Mitas E-09 Dakars
 

Hi all,
just thought I'd drop a line in to say I've bought some of the above having had a chat with Uncle Ricky regarding the Army Specials and Glyn at Trelleborg (went with Glyn's advice after all Rick!) Anyway, thanks to both for their time explaining the differences between the two options.

The plan is to fit the tyres and then give them a bloody good hiding all the way to Italy and back for a week starting 17 July, doing as many trails as my old bones can stand. No doubt, there will be photos to follow and hopefully a bit of a report on how they faired.

......mind you it won't be particulalrly technical!

cheers
Lairyboy

They look similar to the to
the Tkc tyres
Don't forget the toll charge on the autostrad is the same has a car

Yeah that's what I thought but apparently the TKCs are 50/50 whereas Glyn reckons the Mitas are more like 80/20 off/on road....... he's seen them in use at the BMW Off Road school in Wales on the heavier GS800's and thoroughly recommended them...........I'll give them a go and see what happens!

As for toll roads.......we ain't doing any of them, I know they get you where you want to be quickly but I'd die of boredom.......D roads in France absolutely rock....no idea what they are in Italy but we'll find em'

Just out of intrest why were the E09's recommended over the army specials?

I shall be watching with interest, although your findings will come a bit too late for me!

I've got a pair on at the moment as a 'tester' to see if they are viable for a 2500 mile trip to the HUMM and back (leaving on the 23rd). I've done about 1200 miles so far, and there's still plenty of tread left for off-roading, so I know they'll at least get me there and through the event, just need to see now if they'll get me home legally :D. Should do - I need to measure the tread depth, but there's more than half of the original 12mm left.

Pretty similar trip/distances to you, so I expect you'll be fine.

I wouldn't say the TKC80 is a 50/50 tire; more a 80/20 on/off-road tire. In mud they wont get you anywhere. On the road they hold out fine in the twisties: good enough to touch tarmac with the footpegs.

I currently run Metzeler Karoo's of which I would say they are 50/50 indeed. On tarmac they offer enough grip but are unstable (especially the rear) at speed and at lean angle. Knowing that I do most of my riding on tarmac during commuting with an occasional unpaved road, they now have to come off after less then 1000kms and I'll go back to Metzeler Enduro 3. Had those before and they offer great grip and stability under all circumstances. Compared to the TKC's a bit better on road and a bit less off-road. The rear won't last much longer then 6000kms though.

HJ

Further to this, measured it last night, and there's actually 9-10mm left in the centre of the rear after 1160 miles.

Another watcher here, eager to hear how they perform on- and off-road.

Have a great trip!

My take:

- Dry tarmac grip is fine, over to about 10mm from the edges on the rear, which is about as far as I leant the OE Tourances. Now we're into summer and I've got used to them I don't think they're holding me back at all - I don't bimble along but I don't exactly try to get my knee down on the Ten' either.

- People are full of horror stories about knobblies on wet tarmac. I've had no moments so far, so any decrease in grip is less than the amount I slow down in the wet anyway.

- I've only done dry off-roading so far, so I haven't had the opportunity to see if they are better than the Tourances at shedding sticky clay (as previously reported). I can't see how they would be worse :D

- The steering gets lighter due to the reduced contact, which takes a bit of getting used to. It will occasionally also weave at high (80+mph) speeds if set off by a bump, but not in an 'out of control' way, just a small oscillation that will die down unless you try to make it die down ;). I imagine this is true of all knobblies - I've ridden smaller trail bikes which weaved something chronic at much lower speeds (50-55mph). This is also pressure dependent so you can fix some of it by playing with the pressures.

- The rear tyre does whine. It didn't when it was new, but it has started to now it's worn down a bit. Strangely, it's worse in the wet. I wear earplugs and ignore it, but it may annoy others.

Overall, I'm happy with them, the only question remaining being how long they last. I know it won't be as long as something like the Tourance/Anakee type tyres (I replaced the OE tyres at 6144mi), but if I can get say 4000 out of a rear I'll probably keep a set on there permanently rather than change back and forth with more road biased rubber.

I think it wasn't anything in particular, although Glyn at trelleborg may be able to expand on the reasons. He was so impressed with the Mitas on the GS800s that I thought I'd give them a go.

Its good to know I'm not the only guinea pig!!:slywink:

Yeah, I aggree about TKCs not being great in mud but to be honest I've found them to be fine in all other circumstances which is maybe more of a reflection on my style of riding!

Right then,
just got back from my little trip (over 2k miles) from Cheshire, through France and onto Mount Jafferau in Italy (close to Salbertrand, down Turin way). Did just about every road you can think of and every trail we could squeeze in, including the 'assult' on Mount Jafferau.

There's no other way to put this but......THE TYRES WERE 'KIN SUPERB.

Once they were worn in (about 100 miles) they gripped in corners with me and the bike lent over chasing my mates on their KTM 690s and GS800's without any dramas and once off road, coped with dry fast, stony tracks, wet ones with mud and stony/rocky ascents/decents on the mountain tracks.

Even blasted all the way from Dover to Cheshire on motorways to get home and they still have plenty of life left in them.

Buy some, you'll love 'em!!

Lairyboy - you promised photos... Where are they?

here one to keep you going until he replies :081:

Photos to be uploaded as soon as I can remember how to do them. I seem to be having a problem with 'Error 500', whatever that is?:088:

Go to (scroll down to) MANAGE ATTACHMENTS when you do your reply, and up load from your computer

Nice - is it edible?

Don ass me I donkey know. I am a vegetarian I only eat animals that eat grass :044:

Cheers Ricky, will do asap

Still no pic's?

Had a nightmare loading picys so here's a link to the trip photos;

http://s924.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20off%20Road/

cheers!

Great pics Lairy looks like you had a great time :)

09`s
 

well ther are two of us going to morocco in sept on the 09`s so i think we`ll be letting you all know if they do the distance aswell

Well I did 3500 miles on the first set, including the Lakes meet, then swapped them for a new set to go to the HUMM - keeping Set 1, because I think there's at least another 1000 miles of road riding in them. The second set has now done about 3000 miles. Set 2 won't get quite the same mileage as the first I don't suppose - the rear had a good kicking from two and a half days of spinning along trails, and the front from hard braking into tarmac hairpins - but should still be pretty good.

No complaints about grip offroad, the only time I got stuck was on a loose 45deg slope, and I got 100 yards further up it than the two DR-Z's I was with :D

I'll report back when I actually manage to wear a set out enough to put them in the bin!

Oh yes, a few 'offs' for all involved ranging from the plainly pathetic (me, losing my balance due to a bit of dehyration) to a full-blown double salco (my mate Buster) that surely would have drawn a few perfect 10's.

....just thinking about where to go next year?

I'd be interested to know how you get on in Morocco.....thinking of a trip myself, possibly next year if I can persuade my lunatic mates:icon_eek:

.....yeah, they do wear very well so I'll definately be buying another set.....at some point in the future!

Turns out I was entirely wrong on that. Here are my two sets of E-09s, with a combined mileage of 9,340...

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6852/tyres.jpg

Set 2 have done 5,809 miles. The front looks terrifying, but still works OK on tarmac. I don't suppose it's up to much on dirt :D. Far better than I expected, and since it's in the same ballpark as what I got out of the Tourances I shall expect to be ordering Set 3 some time around Christmas.

Set 1 will be going back on tomorrow.