Dirt Biased - Mitas E-12 rear tire Plus others

[Windblown]

Took a 3 day Dual Sport romp with a fresh Mitas E12 Rally Star Green stripe tire mounted on the rear and thought I'd drop my thoughts on it in comparison to a couple other tires I've tried on the T700. I selected the Mitas for this ride because

1) I had it on the shelf.

2) I had never ridden on one.

3) I wanted to see if the softer rubber compound would prove to be an advantage in what was likely going to be a ride with a combination of dry, hard, hot, cold, loose, wet, & slimy surfaces. A challenge for any tire. 

4) Chris Birch like them and who doesn't want to ride like Chris Birch?

 

I noticed when I got this tire it was physically a bit taller & wider than two other 140/80-18 tires I had on hand.  Most 140/80-18 series tires run about 681mm tall. This one ran about 700mm tall.  I was wondering if I would need to adjust the bike geometry a bit to account for the larger rear tire but was actually quite happy with it as it sped up the slower steering a little and made the bike feel a bit more responsive yet bike remained very stable at speed.

 

Freshly mounted and ready to go on a 3.5" wide rear rim running an HD tube with air pressure set to 36PSI cold to start. 

 

 

The first day of my trip was making my way to the DS route I'd be taking with friends. It was a warm sunny day and I rode a mix of twisty pavement and gravel roads mostly.  After a longish run thru a fun section of twisty paved pavement I decided to check to see how the tire temps were fairing.  The rear was getting hotter than I like to see for this type of tire with the main challenge ahead still.  I bumped up the pressure up another 3PSI and the next time I checked it the tire was happily warm but not overly hot. 

 

As I suspected, the group ride chasing dual sports for the following two days spanned the gamut of just about every condition short of ice.  I found the E12 to be confidence inspiring through all of it. It was predictable and had good grip on wet & dry pavement. It held on as well as any tire does on the dry sun baked gravel roads on the first day, and did wonderfully well in the slick and cold snot the following day and drove the bike up some hills in sick rutted snotty conditions that I had doubts about being able to climb. 

 

The odometer showed 950 miles (1500km) ridden when I got back home. Here's a shot of the tire post ride clean up - 

 

 

Wear is very apparent but despite it having spend 300+ of those 950 miles chasing fellow riders thru a mix of terrain at a very fun pace it had very little damage from the rocks.  So what are the downsides to this tire?  The only ones I've noted are 1)  This compound will overheat if run hard for extended periods on HS pavement at a cold pressure of 36PSI.  If traveling long distance run a travel type pressure to conserve the rubber.  2) Even with keeping tire temps in check this will not be a long range tire.  I expect it will be pretty much done in another 1500 miles or so.  We'll see.

 

How does it stack up to a couple other rears I like? (Motoz Rallz left, Mitas E12 center, Tusk Dsport right) 

 

The Motoz Tractionator Rallz is probably my favorite long range aggressive 140 series rear tire.  The Rallz starts off with deeper lugs for digging in soft surfaces and may have slightly better lateral grip, plus it lasts longer.  But it's a step down in slick and slimy conditions even with the added Silica content compared to the Mitas. Such is the price of a longer range tire.  

 

The Tusk Dsport gets the job done. A very decent dirt biased tire made better by it's very competitive price.  It probably lasts at least as long as the Mitas though it takes a back seat on hard smooth slick surfaces. 

 

Would I run another Mitas E12 on the rear? Yes, if I could snag another one at a good price and wanted a tire that provides extremely good on and offroad traction, albeit only for a short(ish) period of time.  I'll be interested to see how fast it continues to wear and when I notice performance falling to an unacceptable level. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Windblown

[AZJW]

Good comparo and eyeing that 3.5" Excel hoop got me to thinking.   While my solid favorite rear is the MotoZ RallZ, I run the 150 size on the oem rim for safety sake.   With the $100 cost difference between the RallZ 150 vs 140, I could almost justify the expense of the 3.5" Excel and run the 140 size. Thanks for helping me spend more $ on my T7!

[Ray Ride4life]

43 minutes ago, Windblown said:

Freshly mounted and ready to go on a 3.5" wide rear rim

Don't you mean 2.5"?

