Mitas E07 - have one? Safety check your rear tyre
 

Here are pics of mine - these have covered just over 2500 miles from new-
I noticed the cracks at less than half that- look at the red arrows-
Every small block, both sides of the center strip, has the same 'V' shape crack.
Click pic. to enlarge.

Tyre detail:
Mitas E07 Enduro rear 130/80/17 059 DOT 6JX5 2608 E8 75R 000 140

2608 refers to manufactured during 26th Week of 2008
If you have one of these tyres fitted - check for a possible similar problem.

Maybe this one was a 'one-off-friday-afternoon' made one or maybe the problem is more widespread-
Please post below ONLY if you have or had a similar problem with your MITAS E07 (and please no other brands) and include tyre details as I have.
I am in touch with Mitas and will update this post as soon as I have their reply. (resolved 23/6/10 see last post)

I believe I have one of these on the XLR125 that I use to use for work, when I next get home I will check it and post reply if necessary. I did however have 'block cracking' on a rear Avon Distanzia, on a R80gs.

Thanks Dave- details ONLY about the MITAS E07 please- cheers

I have a Mitas EO7 fitted to my Transalp,it is cracked in the same way as yours.Details are: 130/80-17 DOT 6J X5 4108 so produced 41st week of 2008.

Hi,

My cracked even wors but no problem...it took me all the way from germany to southafrica. One of the best and cheapest tires i ever had :)

Regards, Tobi

There are 3 of us here using this tyre, KLX250, DR650 and KLR650. Personally I have used several of these on my trip and they all cracked. Didn't cause any problems.

The only problem I had (after a little over 30000km) was this:

http://beddha.free.fr/Trip/T/IMG_5198.jpg

Hello Peter
It's bizarre to have such cracks, all at the same place and all around the tyre- IMHO it shows a fault in manufacture- One crack is one thing but the same both sides of the tyre all the way aorund just isn't normal.
thanks for pictures

keep them coming folks

Probably a daft question but have the tyres been inflated properly?

The rear TKC on our bike had large cracks develop due to me being less than vigilant with the tyre pressures. The occurred because the rubber flexed at the base of the blocks with every revolution ...

Just a thought...

Warthog:
Tyre pressures checked daily!, bike well within its max permissable load

UPDATE
Very helpful people at Mitas kindly replaced my tyres-:thumbup1:
pm me if you are in the UK for info if you have the same problem.

E-07 Cracked
 

Hi there

I have the same problem with my tyre and the supplier in South Africa says that there should be no problem with the tyre - my question is why did Mitas replace the tyre for you?

How do you get hold of Mitas.

Well it might be nonsense where you are but it looks like an MOT failure round here if you get a pedantic examiner. Hard rubber and cracks don't go have to go together; I've used and abused Michelin Desserts for the last 10yrs and never had anything like that.

It's all about personal choice.
Yes, it would have been an MOT failure here.
IMHO cracks, especially regular ones like that which I experienced, do nothing to inspire confidence.
One crack or a lost 'knobbly bit' like I had on a TKC I could live with but not what I had on those above.
I need to have confidence in any kit I use. I've changed to now using Heidenau's K60 Scout instead.

It's only my point of view! Just like some people buy cheap brake pads whereas I would not- the consumer choice- as they say- is entirely yours.

- sorry Kwakker- lost their details but they are on the web. Mitas replaced those as a gesture of goodwill.

Not much has changed with time... here it is Summer of 2013, and the tires on both my wife's and my own DR650s have the same cracking.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...0/IMGP1451.JPG

I know some people have worn the tires out even though they are cracking, but this still makes me want to cancel the order for identical replacements I made a couple of days ago.

I've never seen cracking like this on Michelins, Pirellis or Metzelers and I've gone through a lot of them.

wear versus Km
 

Just came back from trip to Italie, 2500km on brand new Mitas E07. Measured the wear on them, about 1mm down on the original thread depth.

Before the E07 I had the Metzeler Sahara 3. They were half way down after the same amount of Km and I had to replace them with 5500km.

The E07 on the picture seems a fair bit worn, my guess is 10K Km! If my E07 start cracking at 10km (and I decide to replace them) I will still be happy with them because the drive is very good, not noisy at all, cost half of the Sahara's and will probably still make double distance compared with the Sahara's without cracking.

You won't hear me complaining about the E07, so far verry happy!

Cheers,
Noel
AT'97

Just checked, my tires have about 7000 km on them. My wife's DR tire has about the same mileage but has more tread left on it, and hers is more cracked than mine.

