Tyre opinions

[kriegar]

Ok so this may be up their with asking about oil... But I'm having a hard time deciding what to replace my own tyres with.

 

I'm going to give off-road a proper go, so will be looking at 50/50 tyres.

 

I have narrowed my options down to Anakee wilds, Mitas e07s and Bridgestone ax41s.

 

I'm typically a Micheline fanboy for my road tyres on both my car and bikes, so would be inclined to go with the Micheline. But Id rather pick the best tyre for the job than just go with the fanboy option!

 

Has anyone got any experiences with these tyres that can weigh in on what you like?

[Ray Ride4life]

I have the Anakee Wilds, just fitted a new rear last weekend.
Have used the Wilds under my Crosstourer as well and did the TET south NL with that plus a basic offroad training.
Had the Wilds under the XT660Z and still have the Wild front but tried the Mitas E09 which did a bit better under the XT, about the same in behavior but better in mileage.
On the T7 the mileage is good just like it was on the Crosstourer so i would say the wider Wilds are better than the slimmer like on the XT.
In the past i tried different Bridgestones but never again and a friend with whom i was going to do that basic training crashed his GSA on a wet spot in a corner where i went trough much faster on the Wilds and on the TET i mentioned he ended up in the ditch because he couldn't control his bike unlike on the 80/20 he had on at the same spot before.
But there are also al lot people here who like the AX41's even though they have a poor mileage.
Tyres are a very personal thing and i tried a lot but i keep on getting back to Michelins but i'm very curious for the new Heidenau K60 Ranger. Wanted to try them but they where not on the market yet and the next change i think i'll stick to what i know because that would be the start of a trip to the North Cape, about a 8500km round trip which will be the absolute max for the Wilds i think.

[Spike4379]

Well Bret Tcacs ran E07's for a good while on his r1200gs and he said they do everything, averagely, which is what a 50/50 should be right? With a stiff sidewall. I was going to try them until I heard about trailmax missions which are supposed to be pretty dope

[thepointchris]

Perspective: so many different opinions of 50/50 .....60/40...opinions, right?

I don't think the Dunlop Missions are a TRUE 50/50, but I think they are so damn good at being 60/40, that some think they are 50/50.

I have only 600 miles on mine after running the OEM Scorpios down  and I won't be shopping soon.

[DT675]

My riding partner has the E07+ on a Triumph Tiger 800. Granted completely different geometry than our bikes but he hates them. And now I hate them too because I have to listen to him complain about them so much. Honestly though, from my observation it’s seem to me 50% of his complaints “might” be the tire and the other 50% I think is the street oriented geometry of the Tiger. From some of the very little research I’ve done with that tire, it seems to me people are either in the “love” camp or the “hate” camp and not much in between. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by DT675

[Dougie]

Yamaha use the anakee wild as the approved optional tyre, so you know it’s been well tested with the bike. But restricts the speed to 105mph. Finding the correct front size in uk is a bit of a ball ache though. No 90/90 anywhere. Just the 80/90. 

[kriegar]

29 minutes ago, Dougie said:

Yamaha use the anakee wild as the approved optional tyre, so you know it’s been well tested with the bike. But restricts the speed to 105mph. Finding the correct front size in uk is a bit of a ball ache though. No 90/90 anywhere. Just the 80/90. 

 

I'm struggling to find stock of anything atm to be fair. I can't find the 90/90 front for my Tenere, I can't find an in stock anakee adventure rear for my GS adventure and I have even had issues finding Road 5's for my ninja 1k lol.

 

I couldn't find in stock Mitas e07's for the tenere either. 

 

We have the MCN show coming up, so hopefully someone is selling tyres there.

[kriegar]

On 2/20/2022 at 4:10 AM, Spike4379 said:

Well Bret Tcacs ran E07's for a good while on his r1200gs and he said they do everything, averagely, which is what a 50/50 should be right? With a stiff sidewall. I was going to try them until I heard about trailmax missions which are supposed to be pretty dope

Yeah Bret saying he likes the E07's is what really put me onto them. But I have seen a lot of people complaining about the new + versions of the tyre.

[Ray Ride4life]

30 minutes ago, Dougie said:

But restricts the speed to 105mph.

This is not a high speed bike anyway and when you have this kind of tyre you're probably rather ride offroad and only use the bitumen out of necessity.

 

[Ray Ride4life]

5 minutes ago, kriegar said:

Yeah Bret saying he likes the E07's is what really put me onto them. But I have seen a lot of people complaining about the new + versions of the tyre.

