Ok, brief update, the front has started to crack along the centre line where the wear indicator runs and is slightly worse where the blocks join the wear marker. i will post some pictures when i get chance to take some, and i will be contacting the company who supplied the tyre origanally and see what they have to say.

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/...b.jpg~original

so is this bad to have all the way round or am i looking to much into it?

So today I clocked up a reasonable amount of local trails. Ran the tyres at 25psi. It was a nice mix of terrain. Packed sand and gravel tracks. Honestly I didnt feel inspired by the tyres. They didnt give me much confidence on any of the tracks, BUT there weren't any dramas, they always gripped and tracked well.

ok so i've now hit 2000 miles of use with the tyres. They haven't worn smooth to the centre band yet but it is almost here now. so they are a slow wearing tyre and will wear much slower once getthing to that point.

Road manners are good and predicatable when running on 29psi f/r with no noticable road noise at all.

As for off road/trails, running at 24/25 psi f/r, they seem to get through most things without to much drama, they certainely favor hard packed surfaces. in deep loose stuff they can struggle a bit, and i did have the front try to wash out on some loose sand the other day. the rears biggest problem is the stepped pattern shown earlier in the thread, it just hinders the tyres ability to bite into loose surfaces. When on the tracks i'm finding i just get on with it, and leave the tyres to do there own thing, i still don't have alot of confidence with them in the dirt, but that could just as much be me being new to trail riding.

As for the cracks i also reported earlier they are becoming more frquent around both front and rear now mostly on the edges of the blocks, but there is no hint of the blocks coming away yet. They could just be where there has been stress on that bit of the tread but i will monitor that.

I'm begining to see what these tyres are intended for now, they seem aimed at long distance riders who may want to do a gravel track every now and again, or some light trail work.

Well time for another update, for the most part I've been clocking up road miles, the tyres have been behaving very well and wearing little, I would say they are better on the road than the Tourances were, there is vibration as you get to the edge of the tyre when leaning but I suspect that is largely to the block pattern.

Yesterday I went out with my local TRF group and managed a very wide variety of conditions, grass lanes, loose gravel, chalk lanes, boggy rutted lanes, steep up hill gravel lanes and soft/loose mud, I was running the tyres at 25/25 and was pleasantly surprised, I originally expected the bike would be a hand full with these tyres but it did very well, it managed to get through everything we came across, my only complaint was with the front tyre when we came across loose soft mud, it could just not bite and was constantly trying to spit me off, although the rear was also finding it hard in the soft mud it was a lot more manageable. With the route we took I would of been happier with something more aggressive but the E07's left me pleasantly surprised.

So a update on the unusual wear from the front, with this tyre you have the usuaul alternating big block small block pattern alternating on the centre pattern, what i've started to notice is the smaller blocks are now wearing faster than the larger blocks.

ok so i've now put 3k on the tyres, on the road the handling has been brilliant, couldn't fault the tyres what so ever regardless of the weather conditions.

Wear on the rear tyre is very good, since the centre bar has worn into play the wear rate has dropped right down. The front has also been wearing well but looking at the comparative wear rates i'd of expected to have finished the front before the rear.

I was starting to find the front was struggling more and more on the trails, on packed stuff it was ok, but any loose terrain or grass I was starting to find the tyre neither gripped well or inspired any confidence, this could be my abilities were improving or i've been choosing more challenging terrain. So i decided to replace the front with a TKC80 i had sitting in the shed.

The bead broke easily without any tools, and came off nice and easy with a pair of motion pro enduro levers.

First outting with the new front i ran 24psi F/R felt awful on the road and i had doubts, but as soon as i was on the trail i was really pleased, it certainly gave me confidence, and i noticed i was instantely setting a quicker pace down the trails. Put back to road pressure they work well together but the front is not as good the 07 front. so i will be trying this set for the rest of my trail season this year.

I'll probably look to put the E07 front back on once winter starts to draw in and the roads turn crap.

ok so now I have the tyres in at just over 4K miles. road manners are brilliant still no concerns there at all. I'm becoming more active with local off roading groups here in the UK and i'm beginning to find the tyres limits off road.

i'm running it with the TKC80 front still and they seem a good pair, the rear only struggling just before the TKC starts to struggle, with the exception of hill climbs. Thick mud is prooving good fun, and I've been playing with sliding the rear in the bends. on a side note, if I hade the e07 front still fitted it would have been a nightmare, the profile does not seem to work well in the mud.

I've swapped the gearing around with the sprockets with a 14 upfront so the rear is having a harder time but I think it will take around another 4k of abuse before it's time to retire it from road dutys.

On thin gravel and hard packed off road surfaces it is still working very well. Soon the tyre will be put in the shed for another day as i'll have a E09 coming to take over rear duties.

Hi mate,

It would very interesting if you give us some feedback on the E09 similar to what we have for the 07 ones.

Thanks

Well I've just spooned off the E07 to fit the E09, it came off nice and easily. Bead was broken with only 2 levers then after that just came away easily with 1 lever the rest of the way round. Plenty of space in there for swapping a tube if you get a puncture. So for now atleast this tyre is off duty after covering 4.5k. I'd like to point out again its only been swapped out for a more serious off road tyre. And ive been very pleased with its performance.