This happened to me with the E09, I check air and condition of my tyres and chain daily and the cracks were not there the day before. but it blew out on me.


Here is the post some how the pics are gone :confused1:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...e-cannot-52926

I do find it funny that the same people are attacking you that did me all for expressing a fact. :censored:

Mitas E07
 

7000km is indeed not a lot and good advise should alway be vallued appropriately. If the tyre can / will actually blow out (albeit it was the E09) that is significant info.

On the other hand, my Mitas E07 look different from the shown pictures!
the tyres with crack look all the same with a wide band down the middle. Mine does not have that band, instead only wear indicators every other knob.

Maybe it is related to tyre size (like with the Heidenau K60 Scout ) or it is old batch against new batch.

Nontheless I will keep an eye on the tyre and will report when I notice something.

cheers,
Noel

Ive been using E-07s for years, and the rears have all have displayed the same cracking pattern. It made no difference to the life or performance of the tyre as far as I could tell. I get about 13-18,000km from a rear, depending of whether I'm two-up or solo.

I love them.

Cheers

Nigel in NZ

I have a pair of EO 7's on my XTZ Tenere for the last 11,000kms...I'll buy another pair this month when they should be just about finished. I ride hard with them and I'm pleased with them to date.

:)



.

My E07 rear 130 17inch cracked too at about 7000kms it looked like this
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/...itascracks.jpg

It's more like "they all do that sir" case :scooter:

Ditto on many Heidenau (& Mefo) tyres - small cracks here and there. Especially under very torquey (1000cc+) bikes and running them too hot climates (too much torque "twist" and heat expansion?) they tend to go slightly cracky between the knobs.

Anyways, for me if it doesn't throw off chunks of rubber and leaves huge spots of textile exposed then those small cracks are allright. I've ridden too many kilometers with "cracky" tyres, i.e. Heidi K60 and Mitas without any problems

Particulary the Mitas E-09 (mounted tubeless) was quite cracky when it made from Namibia all the way to Europe, making it the longest rear-tyre run record for some over 20 000km and still had some thread left. And most of all: zero punctures through all West-Africa, thus those small cracks isn't really a security concern if you ask me :)

I've had complete knobs coming off from other tyres - now this can be hazardous!

Just my 2c,
Margus

different model E07
 

Like I said, mine look very different from the all the cracked pictures above. Also my tires say Mitas E07 Enduro and the profile looks like this. No band in the middle (where all the cracking seems to take place) and a different pattern all together. I don't know if it's a pproduct update or a different model.

http://www.rockway-shop.eu/images/sk..._e07_dakar.jpg

I think that's the Dakar version that's a completely different design and formulation

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Yes, the yellow band indicates that it is the Dakar which is 4 ply in stead of 3 ply as for the std Dual Sport tyre. I do not have the yellow band so I have the standard Dual Sport but the appearance of the DS tyre is 100% the same. No band in the center and identical thread / blocks as the Dakar. Looking at the MX1 site, my conclusion is that the cracking tyres are old models and they since have changes the E07 tyres to the Dakar 'style' thread.

I have E07 which I got this year, the production date is week 5 2013 so they are fresh tyres and they have the centre band on the rear 120/90 17
The Dakar is a different tyre to the standard E07.
There has been plenty written about the cracking phenomenon but at the end of the day Mitas has a pretty strong following and like Heidenau whatever compound they use is prone to cracking, similar to Michelin car tyres which also do the same thing.

I also had cracks in my E-07 fitted on a KTM 990. I cant see it is a problem as the tube isn't compromised, but I changed them anyway and already had 7000 km on them

Cost in EU?
 

Mitas, Mefo and Heidenau are all expensive and hard to find in the USA. No one stocks them, always a pre-order item.

Good tire life seems to be biggest advantage ... but at $155 usd for a
130/17 rear tire, puts it out of reach compared to Korean tires I can buy at the corner MC store.

Tires listed below are around $65 usd. I get about 5000 miles (8000 kms) out of the Shinko and Kenda on my DR650 ... not sure on the Michelin T66.

Is the Mitas worth the price? :confused1:

What does a 130-17 Mitas E07 cost in the UK and EU? :helpsmilie:

Can you buy the below Korean tires in the EU or UK ... Prices on them?

Below are a few I like ... free shipping on most:
Kenda K270 Dual Sport Tire - BikeBandit.com

Shinko 244 Motorcycle Tire - BikeBandit.com

Michelin T63 Motorcycle Tire - BikeBandit.com


?c?

