On the day I took the picture I had my dog with me and he had to take a dump on one of the only bushes out there. I thought it was hilarious.

mpm wrote:Here’s my 185 with the Desser aero classic 8.50-10s

Looks good! What air pressure are you running? How do you like so far?

I’ve been running them at 15 psi. I really like them. I fly mostly grass, a little pavement and a little dirt, nothing off airport but some rough dirt. I went this direction because I have property with a dirt strip and I wanted a smooth tire and was getting tired of clogging the treads of my 8.50-6s when it had any moisture on it. With my positive opinion of the aero classic 31s on my Bearhawk, these were an easy decision for me on the 185. For me, they’re far superior to the 8.50-6s and I love the Grove 8” brakes, very nice on a heavy 185. I’m pretty sure I could run them as low as 10-12 psi.

I was just day-dreaming how cool it would be if Desser came out with a smoothie tire for the 6" wheel that's larger than 850x6,
maybe something along the lines of the 26" GY but lighter weight (maybe 4 ply like their 850)-- along with an stc, of course.
Unfortunately when I contacted them a year or two ago, they didn't seem to have any interest in doing that.
Plus, the stc's for their tires seems to be held by other parties, like Seaplanes North (who sells the desser tires & Grove wheel & brake kits).

Whee, My 8.50x10 have over 250 hours on them so far, showing some wear, but good for a while yet. I guess I'm lucky. In my experience, Desser tires are a mixed bag. I've had some significant wear issues as well as other issues, and then I've had pretty good luck with some.

In my experience, Goodyear tires out wear any Desser tire significantly, but GY doesn't make these sizes, at least in relatively light tires. A friend put the 8.50x10 smooth Dessers on his 180, but I haven't heard anything one way or the other.
I really like these 8.50x10s, and run them at 18 psi.

But, whatever you do, do NOT purchase those "Leak Guard" tubes. I just talked to another pilot who bought a set and they failed almost immediately. Go Desser.....

MTV

What’s your pick for tubes MTV?

Have the grove wheels & 8.50x10s ordered. Will run them tubeless. Interested to see how they compare to the 26” bushwheels.

Assume that you’re not operating off airport, given your current choice of 26” bushwheels instead of 29s or 31s on your 180. If that’s the case, I think you’ll prefer the tubeless 8.50-10s over your 26” bw. they’re light, the grove brakes are amazing, there’s no speed penalty from 8.50-6s, pavement is no issue, and the size is perfect, about the same as the 26s.
When Seaplanes North finally gets the Desser 31 added to the stc, I’ll be tempted to swap my desser 31s off of my BH patrol and put them on the 185….but, honestly, if I need desser 31s on the 185, I’m thinking that I should probably have 29” bushwheels instead, even despite the wear issues (29s max size on 185F). Off airport in rougher terrain, I’ll take a Bushwheel every time when compared to the tubeless grove/desser. Opinion only of course.

mpm wrote:Assume that you’re not operating off airport, given your current choice of 26” bushwheels instead of 29s or 31s on your 180. If that’s the case, I think you’ll prefer the tubeless 8.50-10s over your 26” bw. they’re light, the grove brakes are amazing, there’s no speed penalty from 8.50-6s, pavement is no issue, and the size is perfect, about the same as the 26s.
When Seaplanes North finally gets the Desser 31 added to the stc, I’ll be tempted to swap my desser 31s off of my BH patrol and put them on the 185….but, honestly, if I need desser 31s on the 185, I’m thinking that I should probably have 29” bushwheels instead, even despite the wear issues (29s max size on 185F). Off airport in rougher terrain, I’ll take a Bushwheel every time when compared to the tubeless grove/desser. Opinion only of course.

Folks don’t operate off airport with 8.5s?

Sometimes it’s more the Indian than the bow, I’d wager lots more rev making flights have been flown into the backcountry of lil’ 8.5s than high dollar 31s

Agree with this comment regarding 8.50-6s from a “historical” perspective. However, let’s face it, since the introduction of bushwheels, those who do operate “off airport” these days (commercial operators) generally have bushwheels, they’re by far the best insurance for that environment. For most of them, the other alternative is shaved 29-10s. The particular “environment” matters, beaches are very different than rock gardens or tundra tussocks.
I’m aware of each tire’s capabilities and also aware that 90% of the bushwheels are on airplanes that simply don’t need them. No problem, whatever floats your boat. This is why my 185 has the tubeless 8.50-10s, I know what makes sense for me. If I lived in Alaska, there’s no question that I’d have 29” abw, cuz that would make sense for me, in that world. Could an airplane on 8.50-6s be flown “off airport” as safely and effectively as bushwheels….for this “Indian,” no chance. Just talking about me though.

mpm wrote:Agree with this comment regarding 8.50-6s from a “historical” perspective. However, let’s face it, since the introduction of bushwheels, those who do operate “off airport” these days (commercial operators) generally have bushwheels, they’re by far the best insurance for that environment. For most of them, the other alternative is shaved 29-10s. The particular “environment” matters, beaches are very different than rock gardens or tundra tussocks.
I’m aware of each tire’s capabilities and also aware that 90% of the bushwheels are on airplanes that simply don’t need them. No problem, whatever floats your boat. This is why my 185 has the tubeless 8.50-10s, I know what makes sense for me. If I lived in Alaska, there’s no question that I’d have 29” abw, cuz that would make sense for me, in that world. Could an airplane on 8.50-6s be flown “off airport” as safely and effectively as bushwheels….for this “Indian,” no chance. Just talking about me though.

Depends on where you’re going, for lots of the backcountry strips I don’t think monster truck tires have much to do with safety, sure some places you need the clearance and/or fatter and softer foot print, but lots of the backcountry fly ins I have seen you’ll have hundreds of thousands of dollars in bush planes with all the bush plane toys, and quite often you’ll have the working class kid who just flys on in with a rental 172N with cheap airtrac tires.

It’s like the dash cams at the SCCA tracks where some guy is driving around in his brand new Porsche, matching helmet driving gloves and Nomex, and as he takes a corner some dude in a Miata blows past him like he’s a old lady lol

Everyone’s mission is different, and ultimately whatever makes someone happy, it’s all good

A lot of the working planes I see up there don’t have huge blimp tires, it’s 8.5s or more of a 1-2 size up type deal, real world running a business with 135 insurance if I had a contract or enough business to fly somewhere I needed tires that big, sounds like a lot of risk and a lot of insurance premiums and FAA interest in me, seems buying a older jet ranger or even a R44 would be a better bet. I think at a point it becomes more for sport than anything, like the full on STOL competition planes, some don’t look very useful for much beyond that