Normally changing a tyre is not really blog material but it was the first time with the tyre-tool and balancer plus things went not as smooth as i hoped so i thought maybe blog material after all.
I was expecting a decent lifespan of the Michelin Anakee Wild on Ecstasy, i ran them on Ragnarok for almost 9000km but on the much lighter XTZ it was over when i got to the halve of those 9k/km.
I have the tendency of getting back to Michelin but that doesn’t mean i have to have Michelins and in the past on the road-bikes i did try some other brands.
Time to try out something else and after searching the net and watching various YouTube reviews and experiences i decided to give the Mitas E09 a chance.
Roads are something i can’t get around but with Ecstasy i always have offroad on my mind and it had to be at least a 50/50 but more hardcore offroad was fine too. It had to be only at least decent on the tarmac and it seams that the Mitas is even pretty acceptable on the boring stuff (for a Ténéré boring that is).
There where 2 options in the E09, a “regular” and a Dakar version and the latter is the same but stiffer with a bit longer lifespan and less likely to get a puncture for only €4,- extra.
I don’t know how about nails but on the last ride to work on the Wild there was something wrong and it felt the same as when the front tyre lost a lot of air but that one i’ve changed for the new one i already had ordered together with the Anakee Wild set.
The first chance i had to stop (no shoulder on that road) the front was fine but the rear wasn’t… a nail.
Too late to turn around to get Ragnarok so the only option was to ride on to the first petrol station to air up (the compressor was on Ragnarok) and hoping the air stayed in long enough to get to work. It didn’t but i could manage to keep it at 100KM/h which is the maximum speed at that time.
After long thinking at work i decided to just air up again to get trough the busy part the first few kilometres and than take it easy on the small roads since i didn’t want to spent an hour fixing the tyre for only 28km as the new tyre was that very day delivered at a parcel puck up point.
Today was wrenching day and with no riding also a good moment to wash the gear as the grey had become sand colour.
As a test i used the onboard toolset to do the job as a check if i had everything complete and working now, i had but didn’t at the same time.
When i had the puncture the last time after the TET NL south it became clear i missed a wrench 22 to take the rear wheel out. I took the one of the board in the garage but that one didn’t seem to work as the nut lies deeper and i can’t get a grip. Will be solved next week.
Than time to take the tyre of and after breaking the bead and taking the old one off i realised that i didn’t use the tyre tool as i should.
I used for the complete tyre the tyre irons but afterwards i figured out i made it hard for me as i could have turned the wheel around and use the lever to break the bead to push the other side of the tyre off.
On the right picture you can see one of the things that made it not a smooth change.
The tube protector increased in diameter and not just a bit… no clue how that was possible as it is bigger than the outside diameter of the complete wheel.
To be sure that i don’t ride to the dealer i called to ask if it is in stock but the regular dealer didn’t answer the phone, they take the time for you when you’re there but it means that f you call they might take the time for another customer end they let the phone longer than i want to wait so i called another shop and they had it in stock.
When i came there and i took my helmet off there was a typical sound of a bike on a Dyno and Ecstasy still needs a new tune for the Power Commander but had to wait for better temperatures (best results come between 15 and 25 degrees).
I had a price from a shop in Belgium end the Dutch shops where all too far away of too expensive but in the search result this shop didn’t came up.
When i asked the price it was only €10 more expensive than the Belgium shop and here i knew for sure it could be done on a Saturday so i made an appointment for 10 july.
Back to the job at hand.
This time the struggle with the valve should be history as i bought a valve puller, a handle with a steel wire and a bit you can screw in the valve.
You feed the threaded part trough the valve hole and than you connect it to the valve, without it you have to wrestle your finger in the tyre trying to guide the valve trough the hole.
Nope… also didn’t go that smooth as the wire of the puller came loose but i managed to fix it but the valve became a struggle after all.
Did i mention that the Dakar version was stiffer?
That also means that it is way harder to get it on the rim but i managed and again without my worst fear for this job. I’m always scared to get a puncture by getting the inner-tube between the rim and the tyre iron.
After cleaning it was time to balance the wheel.
I didn’t do this before on Ecstasy but somewhere i saw a video that it still can make a big difference on knobbly tyres and as i was planning on changing the tyres also on Ragnarok i bought the balancer with the tyre tool and tried it now.
That’s one mean looking tyre 😎
The difference between the Mitas E09 (left) and the Michelin Anakee Wild (right).
Tomorrow i might do something new for the channel, but when i’m not happy with the result you will never know…