Tyre choice for adventure riding? (Mixing road and off-road)

[tri boy]

Possibly true re the profile.

Definitely not true re power. The beastie is, how shall i say it, moderately en dowered pony wise.

[Ixion]

My E-07 doesn't have a central strip. It's squarish, but not completely square. About the same as the old Avon Speedmaster.Just alternating blocks

Seems OK on gravel to me , though I'm nowhere near in the league of you guys.

One thing I do notice is that the sideways-sticking-out-little-knobs do a good job of stopping the wheel sliding down into ruts.

I feel more comfortable with it than I did with the Trailwings. But the Trailwings felt more comfortable on seal. The E07 does actually hang on well, but theres a point where it roills round off the big main knobs onto the smaller side knobs with a very disconcerting lurch. It's actually OK, the side knobs take over, but it feels very OhMyGawd.

[tri boy]

know what you mean with regards to the Ohmygawd moment. It did that on the seal last weekend. Felt like I had rolled right off the edge of the tyre, an then it settled, but shit it takes you by surprise,(like gooey tar that would be invisible).

The centre strip is more like a raised rubber band that sits higher than the rest of the carcass, but still below the seperate blocks.
this decreases the block depth in the middle, and possibly is causing the traction dramas, or maybe its the compound.
Either way, its gunna be an emergency tyre. the TKC will be fitted for the passes ride, with a new TKC up front. (the fr has clocked up 8500km and is finally starting to lose its surefootedness).

[NordieBoy]

I never noticed an "edge" to mine even though there were no chicken strips but on the road I was running 36psi in the rear and 25-30psi gravel. Some people say the same about the Kenda 720? You tip it into a corner and there's a definate "edge" you've got to get over. The IRC and Shinko clones don't have the same problem.

If you ever need spare cash there's a few DR pilots that'd take it of your hands

[NordieBoy]

My E-07 doesn't have a central strip. It's squarish, but not completely square.

130 or 140 width?

[NordieBoy]

Definitely not true re power. The beastie is, how shall i say it, moderately en dowered pony wise.

But the ponies are "big boned".

[warewolf]

Some people say the same about the Kenda 720? You tip it into a corner and there's a definate "edge" you've got to get over.

Do you mean the Kenda K270? On it the edge is very close to the centreline, it happens as soon as you start to tip in. Kinda makes it fun not scary as you are not cranked over when it happens.

[Ixion]

130 or 140 width?

130/80-17

I had a closer look, and maybe I do have the central strip thing. But it's VERY small, if it is the same thing. In the centre of the tyre, about 1 mm high. I thought it was a wear bar (ie, time to replace the tyre); I think it probably is, still. Certainly once you got the tyre worn down to that point, it wouldn't pass a WoF. It's nothing like the IRC Mr Motu was talking about , where the central strip was full height down the middle of the tyre (ie the knobs in the centre are continuous). I'm not sure if it is the same thing Mr TriBoy was talking about or not. If it is, I'd say his tyre is worn out anyway.

I measured the curviness of the tyre : put the bike upright , and measured the VERTICAL distance from the floor to the edge of the tread. It was about 40mm. That's not as curved as a sprotsbike tyre, but certainly not flat . it's a 130 tyre so half that is 65mm. So a perfectly "round" section tyre , that vertical distance would have been 65mm. 40mm in the real world is a reasonable curve.

The rim does seem small for the tyre, theres's a lot of tumblehome on the sidewalls.I suspect the Triumph would have wider rims. maybe the Mitas doesn't like wide rims ?

[greerADV]

After far too much reading in this thread, I think I've finally decided on the Mitas E07 for my replacements.

And after a couple calls to some local shops with replies of, "A what?" when I've asked if they carried them, I think I need some help in locating a pair. Anyone know who carries them and what kind of price to expect?

I'm in Wanaka but can get anything from Dunedin/Invercargill/Alex shipped up for free (working for a bus company has it's advantages, sometimes.) So if cost is all the same, I'd obviously go with a shop in one of the above, instead of paying the shipping.

Cheers
Andrew

[greerADV]

So I manged to find a set of E07s through LMS Imports. It'll be $264 shipped to me in Wanaka. $110 front, $130 rear, $24 for shipping. The price sounds reasonable to me, but being my first set of replacement tyres I really have nothing to base it on.

Anyone know if this is a decent deal for the Mitas E07s?

Cheers
Andrew

[tri boy]

So I manged to find a set of E07s through LMS Imports. It'll be $264 shipped to me in Wanaka. $110 front, $130 rear, $24 for shipping. The price sounds reasonable to me, but being my first set of replacement tyres I really have nothing to base it on.

Anyone know if this is a decent deal for the Mitas E07s?

Cheers
Andrew

Yep a good deal from the importer. He hasn't raised the price for 6mths.

[greerADV]

Yep a good deal from the importer. He hasn't raised the price for 6mths.

Thanks for that. I had better order them now before it goes up again!

[tri boy]

Nordie hit the nail square on the head re rim size and its relation to the "squareness/knife edge feeling" relating to the E-07's, and I'm certain a similar square profile will happen with the E-09.

The Scrambler rear rim is a 3.50". I measured the bead width of the old Metz Sahara, (which was an excellent tyre), it has a width of 3.50".
I then measured the TKC thats waiting in the wings, it has a bead width of 3.50".

Next, I checked the E-09 that is ready for winter. 3.00". The E-07 had a 3.00" bead width, was a bitch to fit. (lifted skin off my knuckles just trying to feed the tube in, and locate the stem), and needed a heap of soap, and high pressure(100psi) with a high flow to Bead out.
This explains the piss poor handling, and the squarish appearance to the profile.

Cheers Nordie. Bling to you sir.

[Ixion]

Ay-up. Just checked the rear rim size on the Yamaha. 2.5 inch. I said it seemed narrow. Which is why my profile is rounded .

So, the Mitas is not suitable for bikes with large rims.

[oldrider]

As I have posted before on tyres, I really am a fan of the Mitas E07, especially on the later model TransAlps.

Admittedly I did not fully utilize the ones I had because I sold the bike.

While I had it the Mitas E07 tyres were the best by a long shot on every surface I tried them on.

They certainly are funny looking tyres but they stick like bloody glue.

My wife and I were very close to wiping out in a ford over by Naseby one day.

I believe we would have lost it completely had it not been for the E07's, it was a fantastic recovery!

She coolly enquired a little further down the track if that was as close as she thought it was.

She said she was getting ready for the ouch but suddenly everything was OK again.

I love it when that happens!

On my way up to trade the Tranny in on the Tiger I thought I had not really tested the E07's on the wet Tarmac at speed.

It was wet so I gave her a bit of a work out.

They were good enough to take all I could give them on the windies through the Shenandoah's.

They never felt like letting go at any stage, front or back.

It was enough to make me tell my self off and to just concentrate on delivering the bike safely to the dealer for the trade in!

I was very disappointed to find I could not get E07's for my Tiger so am now looking at buying a set of Pirelli Scorpions!

Sooner rather than later too, Damn it, more bloody $$$$$ to pay out. Cheers John.