Riding all over the country provides us with insight to many different terrain types and the obstacles that are presented in each one. The factory wheels are sufficient for general trail riding, but you may actually want something a little tougher.
Having recently ridden in the mountains of the Dixie National Forest near Bryce Canyon, UT, we found many hillclimbs and descents where rocks as well as roots literally reached out and took a bite out of our tires. The stock rims can take a beating but if you do not have a tough wheel you may lose more than just the tire should you hit the bigger obstacles out there.
Most ATVs over a certain weight come with aluminum wheels and this is because manufacturers are trying to stay within a certain weight parameter. These are typically tough wheels, but make no mistake, these are still subject to bending or de-beading a tire upon impact from solid objects on the trail. The rolled edge of some factory wheels add strength to the rim but can still let go of the tire under pressure. Most aluminum and steel wheels have a ridge that runs around the inner front and rear of the rim just behind the vertical face of the rim and this assists in holding the tire in place.
Unfortunately some bead lips inside the wheel are not even large enough to keep the tire from being pushed off the bead under fast or hard cornering in dirt or sand. This is where a beadlock wheel comes into play. It is an expensive option but we hope to define why it could be a great alternative to the stock wheel.
Locking Tire To Rim
The beadlock wheel literally locks the tire to the rim usually on the outside or most exposed side of the tire. There are many different companies who manufacture beadlock wheels and a few who will actually take your wheel and add a beadlock to it. The factory lip can be machined or cut off and a bead holding device will then be welded on to have a surface to mount the bead ring to.
One of the companies that surgically removes the outer lip of your wheel and welds in a bead platform to bolt the bead ring to is OMF Performance in Riverside, CA.
“A beadlock is a mechanical fastening device that literally clamps the tire’s bead bundle onto the wheel rim using mechanical force rather than air pressure,” explains Tim Orchard. “It holds the bead bundle firmly in place even under extremely low air pressure.”
Orchard opened OMF Performance in 1982 because of what he perceived as a lack of quality aluminum products and has become the go-to company for the best beadlock wheels on the market.
So why would you spend more than $200 per wheel on your machine that already has four round perfectly straight wheels installed on it?
Let’s say you get into a situation where you do unseat a tire bead and you are far from the truck. The regular wheel will allow the tire to actually roll right off of the rim should you have to drive on it for any distance before attempting a repair. This means that if the tire that goes flat is on the front of your machine, chances are you will have no steering control at all. With a bead-locking rim the tire will stay in place until you can get to a place to repair or load the quad for home.
Point No. 2
The second point would be that if you like to crawl through rock gardens and up over vertical boulders you may lower the air pressure in your tire, right? With a lower air pressure you are then subject even more to potentially having a tire de-bead and pop off the rim. This is where the locked bead bundle is secure and will not pop off. Do you have a high power machine? If you have a factory wheel combined with high horsepower you might eventually see the wheel spin inside the tire and this could also cause deflation as well as de-beading.
Having both the inside and outside of the wheel bead locked is something some will do, but a good reinforcement ring on the inside part of your rim is plenty for most applications.
HiPer Technology does make a carbon fiber rim with both inner and outer bead rings. Adding to this type of wheel’s value is weight savings because they are a tough plastic material and just as strong as most aluminum products.
Whatever wheel you decide on just be sure it is ready for the type of terrain and trail you choose to drag it through. If you want to have the confidence that you will ride without losing a tire, flat or not, then beadlock may be for you.
