Mitas E-07

[mjc506]

England will soon turn into the land of frost and snow (and even if it doesn't, there'll be enough mud and crap on the roads from tractors to make it as slippy ) so I'll soon be changing back to winter tyres.

While I'd normally go for the K60's, I'd been looking for something either with a bit more aggressive front, or a less aggressive back (compared to the big, wide knobs on the rear K60, the front looked a little 'smooth' to me ) I was looking at a K60 rear/ TCK80 front, but was worried about clean road grip being too rear-ward biased... then I found the Mitas E-07's. They looked about right, and were cheap enough (but not silly cheap)

In 'strom sizes, they're tubeless, and have 59T and 69T load/speed rating (325kg, 118mph) front/rear which should be more than sufficient for a Wee in winter

General first impressions are that they're knobbly, and have a decent round profile (the K60 rear is on the square side out of the box). I've not measured the new tread depth, but it looks decent. I'll get the measurements tonight.





It'll be interesting to see how they ride and wear, especially compared to the K60's. I imagine without the central band around the rear, they'll wear quicker than the K60, but we shall see

For future reference, I got an easy 10k (miles) out of my first K60 rear (very heavily loaded, some high speed Autobahn, changed due to squaring, while still very legal) and looked to be getting twice that on my second rear. The front lasted both of those tyres, and was still legal. A little cupped, but meh. Miles estimate ~35-40k until dead.

[PhotoRex]

Hi,

Where abouts did you order them from if you don't mind?

Steve

[mjc506]

I got the front from oponeo, and the rear from mitas.co.uk (both are available from mitas direct, but oponeo was cheaper. Oponeo didn't have the rear) £131 delivered for both iirc

[mr_diver]

be interesting to see how they wear... I go through rears quite fast with the commuting... I'm thinking of going back to road tyres, but I can't seem to force myself to limit the strom to the road.

My k60 front has some weird cupping atm but a fair bit of tread left in the center, and the vibes are bugging me, but it's not overly concerning.

these mitas front look as like a tread pattern somewhere between Anakee 2 and K60.

Just had a nose round tinterweb and saw this...
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=877262

[mjc506]

Shame about the sizes :(

Edit: Mitas E-07 110/80 19 and 150/70 17 thread depths (new)

Front: Center tread depth = 7mm
Edge tread depth = 6mm

Rear: Centre tread depth = 13mm
Edge tread depth = 11mm

Wear bars all round at 2mm (as close as I can measure)

[mjc506]

Tyres fitted to the wee at 54462 miles. No pics yet (it's dark) but they were an arse to seat. The rear took a few shots of ether and fire, but the front needed a blast from an air tank (no regulator, pressurised to 60psi!) Not looking forward to removing them again, but that's a job for future me

Obviously they ride a lot different to the road smarts I took off. I'll get a recent review after a few miles

[Jacko]

13mm :o

[mjc506]

aye, about the same as the K60's both ends

50 mile review  :

Turn in is definitely quicker than the Dunlop Roadsmarts, even accounting for new/squared differences. I forgot to take photos, but the front has a rounder profile than both the roadsmarts and the K60's. Rear is 'flatter' than the roadsmarts, but not square at all, the profile just has a bigger radius (poor explanation, sorry)

Dry tarmac grip is more than sufficient in twisties, although technically not as good as the roadsmarts (with the roadsmarts I could get the rear wheel off the ground under heavy braking. The E-07's star to slide just before this happens)

Wet tarmac grip is perfectly fine, I can't tell the difference between damp and dry tarmac (no heavy rain experienced just yet though)

Wet and dry (on tarmac at least) there is more grip with these E-07's than the K60's.

No off-tarmac data yet.

They warm up quick, but when cold they do slide a bit earlier than expected. 2-3 miles into a ride though and they're up to temperature.

Nailing the throttle along wet white lines exhibits no problems, and the tyres don't seem to follow grooves too badly either.

High speeds (closed course, officer) are fine. No wobbling/shaking/wandering evident. Fast cornering is also good. Turn in is fast, but they hold line well. Despite the fast turn in I'd describe them as stable.

Noise.... They howl a little ~30mph (not too bad, but audible), but apart from that I can't hear them. They must be louder than the roadsmarts, but I can't tell any difference above engine and wind noise. The K60's were definitely a lot louder (surprising, as the K60's have a solid central groove on the rear)

They seem to slide quite predictably, even when cold. Easiest way to get them to their limits (as always) is open the throttle too much during cornering. The rear then takes a wider track, but doesn't 'step out' suddenly. Easing off the throttle sees the rear gently return to its original track. During braking, the front grips very well, and only begins to slide just before the rear leaves the ground. I couldn't go further than this with ABS on. ABS activation wasn't as harsh as expected - the tyre must 'let go' very gradually. I'll try tonight with ABS turned off.

