Mitas Army F+R review
 

Ok so I decided to fit a Mitas Army rear to the XTR to match the Army front I had previously fitted.

although the trellesport site lists the Army rear as a 4.75/17 when I received it I saw on the tyre wall it was also sized as a 120/90/17, it's also rated as a 64M so a 80mph top speed. Also like the Army front it is none directional.

On first seeing the tyre I thought I was doomed as unmounted the beads it very close together and the carcass is stiff. It was nice and easy to fit by hand using only my MP levers and plenty of lube, I'd say almost as easy as fitting a 21" front. The bead was already seating by 10psi and was fully seated by 20psi so I nice tyre to mount on the road side although the gap in the beads may make road side repairs a pain.

ok so far I've put 100 road miles on the bike. As with the front when new it slides a lot and locks up very easily. I've used it in the wet already and it was a very nervous tyre with little grip, but the front was the same when new. Hopefully once it's had a few more miles on it it should grip nicely.

As with all tyres with large soft blocks it does wander around and gets upset after 60mph, but all this is starting to improve. there has been a slight change to the gear ratios with the tyre being a little taller but it's not much but you do notice it.

Hopefully soon i'll manage to get some dirt under the tyre and will upload some pictures soon.

Some pictures

More

And another

So I managed to get some dirt under the new rear. not much as I did it on my way to work tonight, but still a variety of surfaces.

I'm not sure what pressure I was running but it would be around 26psi. initially when I hit some loose sand the back did squirrel a little but I quickly got used to that. The tyre bites very nicely and I found I was able to go a little quicker than I normally would. It would have been interesting to have run it with a fresh Army front to allow the best from it. Honestly that was to the only surface worth any comment. I also rode hard pack, roots, mud and raised bricks. Nothing seemed the bother the tyre in the slightest. Ah I almost forgot lateral grip in soft surfaces is also very good.

The rear has very good self cleaning properties just like the front.

The road side of things has improved greatly, I've not had anymore rain yet so can't comment on that at this stage. This tyre is still happiest up to 60mph with plenty of grip for when your inner hooligan needs to come out to play and you give it a fist full.

Although the tyre is still moving around it is good at finding grip, and cornering I'm finding it helps to weight the outside of the bike. The rear is still relatively easy to lock up but it is starting to get better and it's a lot more controlled than at the beginning.

Ok so 300 miles in on the Armys.

The front is almost ready to swap out soon which will bring it back in line with the new rear. I've managed to squeeze 3500ish miles out of the front which is good considering what it is. even at such a worn state it works nicely in the dirt and road manners have been great, it's certainly got a lot better after the first 1000 miles.

Now to the rear, so far it has all the breaking in characteristics that the front had, and the usual Mitas traits I've noticed on other tyres.

Ok so for the dirt. simply the best tyre I've used F+R for the XTR, it's not bothered by much. simply get up on the pegs and trust in the tyres and they perform fantastic.

Now for the road. In damp conditions I'm still getting lock ups and spins but as with the front this is beginning to settle down nicely now. I've played with a few different tyre pressures and personally I find 26psi the best for me, works well on both tar and dirt.

I'm still having trouble adjusting myself to the tyre being a 120/90 and being so aggressive. it does alter how the bike behaves slightly and the large blocks do flex and move around a lot, but that's just the nature of the tyre.

As I've found with all Mitas they feel rubbish at first when it's cold until they've got a little heat in them, then they behave well.

If you think about using these tyres especially if your coming from road tyres you will have a surprise. although probably not the case the best way to think of them is Off road tyres that just happen to be road legal. Don't get me wrong these tyres are good at finding grip on the tar, you just have to adjust your style to accommodate them.

That last part may seem like a negative, but I'm just trying to make people aware of what they are getting into if they try these. Personally I'm really enjoying these tyres despite the difference in behavior to the E09.

So a quick update, it's more doubling over a previous thread as it relates to fitting the Army front.

The Army front is non directional so that takes one problem out of fitting and is rated to 80mph, the size equates to a 100/80/21, it fits the XTR rim no problem. I've a high level mud guard fitted so no clearance issues, but looks like it should fit under the stock mudguard no problem.

It was a slightly colder morning yesterday when I did the swap and it didn't cause any real issues, I just had to use tyre soap to aid the process as the bead is a little stiff. It was fitted only with hand tools, using 2 short levers and a mid sized lever. I usually run this tyre between 26psi and 28psi. Maybe as I'm already used to running a army front I had no problems this morning with the damp roads, I still needed to take it easy being a fresh tyre but not by much.

As the old tyre was getting worn out I was noticing the ride was starting to get choppy.

Now for a bit on the rear, it now has approx. 600 miles on it and it's settled down very nicely, it's still no angel by road standards but it's behaving as expected for a tyre of this type. locking up in the wet hasn't gone but it has reduced greatly.

When going from tar to dirt I don't even think about the tyre pressure, the tyre seems to perform the same regardless of the pressure being run. I went through some nice boggy bits the other day and it just trudged through nicely.

I can see some wear on the rear now but nothing scary, but it will be interesting to see how long the tyre lasts, but it certainly improves once it gets a bit of wear on it.

ok so 1000 miles in now, and unfortunately all my riding has been tar.

The rear has lost about 2mm in this distance which is better than I expected from it.

As I'd hoped by this mileage the rear has really got it's act together, I can now really thrash the bike down the back lanes regardless of the road conditions.

The previously mentioned wandering from the tall blocks has certainly lost it's severity but does still show at times.

Wet weather handling is now very acceptable with few dramas and now even fewer lock ups.

we've had a few cold mornings but our roads aren't iced over yet so that will be a good test for the tyres, but on mornings where the cars are frosty they have been fantastic.

So far these tyres have been a surprise, I didn't expect tyres with blocks so aggressive to have really good manners.

Thank you for a nice report , will give these a try soon I think , have a mitas Dakar eo9 on the rear and a mitas c17 Dakar on the front and can't fault this set up although the rim lock was a pain in the back side!..

I liked the E09, it's far better on the tar and good in the dirt. But the army out does it in the dirt, both sets I would gladly use again.

Just the reply I was looking for , I shall try that on the rear next..thankyou

Do you just use yours for dirt riding or do you do some commuting too?

Commuting and a lot of quite rough off road, I live with the tyre wear rate..

how much do you get out of the C17?

Quite quick to start with on the tarmac,but then slows down.It again is yellow band Dakar variant, truly impressed with this tyre in all conditions from mud to flinty rocks it grips all the way and with the tougher sidewalls it can be run at low pressure. Reasonably cheap too..

had both the f+R armys down to 22psi without any issues without using rim locks.

They have quite tough side walls then,another good thing!..

A point to note. so here we're in our autumn which means leaves on the road, wet damp slimy roads.

The armys did very well on my commute today, I commute on B roads and smaller with lots of general crap covering the road surface and it can get pretty slimy.

today it's rained enough to bring to crap up to the surface and a good coat of leaves and the temperature was only 4c

I had to slow down a little but the tyres had no trouble finding grip, and I was still able to set a good pace, I was still going quicker than most of the cars on the back roads. Of course if I decided to I could still play the tyre letting it spin up or lock up if I wanted.

Ok so now the rear is on 1500miles and the front is on 1000miles.

Lately I've not really had the chance to get much dirt under the tyres so again it has been mostly road riding.

The rear is almost half worn now but there has been no change in performance both on or off road.

We're getting into our winter now so I've had chance to try the tyres on frosted and iced roads. it's been cold enough for ice to form on the tyres (-6c) Roads round me have frosted white despite being treated so tells you how bad it's got at times.

The tyres have done well on frozen icy roads. Any break in grip has been progressive with warning and so far not resulted in the bike going down. The wandering of the big blocks on the rear have been a pain when your watching your grip levels and may hide any loss in traction but haven't produced any scary moments.

They certainly are a good choice if you have to commute grotty rural roads.

More of a update for road conditions over mileage.

So the rear has 2000 on it and is still looking fine, initially I thought they'd be toast by 3000 but it looks like i'll get more than that out of it.

So anyway, we had our cold snap. unfortunately we never had any real snow so sorry about that as that's one thing I was really looking forward to testing them in.

But we have had plenty of frozen roads and a few good days of wet slush.

When we had the good slush it was only about 1" and the tyres were fine, it surprised me just how well behaved they were, almost as if the road was just wet from rain. On icy roads they have been very good, obviously you have to tame your riding for the ice but they've prooved very good at hunting out any available grip.

I'd have to ay coming from road bikes I was worried about using an aggressive tyre on the road but they are very well behaved, if you ignore the slight wandering from the blocks. certainly worth the money if your not so worried about high speed riding.

ok so now we're 3K in on the rear and just under 3k on the front. the rear is wearing really well with atleast 10mm of tread left on the centre blocks and apart from some minor breaking up on some the blocks the tyre could almost pass for brand new.

as a road combo they are both working very well and wearing very well.

I wanted to test out a new rear shock I had fitted and finally had chance to get some dirt under the tyres for the first time in about 6 months, the ride was spirited. I was very pleased how the bike tracked and bit into the surfaces and the odd planned roost.

The new shock has certainly allowed the rear to work better and to more of it's true potential. It's breathed new life into this set up and doesn't appear to have had any noticeable changes to the wear rates.

The rear did pick up a large fencing staple during the spirited ride, I don't know if it was sheer luck or the construction of the tyre but it didn't result in a puncture despite going through the body of the tyre.

I really appreciate your tyre reviews,the army specials have been on my radar for a while now, have a mitas desert on the rear at the moment and I'm quite impressed to say the least, very good road manners and amazing people pick up off the road,a fair bit lighter than the E09 too. I do prefer the E09 for the tougher sidewalls though, what are the sidewalls like on the army specials?..

I'd say the sidewalls are about the same, a little stiffer when fitted due to the narrow tyre profile.

I did try asking trellesport about a comment on their website about the army being replaced by the MC23 (mt21 copy by the looks) but still no reply as of yet.

the army certainly bites better in the soft stuff than the E09 did.

just a little side note I forgot to mention. the rear is pretty well squared off now despite still having plenty of useable tread.

What I'm finding in the bends with the rear being squared and tall is the rear feels like it is tipping, and is certainly more prone to slide now.