$155 is expensive! That's approx. £92! I've seen them here for £56 - $94! I expect the trans Atlantic shipping accounts for the remainder.

By the by, I've used an E07 rear, and I thought it was good.

No question they are good! :thumbup1:
Great choice for covering Africa or Mongolia in one go. bier

Can you buy a Kenda 270 or Shinko 244 in UK or EU?
How much? :confused1:

I think the reason the German tires are so expensive in the USA is high import duty. It's reciprocity ... tit for tat, as it could be the Germans are taxing USA made products exported to Germany. Just a theory.

Korean tire companies pay almost NO import duty on their tires brought into USA. Same is true with most Korean and Japanese products .... Import duty is very low and one reason new Japanese bikes in the US cost in dollars what you lot pay Sterling £.

Shipping should not jack price up that much on tires as a whole boat load can be shipped at one go. We could also get into "economies of scale" as the Germans are 1/20 the size of Korean/Japanese tire companies and supply few OEM's with tires.

On ebay, the Kenda cost £33.94 for a front and £46.44 for the rear. Many of the google searches seem to suggest they ship from the US, although prices seem equally as cheap!

I have since found out that the center band is related to the tyre size. The 140/17/80 does not have the band but the picture above is a tyre without center band and it also has cracks. :( . My tyres have some 4000km now, no crack and very little wear. I'm leaving in two weeks to Mongolia on a set of brand new ones, curious how they will hold.

As far as I can see, the main positive of the E07 is longevity if you are riding tar. It holds up better than most DS tyres. But in Mongolia you will ride almost predominantly gravel, so why not use a more aggressive knobblie? The E07 isn't as good in mud and sand.

The Mitas are I believe a Tjech product so for the Mitas I doubt the import theory. Here in the Netherlands, the Mitas E07 is Euro 80,- for the 140/17/80

I'm riding all the way to mongolia, 15.000km mostly tar and approx 2000km in Mongolia on gravel! On knobblies I would probably not even make it to Istanbul. I can always change later when the Mitas are gone but I'm hopign the make it all the way. I have some sand experience on Heidenau Sahara 3 which have similar thread, worked fine for me. I drive slow and carefull anyway.

More serious cracks
 

This was alarming.

OUCH :( I've just fitted one of these on a R1200GSA & will take it for a run tomorrow.
Thanks for the heads up to all the previous posters :thumbup1:

Good Tire Mitas EO7
 

I drove from Holland to capetown 24000 kilomter, i had one spare tire Mitas E07E, in Kinshasa Democratische Republiek Congo i put the spare tire on(old Tire Mitas EO7 only 16000 kilometer on) but to be save, rainy season That time off year! in The Congo, then to Lubumbashi, took me three weeks ,Then Zambia, Botswana, south-Africa, on Mitas EO7, Never had one punture.

Bert verheul Africa twin.

New Series...
 

I recently had this discussion on the ADVForum and found out some details and took some pictures of the updated E07 - and was dealing with the Canadian Distributor for Mitas and he mentioned the cracking issues across the pond from higher speed issues with the old design...

Funny the NA brethren like the previous version without the raised center band due to better performance in heavy muddy and sandy conditions...I got one of the last of the old style...

Click pic for thread...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/attac...1&d=1413925151

I personally wouldn't be even slightly concerned..

I've used and have seen far far worse.

But it's a personal choice.

How did they do ?
 

So, Noel - how did they fare ? I'm leaving UK to Thailand in 2 months on a Transalp. Planning to fit a new set of E-07's in Istanbul, then hoping they will survive the following 9000 miles (15000 km).

Any comment ? Cheers.

Was planning an a set of E07 for South America. Hoping to get 18,000 km - wish me luck :p

Me too, just changed my tires where the rear had done 27-28.000 km, and it was full of crack for approx. 10.000km, no problem at all.

For me on the f8gs the front lasts around 14-16.000km.

Casper

I've used these tyres for years and most, if not all, have shown this kind of cracking. I've never seen a crack that has gone under the first layer of fabric and have ridden the tyres until the tread is down to minimum legal without a problem.

Cheers

Nigel in NZ

I've had a 2015 Mitas E07 rear delivered today. First thing I noticed that it has the band around the middle. Is it only the Dakar version that doesn't?

Secondly, the tread and sidewalls are both 4 ply poly. I thought only the Dakar was suppose to be 4 ply on the sides?