Just fitted:

Clearance between tyre and mudguard is still good.


Crappy shot of the tread knob profile and guard clearance.

Photos at ~50 miles after fitting:

[mjc506]

54958 miles (~500miles after fitting)

No noticeable wear, apart from the little moulding sprues. In fact, no measurable wear at all!  Tread blocks are all still nice and square, edges are still pretty sharp.

Ride is still good. Crossed some new white lines in the wet this morning while overtaking, and the back wiggled a bit, but that's to be expected. Grip is still fantastic, and front end feel is still good.

Very happy so far

[mjc506]

I'd like to report off-tarmac grip is as good as you'd expect

Hardpack with a layer of loose mud/dust and leaves is good fun. Plenty of grip, but the back will start to slide with enthusiastic applications of throttle

Wet mud is slippier of course, but still not terrifying. Large gravel will make the front wander a bit when its not loaded, but as you go faster/lean over the front more/turn more aggressively, it hooks up nicely.

Steering with the rear wheel is fun

[mjc506]

56253 miles - 1791 miles since fitting.

Tyres are still round, grippy and nice

Front tread depth is down to 5mm all over

Rear centre tread is between 9 and 10mm
Rear edge tread is still approx 11mm

Going by those wear rates, I'm estimating ~4-5k miles left (so a total of 6-7k miles) not too bad! But the K60's are longer lasting.

The reason for the fast front wear rate... the tyre is leaking around the bead, and the pressures drop fairly quickly... The good news is that the tyre will still safely handle being ridden on down to 20psi haha

I'd have normally had it off and re-seated, but it was such a pain in the arse that I don't think I'll manage it without a big tank of compressed air. As I've got at least 4k miles left on it, I'll try pulling one side off at a time, applying some bead sealant, and hoping I can get it back on!

I should mention that the leak is probably caused by the poor state of my rims rather than the tyre itself.

[mjc506]

The bead sealant fix worked for quite a while, but the front has started leaking air from the bead again.

Running at these lowered pressures appears to have overheated the knobs in places (poor pre-ride checks, but in all honesty, I don't feel the difference until it drops below 15-20psi). Some cracks appearing around the bases of the lugs, and wear is higher than expected.

The rear, however, is still very good!

I really like these tyres, but could do with changing the front. I'll be back onto E-07's again, but for the next front I'm trying an E-10 The rear is remaining fitted!

[WeeStromer]

Nice post MJ506! I've only just seen the whole topic.  

[Gassoon]

+1 mjc - a nice survey over time.  Could fancy anE-07 on the back after reading this...

[mjc506]

They really are great tyres - if you like the K60's, you'll love these - better grip off road, as good or slightly better on road too somehow. Wear rates may be a little higher, but not by much. If I'd have kept on top of the leaking bead on the front, I'd be miles away from changing.

[WeeStromer]

I've had a k60 rear waiting to go on for the last 12 months. It will be June before I get round to fit it, as work  have me tied up until then. I can't wait to try it. The E-07 will be added to my try list.

[mr_diver]

Be careful if any of you are thinking of putting the e-07 on the rear with something like an anakee, tourance or death wing on the front as the mitas e-07 is a bias ply like the k60. Raidial front and ply rear is illegal. Radial rear bias front is legal but I still wouldn't recormend it.

[mjc506]

72717 miles.

I didn't note down when I put the new front E-07 on (sorry!), but I think it's about 6k miles newer than the rear.

The rear tyre has done ~18,255 miles, and there's still loads of tread left. That's 18k miles of commuting, a few long motorway trips with luggage and pillion, and plenty of hamfisted off-road riding too. I didn't manage to tear any knobs off, but not through lack of trying

Here's the front (est 12k) and rear tyres on removal (18k)


Front closeup:

Still plenty of wear left.

Rear closeup:

Again, loads of wear left. You can see the cuts caused by wheelspinning on gravel...

I'd estimate an easy 20-25k miles out of a set of these for road/dry off-road use. Longer if you're more careful with the throttle than me...

I've now just fitted a set of E-09's, so we'll see how they last (I'm not expecting anything near these!!), but I imagine I'll be back on E-07's again in the future. Great tyre

[Jacko]

That's monumental mileage for a rear tyre. Any issues in the wet?

[mjc506]

Pretty phenomenal really, especially when you consider only half the rubber touches the road!

But yeah, even with what must be a very hard rubber compound, no problems with grip, wet or dry. The only time it stepped out (apart from the 'on purpose' times...) was in the wet over drain covers, and in the icy conditions recently, but I don't think I can complain about that.

I will say that they do feel very different from a typical road tyres, but once you're used to them there's plenty of traction.