When i look at the E07 i'm getting quite confused, some have a centre strip and others not.
It's also the case with the Heidenau K60 scout but with that tyre it's depending on the size and that puts me off.
I'm very curious about the K60 Ranger but that one was not available yet.
In July i go on a big trip (see the planned rides forum) and i think i'll start that trip with a fresh set of Anakee Wild.
Just put a new rear on it but that one will be long gone by then, hope it will last the 8000km in the next 4 months (has to last 8500).
Luckily i have another bike i use a couple day's a week to keep it within that 8500 untill i leave... hopefully.

[kriegar]

45 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

When i look at the E07 i'm getting quite confused, some have a centre strip and others not.
It's also the case with the Heidenau K60 scout but with that tyre it's depending on the size and that puts me off.
I'm very curious about the K60 Ranger but that one was not available yet.
In July i go on a big trip (see the planned rides forum) and i think i'll start that trip with a fresh set of Anakee Wild.
Just put a new rear on it but that one will be long gone by then, hope it will last the 8000km in the next 4 months (has to last 8500).
Luckily i have another bike i use a couple day's a week to keep it within that 8500 untill i leave... hopefully.

 

The new E07+ is the one with the centre strip and the older E07s don't have it. People seem to prefer the older tyre.

Edited February 21, 2022 by kriegar

[Dougie]

58 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

This is not a high speed bike anyway and when you have this kind of tyre you're probably rather ride offroad and only use the bitumen out of necessity.

 

What sort of mileage do they give back Ray? 

[Ray Ride4life]

6 minutes ago, Dougie said:

What sort of mileage do they give back Ray? 

I changed the rear at 7500km but i bought the bike at 2900km and don't know when they came on and how they where used in that time.
On the Crosstourer i did around 9000km with the Wilds but that was 80% on the road, on the other had it's a heavy bike with a lot of torque.
This rear will be the main test before the big trip.
Trick with knobby's is to take it very easy the first 100km. When you do that the sharp edges get a small radius instead of smashing the edges of.
It's like the first cut with a saw blade, if you don't take the sharpness of very gently the teeth will grip too deep and snap off cutting the lifespan in halve.

[williestreet]

3 hours ago, Ray Ride4life said:

When i look at the E07 i'm getting quite confused, some have a centre strip and others not.
It's also the case with the Heidenau K60 scout but with that tyre it's depending on the size and that puts me off.
I'm very curious about the K60 Ranger but that one was not available yet.
In July i go on a big trip (see the planned rides forum) and i think i'll start that trip with a fresh set of Anakee Wild.
Just put a new rear on it but that one will be long gone by then, hope it will last the 8000km in the next 4 months (has to last 8500).
Luckily i have another bike i use a couple day's a week to keep it within that 8500 untill i leave... hopefully.

The original E07 was made until approx 2017-2018 did not have centre stripes in the 150 width.  

At that time they discontinued the E07 in a lot of sizes and came out with the newer E07+ as a replacement.

 

There was a lot of complaining by consumers about the loss of the original design in certain sizes.  The wear/durability of the new tire did not stack up when compared to the older design and consumers let Mitas know in no uncertain terms they were not happy.

 

It wasn't long after the E07 was reintroduced in the sizes that they had originally discontinued around 2017/18.

When reintroduced the Original design was tweaked slightly and the centre stripe was added to those tires.

 

I was also looking at a lot of 150 rears and some had a stripe and some did not.  I was confused as well until a member on a different forum explained it.

 

I just bought a 150 E07 rear made in late 2020 and it has the centre stripe.  The centre stripe is recessed approx 1/4 of an inch.  So you need to wear it down 1/4 inch or so for the  stripe to start and make contact.  When that happens I plan to use a tire groover to cut it back down so it is recessed again to help with traction off road.

 

So if you order a tire now you should expect to get a centre strip on 150 sizes.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by williestreet

[kainic]

16 minutes ago, williestreet said:

The original E07 was made until approx 2017-2018 did not have centre stripes in the 150 width.  

At that time they discontinued the E07 in a lot of sizes and came out with the newer E07+ as a replacement.

 

There was a lot of complaining by consumers about the loss of the original design in certain sizes.  The wear/durability of the new tire did not stack up when compared to the older design and consumers let Mitas know in no uncertain terms they were not happy.

 

It wasn't long after the E07 was reintroduced in the sizes that they had originally discontinued around 2017/18.

When reintroduced the Original design was tweaked slightly and the centre stripe was added to those tires.

