Neil from Messick's here, with one of the new 2019 Kubota B2601 tractors, sporting a new set of tires. This is the R14 that just came out here from Goodyear Titan. We're going to take you around this tractor here today, talk about these tires a little bit, and maybe find out if it might be a good selection for you. 

I've always found it interesting that tire videos are some of the most popular videos on our channels. I guess it's because guys really put a lot of thought into this process when buying their tractors. It is the way you put your power to the ground after all and that's why you're buying a piece of equipment, to begin with. The R14, if the number doesn't explain there in and of itself, is a hybrid between an R1 tire, an agricultural deep V tread tire, and an R4 tire, an industrial oriented tire like we see on a lot of compact tractors and skid loaders. 

Each one of those tires has some pros and cons. Your R1, with its deep treads in it, is very aggressive and gets you a lot of traction, while an R4 tire, with its flatter profile and its bigger lugs, can give you some of that traction, a little bit better wear characteristics, and be a little bit better in roading applications too. They just tend to wear a little bit better on asphalt. 

The R14 strikes a balance between those. If you look at the profile of this tire, it has a little bit more of that R4 squared-off profile to it, as opposed to the rounded profile that you'll often see on an R1 tire. That should help to get a little bit more of these lugs down into the ground and get you a little bit more traction. The other neat part about this, if you look down the middle of the tire right here, you'll see that running line of bars running right down the middle. That's to help these things road better. An R1 tire, with its deep lugs and it gives you a little bit of thump as you go down the road, each of those lugs as they hit the asphalt as you're rolling along. This centerline right here gives you that constant contact point to help this tire road a little bit better than what a lot of other R1s do. 

Who is this tire for, exactly? Well, believe it or not, this isn't actually the first hybrid tire Kubota has had. We've had a lot of guys are thinking, R1, R3, R4 tires in your head when you're looking at these different selections, but there has been another bar turf tire selection that's given you some of these same properties in the past, that's always been available on this series tractor and, to be frank, we just never have really had a very high take rate for that option. I'm not sure whether this is going to change that or not. 

Obviously, this is going to be a little bit more aggressive than what your R4 tire is, so if you're looking for a tractor mostly for dirt work, it'll give you that little bit more bite than what you would get with the bigger bars on an R4. But with the centerline here, they should road a little bit better. I would be concerned about turf damage on these, just like we would have on an AG tire. They're on the more aggressive side as far as tires go. The zigzag tire pattern on the bar turfs that are also on this tractor are a little bit more friendly in that regard. 

If we look at saying that this is the hybrid between an R1 and an R4, our bar zigzag tread is probably the hybrid between an R1 and an R3 turf. There's this spectrum now of five different tire options that you can put onto the small B Series tractor. 

Undoubtedly, there's going to be a lot of guys interested in this tire for tractors besides the B2601 and the B2301. Unfortunately, right now, this is only made in five different tire sizes and Kubota has an exclusive on this size tire on this tractor. Currently, Kubota machines are the only ones that you're going to be able to get this tire option for in a compact tractor. 

They are making this tire for some of the bigger utility machines as well, in say a 70 to 80 horse tractor. You have some low sidewall options, so it's really being geared largely towards that agricultural market, where guys are really probably going to be mostly interested in this tire's ability to road better and, in that low sidewall option, not bounce quite as much going down the road. It gives you a little bit of idea of who they've got in mind for this tire. It is a agriculturally minded tire, but it does have its place in compact tractors as well. 

[engine revving] 

All right. We're driving the B2601 tractor with the new R14 tires on it now. These are on both the front and the rear of the tractor. We're going to drive around the parking lot here and check the roadability of these because that's the one big change here in that center line running down the tire. We're going to put the tractor here in the high range and go out here on the asphalt. 

If you've ever done much driving before, ever done much driving before with these AG tires, you'll know they definitely feel more at home on the dirt than they do on the asphalt. You tend to be able to feel the different lugs a little bit in the tire and because particularly the bigger, spongier ones, you tend to get some bounce out of them as you go down the road. I have to say I don't feel any of that in this. When they say that these are running better, I tend to agree with them. We've got a little bit of bounce out just the asphalt and stuff, but I don't feel the tire at all. 

If I had to give you a guess, I'd say, honestly, it even feels better than an R4 does. You don't feel the cleating. Here you don't get any of that bounce from it like you would out of a lot of other tires like this. 

While this is cool on a tractor like this, I'm most excited to see this tire in those bigger AG applications, where we can see quite a low sidewall version of this on the bigger utility tractor. We're seeing guys spending so much time roading their tractors anymore from field to field and there's no doubt this is a nice driving tire on the asphalt. You just don't see guys in their compacts all that often doing that much driving on the hard surfaces like this. You're mostly working in the dirt. While it is probably going to be a little bit better on your turf than what an R1 would, I go back again to the zigzag tire pattern that we've had as well still being worth your consideration. 

If you're going through the shopping process for a tractor, we can help. Give us a call at Messick's, also available for any parts or service needs that you may have. We're available at 800-222-3373, or online at messicks.com