Motocross Product Review: Knobby Knife Works Well To Save You Money

If you like riding dirt bikes and saving money…than the Knobby Knife is a no brainer purchase (KnobbyKnife.com). The innovative Knobby Knife is a sharp hand tool that heats up and is used to sharpen the worn edges of used motocross tires. It’s one of those products we love to discover and review …the one’s that make everyone say, “why didn’t I think of that?’ Even back when brand new motocross tires were much less expensive, I remember seeing crafty MX dad’s sharpening dirt bike tires with their razor blades. Fast forward 30 years later, and someone finally discovered a way to introduce those razor blades to soldering irons for the same purpose. Sharpening dirt bike tires is now a lot easier and is actually becoming more common. The heat comes from the 500 degree temperature that the tool reaches via it’s 100 watts of power. Plug the ’wand’ in and after warming it up, just pretend that you had a distant relative named Picasso and start carving knobbies.

The first thing that surprised me was the lack of smoke or stench that I had expected when applying the scorching knife into the tire’s rubber knobby. The tool sliced at our used tires with virtually no smoke or odor emitted. I sliced through a used tire’s knobby as if it were a piece of soft clay. Getting really ‘good’ at it took a few practice runs. ‘Good’ meaning cutting each knobby fast, clean, and perfectly angled without any “red bull induced” hand shake. All I could think of as I concentrated on my work, was the dozens of tires I’d discarded within the last decade that could have been salvaged for several more rides. The tool easily pays for itself when you consider the extension of life inherited from each completed tire. If you are a trail rider for instance, and typically use 6 rear tires a year….with the Knobby Knife you could get away with buying just 5 new tires a year. That’s a savings of about $80 for something that costs around $60. For more serious hardcore racers, obviously nothing replaces the performance of a brand new tire…but there is no question that the performance of your used tire is easily improved with the Knobby Knife. Certain knobby patterns were much easier to cut than others were. We found the job was easiest on rear tires, because the large size of the blade fit into the wider rear knobbies better. Our front tires tended to have smaller more intricate knobbies, with less optimal shaped geometry, requiring a more creative steady hand.

Our entrepreneurial assistant, quickly salvaged our race team’s 6 used tires sitting along the dumpster, and claimed she was going to ‘clean them up’ and sell them at the track for up to $20 each as practice tires! I am not sure we’d recommend that as a proven career, but the knobby knife obviously creates it’s greatest benefit via economic incentive. If you are rich and famous, the knobby knife may be a waste of time. However, if you are like the rest of us, on a budget, it definitely saves money and is effective too. It will take about twenty minutes per tire to revive your old tire for a few more rides. Performance improvement of the revived tire is pretty noticeable, as the once dull round edges are cut and angled for more bite and better traction. There are several different brands on the market that all seem market a similar product using parallel technology and function. We have never tried the other brands …as well as the Knobby Knife worked, we can vouch that this one is definitely a keeper. Note that if you like drag racing your 1991 CR 125 up and down paved asphalt for 2 hours a day…then this tool really wont help you much. You can’t sharpen knobbies that are almost gone, and the duration of the ’fresh’ cuts is extremely dependent on your choice of riding terrain and riding style. For most motocross and enduro riders though, it works very well.

I’ll never forget attending a local money race last year, where I saw a talented amateur motocross racer prepping his bike at the starting gate. The payout was handsome and he easily had the skill to win his class. I gazed at his balding rear tire though and couldn’t help but ask him about it. The racer claimed that he had no money for new tires. Well, if he could have at least invested in, or even borrowed, the Knobby Knife…he could have gotten a much better start than he did, and most likely cashed in via a podium finish, instead of packing up and going home with empty pockets. So there is no doubt that the majority of dirt bike riders out there can benefit from this tool …anyone from weekend warriors to local amateur racers. The Knobby Knife simply pays for itself. My only word of caution regarding this genius carving tool, is to be extremely careful with it. Our workshop tends to be a highly flammable area sometimes, and this tool certainly is not something you want to leave plugged in or kick around by accident. The Chronic MX workshop is fortunately a pretty sweet set-up …with big, well lit, concrete work areas, and is equipped with fire extinguishers. However, if your workshop is located in your grandmother’s living room, we’d probably recommend you find a safer place to ‘carve’. Cheers, Chronic MX.