 

I was also looking at a lot of 150 rears and some had a stripe and some did not.  I was confused as well until a member on a different forum explained it.

 

I just bought a 150 E07 rear made in late 2020 and it has the centre stripe.  The centre stripe is recessed approx 1/4 of an inch.  So you need to wear it down 1/4 inch or so for the  stripe to start and make contact.  When that happens I plan to use a tire groover to cut it back down so it is recessed again to help with traction off road.

 

So if you order a tire now you should expect to get a centre strip on 150 sizes.

 

 

 

 

Are they worth the trouble to recut?

[williestreet]

The centre stripe is a bonus for road riding as it helps with longevity , but for off road it definitely can hurt straight-line traction and braking. 

 

Definitely not necessary, but cutting them is my plan if I feel the centre stripe is hurting performance off road.

 

Is it worth it?  I will let you know when the time comes, but that will be a while.  

 

I only bought a set  because almost everything is hard to get these days and I didn't want to be waiting for tires when the time comes.  This was the only one the supplier had available.  3-4 months was the estimate for the next shipment.  

Still waiting for a front.  They originally said they had stock, but now they say another month at least until it arrives.  

Probably end of summer before I fit these to the bike.

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by williestreet

[Hammerhead]

Opted to give the E07+ a go after the E10 meltdown in no more than 4000km. No idea if this will offer any better mileage but can’t imagine anything  much worse than the E10 being possible. As for performance, we’ll see. Tubeless 150 looks a tad narrower than any previous 150’s I’ve mounted & it has a well rounded profile that should see it turn in more like a 140.

[Landshark]

2 hours ago, Hammerhead said:

Opted to give the E07+ a go after the E10 meltdown in no more than 4000km. No idea if this will offer any better mileage but can’t imagine anything  much worse than the E10 being possible. As for performance, we’ll see. Tubeless 150 looks a tad narrower than any previous 150’s I’ve mounted & it has a well rounded profile that should see it turn in more like a 140.

I think the E07 + will probably give you better pavement mileage.  I'd like to know what kind of traction you get in mud of any sort.  I like the look of them.  Good luck.

[S.Ga.Rider]

I ran e07s on my old super tenere and the rear lasted 5500 miles and had some life left but I had to swap it for a trip. The lighter t7 may get better mileage. 

[Ray Ride4life]

2 minutes ago, S.Ga.Rider said:

I ran e07s on my old super tenere and the rear lasted 5500 miles and had some life left but I had to swap it for a trip. The lighter t7 may get better mileage. 

That's not a certainty.
I ran Anakee Wilds under my 275kg Honda Crosstourer for a 1000km more than i did on the T7 and on the T7 about 1500km more than i did on the XT660Z.
It might be a size thing, the XT has a 130 width, the T7 a 150 and the CT 155.

[DT675]

On 2/22/2022 at 12:07 PM, Hammerhead said:

Opted to give the E07+ a go after the E10 meltdown in no more than 4000km.

I’m VERY interested to see what you think of these on this bike. 

Edited February 27, 2022 by DT675

[RideID]

When it’s time to replace the factory tires I’ll be buying the Motoz Tractionator Adventure for the rear and probably the Tractionator Venture for the front. Kyle Bradshaw has some great YouTube videos on adventure tires and includes several on the Motoz tires.
 

Adventure Tyres – MOTOZ Tyres – High Performance Adventure & Off-Road Motorcycle Tyres

 

[Trikke]

I got the Motoz Tractionator GPS and i'm quite happy with them. Granted i don't do that much off-roading, just casual.

[luke29ermtb]

I got the dealer to swap the Pirellis for Michelin Anakee Wilds as it has been a long time since I've done any dirt riding and I wanted the extra grip. They walked around a bit on tar until they scrubbed in but are now very stable and predictable on road. Noisy too but that is to be expected. I've just done my first proper dirt road ride and my confidence in them is growing. I'm still running the bike in so not powering out of corners just yet

 

My main concern is the rate of wear. The bike has only done 600 gentle kilometres and the centre of the rear has already worn about 1mm. I've got a 5,000km trip coming up and it looks like I'll be replacing the rear half way through just to be on the safe side. I'm coming home through north west New South Wales and don't fancy riding out there with worn out tyres.

 

A quick look through the 'traditional' alternatives available in Australia suggests a Metzeler Karoo 3 might be more suitable to what I am going to do once I gain confidence on dirt. I've got no experience with the likes of Motoz, Mitas or Heidenau.