[Windblown]

14 minutes ago, AZJW said:

Good comparo and eyeing that 3.5" Excel hoop got me to thinking.   While my solid favorite rear is the MotoZ RallZ, I run the 150 size on the oem rim for safety sake.   With the $100 cost difference between the RallZ 150 vs 140, I could almost justify the expense of the 3.5" Excel and run the 140 size. Thanks for helping me spend more $ on my T7!

 

A 3" rim might be the sweet spot.  The  140 motoz calls for a 2.5".  Other 140 series call for 3.0, or 3.5" All rather strange since they are all 140 series tires.  I have 2.5" rear on my 790 and it works fine but makes it harder than it needs to be to swap rubber and pinches up most 140 series tires a good bit which is fine for straight dirt but more than needed for mixed use IMHO.

 

I ended up with a 3.5" simply because Dubya had a set pre-built for another customer that backed out and was willing to sell them cheap.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Windblown

[Windblown]

14 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

Don't you mean 2.5"?

 

Nope,  3.5" is what I'm running.  Actually 3.5" is the rim width the Mitas 140-80-18 rear tires specifies.  2.5" is specified by some others (Motoz for example) but it varies from one manufacturer to another.   

[Hollybrook]

@Windblown what front tire did you run for this ride? 

 

I find different front ties can affect how I like rear ones. 

[Windblown]

48 minutes ago, Hollybrook said:

@Windblown what front tire did you run for this ride? 

 

I find different front ties can affect how I like rear ones. 

 

I was running a Motoz Tractionator S/T up front.   

 

- As an aside I basically killed that front tire over the weekend from running it too hard on twisty pavement bits between the dirt and gravel while aired down to about 26PSI cold.  It's scalloped up good now. 

 

I knew going in it would not last long. I have approx 1500 miles on it now and might put another 200-300 at most before replacing it. 

 

[Hollybrook]

I just put a Motoz Dual Venture on the front for a 3-day ride.  When I removed the STR front with about 2,000 miles I had more scalloping than I expected.  

[Black99S]

Nice tire write up. Friends swear by the Rallz so I recently installed front and rear. Also installed Camel 20mm lowering links and raised forks in triples 15 mm to compensate.

Now I’m trying to solve head shake at 125 km/h and above. Front seriously tracks every crack in pavement. Running 29/32 psi.

Trying one change at a time to improve. Changed forks 5mm so they are now 10mm raised.  Checked front out-of-round and balance. Adjusted rear wheel alignment. Head bearings are good. Tight knees, loose hands. No change to head shake. 
Next I’ll  go for higher pressures. 
 Maybe it’s the Rallz but I’ve never had a bike this unstable at speed. Any ideas respectfully considered. 

 

[powder]

Try the Dunlop D908rr rear. Best Rally type tyre i have tried. 

[AZJW]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:43 PM, Black99S said:

Nice tire write up. Friends swear by the Rallz so I recently installed front and rear. Also installed Camel 20mm lowering links and raised forks in triples 15 mm to compensate.

Now I’m trying to solve head shake at 125 km/h and above. Front seriously tracks every crack in pavement. Running 29/32 psi.

Trying one change at a time to improve. Changed forks 5mm so they are now 10mm raised.  Checked front out-of-round and balance. Adjusted rear wheel alignment. Head bearings are good. Tight knees, loose hands. No change to head shake. 
Next I’ll  go for higher pressures. 
 Maybe it’s the Rallz but I’ve never had a bike this unstable at speed. Any ideas respectfully considered. 

 

It's probably the front RallZ as a number of T7 owners have great success with the rear, the front,  not so much.  Your issues sound almost exactly like mine with the front RallZ, except my wandering was really pronounced starting at around 65mph ( 104 kph).  After 700 miles of messing with it,  I gave up after a near tank slapper and installed a Dunlop Trailmax Mission.  

 

[Windblown]

10 hours ago, powder said:

Try the Dunlop D908rr rear. Best Rally type tyre i have tried. 

 

I ran a couple when I could still get them in the 140 size. I liked the well enough but found under acceleration in loose stuff that the rear of the bike liked would wag it's tail more with the 908RR.