Tires for TAT ride

Ladies & Gentlemen, I rode the TAT a few years ago with my wife and friends and we used Dunlop D606 tyres. I love these tyres but we had to swap them out half way along the TAT as they are very soft and wear very quickly. I will ride the TAT again in June (with wife & Daughter) and am asking if anyone has a suggestion for some good knobbly tyres that will fit a CRF450X & CRF250X and will last longer than D606's!! but still give reasonable grip, the TAT is really not that challenging so it doesn't need super grippy tyres, so hoping to find some DOT approved knobblies that we can use and avoid a full set of tyre changes mid ride!!

Cheers Gary

All of these will complete the TAT for you. The first one will let you ride it roundtrip without a change out. Make sure you get the Dakar version with extra sidewall plies as they make a non Dakar version of each as well.

Mitas E-07 Dakar 60/40
Mitas E-10 Dakar 75/25
Mitas E-09 Dakar 90/10

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Thanks SilverBullet, will take a look at all 3 of them. Silver bullet, where do you get your Mitas tyres? I looked on the WEB and every search engine took me to Revzilla, but they only carry front tyres for the E10 and E09 (The two styles that I like the most) the E07 seems to street orientated for me!! Both the 09 and 10 look interesting but I can't find where to source the rear tyre (18" rim).

Gary

I looked in the Revzilla and there are a couple of DOT approved DS tyres that look interesting!

Mitas E09 (mitas E10 only has a 140/80-18 rear tyre and thats too big to fit)
Continental TKC80
Pirelli MT21 Rally cross
Pirelli Scorpion Rally

Any other recommendations? I still want a knobbly tyre, but a harder rubber than the D606!! need a 21" front and an 18" rear (130 or narrower)..
They all look like good tyres, but no idea how long they last or how they compare to the D606!!

Gary

There are a bunch of different DOT knobby tires out there, though I'm not really in a position to say if any of them would last that long. I run an IRC TR8 up front and a Michelin T63 out back on my DR. They work well, but I haven't had them long enough to speak to longevity.

Gary,

Revzilla, Twisted Throttle and moto-race on Ebay are the 3 best sellers for Mitas.

Your are correct the E-07 is a 60/40 tire so probably not your choice since you don't need that mileage. On the ~700 lb. loaded Tenere I get 11-12k miles from those and still very capable off pavement. Last year a Tenere when entire TAT and he used E-09 Dakar and got only 3k miles from the rear but really no comparison in mileage from a 600 lb bike and a 300 lb bike.

I have 3 new 130/80-18, E-09 Dakar in the garage. If you were closer we could meet. My front stockpike is a couple 90/90-21 Pirelli Scorpion Rally. I also have 3-4 new of the Adv sized Mitas E-07 Dakar also. I ride miles so buy in bulk to always have stock on hand.







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Pretty much every TAT report I've read involves a tire change near the Rockies/Moab.

If you're trying to save on money, I would suggest just running a less expensive DOT knobby. I run Kenda K760s on the rear of my TransAlp and they wear quickly on pavement, but are awesome off road. On the light bikes you're running, 2 rears may last you the entire trip.

A Trakmaster that is 80% worn is better off road than a TKC 80 that is 50% worn in my personal experience.

I rode on a MOTOZ Mountain Hybrid for over a year on my bike. Couldn't believe how long it lasted. Tough sidewall so less psi is needed and it gives you great traction. DOT approved.
I didn't try the front on that brand.

SilverBullet said:

I have 3 new 130/80-18, E-09 Dakar in the garage. If you were closer we could meet. My front stockpike is a couple 90/90-21 Pirelli Scorpion Rally.

Click to expand...

Dave,
the 130/80-18 e-09 dakar you have...are they for your dirt bike, w/a 2.15 rim?
or for your s10?

Dao said:

Dave,
the 130/80-18 e-09 dakar you have...are they for your dirt bike, w/a 2.15 rim?
or for your s10?

Click to expand...

HD dual sport thumper tire for a 18" x 2.15" rim, DOT, very heavy & strong tire (read: extra unsprung weight) but for a long ride in the boonies gives you some extra flat and rim protection.
for the lightweight off road bikes I'm running Maxxis and Kenda (what came on the bikes).

Tenere rear is a 150/70-17
I did try a Mitas E-09 Dakar set on it but rear lasted only 3,500 miles. I wouldn't be surprised if Gary couldn't double that mileage on his lightweight CRF450X and make the entire TAT on it. Like he said a super technical tire is not needed for that ride so even a tire worn down to 80-90% would still hookup enough for him to finish. It's not about costs, the logistics and trip interruption during the ride is the hassle. I would gladly pay a premium tire cost to avoid a tire change enroute.

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I am surprised you are not getting better life from the D606. I used to run those on my KLR 650 and abuse the crap out of them, yet I still got a minimum of 2500 miles out of a rear. That even included some nasty riding in Az and Co, with lots of sharp rocks and some lengthy pavement blasting at 75mph. It has been six years since I last used a set though. Maybe they have changed the way they make them?

I run the Pirelli MT 21's on my KTM 530 EXC. I get maybe 1500-2000 miles out of a rear and maybe 2500-3000 out of a front. I like to accelerate though, so I am pretty ham fisted on the throttle and tend to wear out the rear tires. The MT 21's are great on dirt or pavement. I ran a set on a seven day trip to Montana on the 530, loaded down with camping gear, riding pavement and dirt, and they did great. We probably did 200-250 miles a day. At the end of the trip, the rear was about half gone.

What REALLY kills the rear tires is high speed riding on the pavement. High speed being 65mph + on a thumper. I find that if I keep the speed at 70mph or less and ease up on the throttle coming out of corners, the tires last much better.

Rsquared likes to run the MT16 front and MT21 rear on his KTM 450 EXC. He ran that combo on our trip to Montana and liked it.

Thanks everyone, I decided to try the TKC80 tyres and see how they work. I want too worried about the cost, was just trying to reduce the number of tyre changes I have to make on the trip.

Gary