while walking and I barely made tracks in it with the buggy. I have the midi tires that I can convert my buggy back to in minutes but now I wonder if I would ever want to. I guess at some beaches where it is hard sand everywhere, I might enjoy the crisp handling of the shorter harder tires, but I'm not sure. I'm interested in everyones thoughts and observations.

The only plus I see with the smaller tires is faster speeds on hard surfaces. Actually I guess another plus would also be when riding on hard, gritty dry lake bed surfaces where you can wear down a set of tires rather quickly, they are cheaper to replace.

what do you have tires inflated to (for normal grass use)? i'm guessing ~ 8 lbs?
Paul

Mine were at 12 psi when I got to the field the first time. Very tall and hard. I dropped them to 7 and haven't touched them since. Seems perfect. I could drop them if the sand was powdery soft, but otherwise this seems perfect.

I'm wondering: would those typical "paddle-wheel" type sand tires be a help or hindrance on buggys?

I have a set of bf's that have grooves but I also have a 8" Excel LawnPro-Harmonic set as well they have a more agressive tread. I used to hydroplane on the wet wet sand but no longer the trade of is speed. The paddle wheel tires like the ones atv's use on sand would likely slow things down a ton more. I would be interested in how a dune runner front type tire would work. They style with a single rib in the middle of it. Has anyone tried one??

hmm here are some pictures...
the excel in snow.

front sand tire.

Hmmmm...for the budget minded....switch conventional buggy tires with 2 bigfoot /balloons on back and squeeze a narrower, one-ribbed sand tire in front.

Sound's doable to anyone else? :dunno: