The new Mitas E07 Adventure tire (tyre)

[ballisticexchris]

So, your opinion is that tire selection for road riding is irrelevant?

That's ... contrary to many (most?) peoples experience. Including my own. Maybe that needs some serious qualifiers. I find it matters a whole bunch. But, we probably ride differently.

Yes that is it exactly!! Tire selection for on highway travel is 100% irrelevant when there is even a remote chance that my motorcycle will be taken off the highway. If I was to ride on the pavement exclusively then my tire choice would be a soft compound, smooth, street only tire.

Here is my qualification: I can easily adjust my riding to safely navigate pavement on a knobby. On my Beta I can run full blown non DOT knobby's on the street with no fear of what to expect. I simply adjust my throttle control, braking, and turning for safe travel.

I simply do not have the skill to safely navigate miles of deep sand/silt, off camber ruts, hills, mud, etc on anything other than an open block knobby. Anything less then it is just not fun anymore. I ride for fun not to struggle and worry when the bike is going to spit me off.

Surprisingly the current rubber on my Super Tenere is not much of a compromise at all. I cannot outride it's street performance at my skill level. For me the tire is simply amazing. For an aggressive street rider then the tire would probably not do so well.

You can read my review here:

Michelin Anakee Wild: Ongoing performance and tire life review

First off let's address the mounting issues. Zero drama! Easiest set of motorcycle tires I have ever mounted in my life. Not much harder than a bicycle tire. No UHD tubes, no pinched tubes, no double rim locks, no vice grips. Only took 1/2 oz of weight per wheel to balance. I'm really liking...

www.yamahasupertenere.com

I purchased my Super Tenere to do long miles of highway travel and safely get through sections of dirt that I will not have to turn around on. My only choice for tires at this point is an open block knobby. Until I get more used to the weight of the bike and build more confidence then I will continue to play it safe.

The unique characteristic of the E07 is it has the ability to last a long time and yet give just enough off road performance to safely navigate mellow off road travel. Anything other than a smooth fire road or small baby-head rocks, then it rears its ugly head. It's not bad. Just the nature of any Chevron Tread based knobby. I have tried quite a few over the years and do not care for how they perform on or off the highway.

Here is are a few pictures to give you an idea of what happens when you have ridden over 50 miles of glass smooth fire roads then have to decide if you can make it or turn around. I was so very grateful to have the tires I did. Over a mile of steep loose rocky switchbacks only to find I had to go through another 2 sections of super deep sand and silt with deep ruts buried underneath. The only choice I had was to turn around and go back 50 plus miles to pavement or push through. This is the reason I will not compromise for a safe tire. The open block design tire was able to claw the steep, nasty loose rocks, and long sections of deeps and and silt. And no tipovers!!

 

[Cycledude]

I sure didn’t see any reason to turn around, The stock Bridgestone Battlewings would have handled that terrain in those pictures just fine.

Yes that is it exactly!! Tire selection for on highway travel is 100% irrelevant when there is even a remote chance that my motorcycle will be taken off the highway. If I was to ride on the pavement exclusively then my tire choice would be a soft compound, smooth, street only tire.

Here is my qualification: I can easily adjust my riding to safely navigate pavement on a knobby. On my Beta I can run full blown non DOT knobby's on the street with no fear of what to expect. I simply adjust my throttle control, braking, and turning for safe travel.

I simply do not have the skill to safely navigate miles of deep sand/silt, off camber ruts, hills, mud, etc on anything other than an open block knobby. Anything less then it is just not fun anymore. I ride for fun not to struggle and worry when the bike is going to spit me off.

Surprisingly the current rubber on my Super Tenere is not much of a compromise at all. I cannot outride it's street performance at my skill level. For me the tire is simply amazing. For an aggressive street rider then the tire would probably not do so well.

You can read my review here:

Michelin Anakee Wild: Ongoing performance and tire life review

First off let's address the mounting issues. Zero drama! Easiest set of motorcycle tires I have ever mounted in my life. Not much harder than a bicycle tire. No UHD tubes, no pinched tubes, no double rim locks, no vice grips. Only took 1/2 oz of weight per wheel to balance. I'm really liking...

www.yamahasupertenere.com

I purchased my Super Tenere to do long miles of highway travel and safely get through sections of dirt that I will not have to turn around on. My only choice for tires at this point is an open block knobby. Until I get more used to the weight of the bike and build more confidence then I will continue to play it safe.

The unique characteristic of the E07 is it has the ability to last a long time and yet give just enough off road performance to safely navigate mellow off road travel. Anything other than a smooth fire road or small baby-head rocks, then it rears its ugly head. It's not bad. Just the nature of any Chevron Tread based knobby. I have tried quite a few over the years and do not care for how they perform on or off the highway.

Here is are a few pictures to give you an idea of what happens when you have ridden over 50 miles of glass smooth fire roads then have to decide if you can make it or turn around. I was so very grateful to have the tires I did. Over a mile of steep loose rocky switchbacks only to find I had to go through another 2 sections of super deep sand and silt with deep ruts buried underneath. The only choice I had was to turn around and go back 50 plus miles to pavement or push through. This is the reason I will not compromise for a safe tire. The open block design tire was able to claw the steep, nasty loose rocks, and long sections of deeps and and silt. And no tipovers!!


View attachment 67041View attachment 67042View attachment 67043

 

[jeckyll]

I sure didn’t see any reason to turn around, The stock Bridgestone Battlewings would have handled that terrain in those pictures just fine.

Agreed! Though, always tough to judge from pictures.

Here is what I found:

1. The front tire matters more. For me, having a tire that I trust when an emergency happens on-road, or when the thing needs to steer offroad, is critical. I brake hard, and load up the front, so something that's stable and confidence inspiring for my riding is essential. (For me that means a K60 front)

2. The rear tire matters less, especially on a bike with multiple stages of traction control. I've made it up stuff on an Anakee 3 that was so steep and knarly that I had to unhook the ABS to get down without having to worry about running off a cliff. Now, this was gravel and rocky terrain, with a bit of shale, and the terrain matters tremendously. My buddy on his DRZ400 was surprised what the big SuperT could get up. Sand or mud, forget it, totally different story. I got on some stuff on the Dempster last year running the K60 front and Tractionator GPS rear in a rainstorm and I'm not sure what tire would have worked, but in slimy stuff I'm not sure anything would have.

3. This is a big bike, that likes highways and can do some offroading. There's plenty of stuff I'd never take the SuperT on, it's just not a dirtbike and never will be. So tire selection reflects what the bike is good at and what I use it for

 

[ballisticexchris]

I sure didn’t see any reason to turn around, The stock Bridgestone Battlewings would have handled that terrain in those pictures just fine.

LOL!! Trust me, The stock tires would have you turning around. Pictures do no justice. I had to climb over 3,000' in just a few miles on loose rocky switchbacks.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I don't see anything in those photos that would give the E07-Dakar any issue at all.

For me, riding dirt is most enjoyable at higher speeds, preferably with lots of lifting the front wheel to allow the rougher stuff to only impact the rear wheel. Due to size and weight, the Tenere has limited capability at that last part. Those last two pictures show terrain that is definitely stuff I would not want to do in an overly quick pace.

For me on a Tenere, with the mindset of preservation of equipment (bent rims, slamming suspension and skid plate), those photos are moderate speed stuff. I do moderate and even slow speed stuff, but I don't really enjoy it all that much unless there is a big payoff reason for doing it. On a big heavy bike, I'd rather be going fast, jumping small humps, getting the front wheel up, and power sliding at every corner. Rock crawling, mud bogging, and riding to avoid equipment damage is just never going to be my thing.

The E07-Dakar is all I need to do everything I'm going to put myself through.

 

[ballisticexchris]

My point of the pictures is to show that there is a point of where turning around would be a bummer on sub par tires. FWIW, I was the only one that day on an adventure bike. Every other rider was on Dual Sports. They trucked their bikes to base camp the hard sections. And as stated pictures do no justice. There were a few other sections were way more difficult. As most any rider knows it's hard to stop and take pictures of super difficult terrain you are navigating.

I know with 100% certainty that the E07 tire would be horrible and scary on almost all the hard sections I tackled. Miles of axle deep sand, ruts, rocks, and silt would have almost anyone thinking about turning back. The desert is very unforgiving on bikes that are not setup accordingly.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Of course I'm quickly able to admit when I'm wrong. Please show me a novice rider as myself on an E07 in nasty conditions without dropping the bike. In fact, show me a pro level rider taking the Super Tenere or any adventure bike through the dunes on the E07. There are many sections in the desert where you have to ride through the dunes or turn around and risk running out of fuel.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Miles of axle deep sand, ruts, rocks, and silt would have almost anyone thinking about turning back. The desert is very unforgiving on bikes that are not setup accordingly.

I don't care what tires I have. Zero interest in doing that on a big bike. Hell, I'm not doing that on two wheels unless it has TW200 stickers on the tank. Even then, I doubt I'm happy about it.

 

[ballisticexchris]

I don't care what tires I have. Zero interest in doing that on a big bike. Hell, I'm not doing that on two wheels unless it has TW200 stickers on the tank. Even then, I doubt I'm happy about it.

Fair enough. So what do you do when you come across that kind of terrain and the only choice you have is to push through or turn back and run out of fuel? Anyone with off road experience knows that the nice road yesterday can be next to impassable the next day. As off road riders we sometimes have no way of choosing the terrain we are going to find miles into the ride.

Here is a normally mellow jeep canyon trail that had a recent rock slide. I pushed through but many jeeps and bikes turned back.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Well what do you know!! I stand corrected!! Chris Birch runs Mitas tires off road!!

 

[jeckyll]

Well what do you know!! I stand corrected!! Chris Birch runs Mitas tires off road!!

Chris Birch doesn't run a Super T.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Chris Birch doesn't run a Super T.

Does not matter. It's a 500+ pound machine.

 

[jeckyll]

Does not matter. It's a 500+ pound machine.

So is a Harley. It matters a bit

 

[jeckyll]

Just to put some perspective on comments and maybe get this track back on track (pun intended):

Rode with these boys to an amazing lookout, the last bit was challenging (E07+ on the back, tire worked great in these conditions, no photos of the tough bits, would have been unsafe to stop, i.e. I'd not have been able to get going again or to turn around).

Ran a lot of highway to get there and back, with some twisties...

Same E07+, does OK on the road, but throttle application needs to be carefully considered. Chase bike is 1200 GS with much stickier rubber.

Gravel "highways", what the SuperT is best at IMO (E07+)

Not recommended (with any tire really), E07+ had TC2 but the climb to here was so steep with lose rocks that I should have run TC OFF, almost stalled it in some very steep spots. Strangely, the other guys had no such issues, not sure, might have had to to with the bikes ...maybe it was only the tires :

Got a bit dusty trying to keep up with the KTM on the gravel road back (100+ km of travel across the tip of Vancouver Island)

A point on terrain, lots of this stuff around. Even on gravel, this is not Super T territory (doesn't look that steep in the photo, but boy is it! I got about 2/3 of the way to this lookout on the Super T when I did try it, not in shot, much earlier in the trail, before facing some stuff that just would have been to dangerous due to steepness and amount of large rocks, no tire on my Super T would have made me be able to get up it to get to this section).

 

[ballisticexchris]

That's the kind of riding where rider skill is paramount to navigating the terrain. Good on you Sir!!

 

[jeckyll]

That's the kind of riding where rider skill is paramount to navigating the terrain. Good on you Sir!!

Did tons of mountain biking over the last 30 years, so picking lines is something I've done for a long time (lots of it on Vancouver's North Shore). Also, reacting to lines when you get bumped off course. And knowing when to say 'screw that, not for me, I'm turning around' ... or walking a section

To me that makes a big difference.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Fair enough. So what do you do when you come across that kind of terrain and the only choice you have is to push through or turn back and run out of fuel? Anyone with off road experience knows that the nice road yesterday can be next to impassable the next day. As off road riders we sometimes have no way of choosing the terrain we are going to find miles into the ride.

Can't say I've ever found myself in that situation on the east coast. If I did, you could rightly accuse me of poor decision making. It's not a question of capability, just desire. I've ridden through lots of stuff I didn't enjoy. Sand and silt in Mexico top the list. Can't imagine taking a Tenere into that crap. If fuel level is questionable, and sand/silt are possible, my route decision is already made.

 

[ballisticexchris]

I don't enjoy deep sand on this bike either. But I want to have a bike that is well prepared for it. One of the reasons I took an off road course was to show how to get out of nasty situations when there is no option to turn around.

 

[holligl]

I think it's time...

7,100 miles. Got over 10,000 on my last E07. Both are Dakar. Got a new + since it is still hard to find the new old one. Seat of the pants, I do like the plus 15-20% better for riding, but I get 70% of the mileage.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[jeckyll]

Time ... slightly past time ... sure