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.