Mitas Radial Trials Tires

[Loosenut]

Glen,
My style has been defined by Uncle Josh as a Violent Hillbilly. Being short (5'6"), I use momentum because these short little legs are worthless. So I gotta be aggressive. Anyway, the number of pinch flats for me has tapered off since I started coating the inside of the tire and the tube with Armour All. The tubes do not wear as much either. No little rubber balls.

[GMP]

I hear ya, I'm only three inches taller. I guess what I meant was some guys just hit everything in the trail rather than pick smoother lines. Tube wear is a factor for everyone. Next change I'll try that instead of tire talc.

[SpeedyManiac]

I just mounted up a D803 trials tire with Tireballs. This setup RULES! I can't believe it's taken me this long to try a trials tire. In the rocks it is unbelieveable how well it hooks up. I'm pretty sure I could climb a cliff with this thing!

[Loosenut]

Trials tires absolutely kick butt in the rocks. My problem is I don't care for them as much as I do kobbies in most other conditions. However, after having a trials bike and learning how to keep it hooked up, I have managed to carry over some of the technique used with the trials tire. If you can keep a load on the chain at all times, it's much less likely to spin.

[Sierra Gasser]

I had the same problem ripping off valve stems until I went with a second lock . I worked !

[Clay]

I've been running the Vee Rubber Tackee rear knobbie lately and really think it is the best of both worlds. The knobs are a super soft trials compound. They grip rocks but work in mud, sand and grass. The only negative is that they do wear quickly. Pretty much a one race tire.

[jgas]

I ride a huge variety of terrain. I live in central Arkansas, which the state is half Loamy Delta type farmland, half rocky as anywhere in the world mountains. We have 2 mountain ranges here, the Ozarks are eroded, flat, square edged mostly loose rocks, the Ouachitas are similar to the Ozarks in some places but in other places imbedded crystal and shale based rocks, usually planted firmly in the ground. We even have some sand near the rivers. We have swamps like Louisana and Mississippi.

I ride in summer, winter, rain, snow, whatever. Both mountain types are equally hard on tires and in winter the weather is unpredictable. I've probably tried every tire made since 1988. I trail ride, race a little, (former A level many years ago), dual sport, do extreme terrain simlar to LMS and crazy stuff like that. I just do it slower these days, with more rest stops. I'm not fast anymore, but I can still ride most anywhere and keep going as long as anyone else does.

Last weekend I rode in a really weird place (for Ar.), that was perfect loamy dirt with MX track type traction. Dirt that was loose but tacky enough for the tires to sink in and really grab. The weekend before that, I rode in the Ozarks, in the rain. The weekend before that, rode in the Ouachitas, dry. The Mitas was pretty darn good everywhere I've ridden this year, last year, the year before that. A few years ago I lived in east Georgia, rode all over that state, used a Mitas then too. I even had one on a KLR 650 with an 18" wheel laced up, and it worked fine. I had to use 18 lbs of air on road and 15 off, but it worked. And on a dry day at Deals Gap, with 20lbs of air, I was dragging the pegs! KLRs don't have low pegs.

Overall, nothing is better than a Mitas trials tire. Many knobbies excel in certain places. Some trials tires excel in certain places. Mitas trials tires are almost never the best tire in any one place, but they are never the worst anywhere.

The one on my 250 XC now has been on 3 different bikes, has at least 3500 miles on it. It is dry rotted, the knobs are worn round, it has cracks in the sidewall and between knobs, I'm scared every time I look at it that I'll get a flat. But it still holds air and works. I'm gonna try a cheap Shinko next, for 50.00 because another GG guy said they were pretty good, but I bet I go back to the Mitas.

Thanks for finding and posting this info. If I hadn't just placed an order with Rocky Mountain I'd be buying another Mitas.

[firffighter]

Clay,

Have you run the Pirelli MT 43?

I am interested in the Vee, but want a long lasting trials tire. Most events we ride are 50+ miles and are loaded with sharp rock. The MT 43 does very well and lasts, but it is not so great on long, loose downhills.

[celler]

How does the Mitas wear compared to an M 43. The MT 43 lasts longer than anything I have tried in the Missouri Ozarks. I honestly only get 300 miles on a tire when the terrain is dry. By that time the knobs are 1/4 inch high. I see the same results when I ride the Arkansas Ozarks. I always read of others getting over a 1000 miles. I will rip all 3 cener rows off a Dunlop 803 in 150 miles in the same condition. MT 16 totally gone in 150 miles. So when I read a tire lasts thousands of miles I try to get a reference to other tires. My miles are all off road single track 18 mph average (no highway). Mitas sounds like it has promise.

[djroggen]

Try Motoz they last forever. The intermediate enduro tire lasts forever.