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Trellborg Army Special .v. Michelin SIRAC?
2 x Yamaha XT600E 1999/2001 - Tyres!
Time for a tyre change. My existing Michelin SIRAC's are just fine but I rather fancy these - Trellesport - Enduro Competiton MotorcycleTyres, Army Special Tyre This one looks like a Continental TCK80 - Mitas E-10 Adventure Rear The British Army has just choosen Trelleborg tyres for their R Sigs and RMP bikes. If it's good enough for our brave boys then it's surely good enough for the likes of us. :thumbup1: I rather like the look of the Army Special. I want something 50% onroad 50% offroad. My Sirac's are 70% onroad 30% offroad. Guys - Your thoughts/comments very welcomed on BOTH tyres (Michelin SIRAC's and Trelleborg Army Specials)... |
On SibirskyExtreme, with my F650GS-D, I 'took over' a part worn rear Trelleborg from Kenichi, a UK Hubber we met in Irkutsk, and carried it to Mirny/Lensk where I put it on.
I am pretty sure it was the Army XT-644 The Plus points- - its long, long life both on and off road. This tyre had ridden across Turkey and on to Irkutsk (Lake Baikal, eastern Siberia). At the changeover point it looked hardly worn when compared with the unused spare one Kenichi had been carrying. I carried it to Lensk/Mirny where I put it on. It took me through the Viluysky Trakt to Irkutsk. Then the Kolyma Highway (Road of Bones) to Magadan - the fastest for this according to Wikipedia (Fame indeed!). This was all off road, mostly dry gravel/dirt. After shipping to Vladivostock it took me on tarmac (cautiously!) to our Khabarovsk tyre drop where I had Metzler Karoos waiting. I left the Trelleborg with local bikers for anyone with a use for it. It still had some tread left - but not enough to even think about the BAM. - soft or loose beading. I had a legendry number of flat tyres (I lost count at 15) but that was because I was still using the original BMW standard issue tubes. This tyre was the easiest I have ever known to get off and on the rim. The only 'tool' reqired to put it back on was my boot heel! After getting heavy duty tubes at the tyre drop I only had one more flat all the way back to UK including both East and West sections of the BAM - off road performance was as good as any other rear I have used on the bike. It gripped well on dirt, rocks and mud and very controllable in fast slides/drifts coming out of loose corners. - low cost Now the MINUS point, and a BIG one :thumbdown:- - tarmac grip. UGH! There was only about 300 metres of tarmac from putting it on in Mirny to where the dirt started. As we slowly rode out of town, twice on bends it failed to grip the dry tarmac, quite alarmingly. Although new to my bike it was not a case of new rubber - it had already ridden from Turkey to Irkutsk, mainly tarmac so was well 'scrubbed in'. I have used Siracs off road. They performed well on dirt trails in southern Russia and the North Caucuses mountains. These were dry packed earth tracks or gravel/dirt routes. They were a good tyre on tarmac Of the two, for pure off road, I would go for the Trelleborgs. But I would only consider them for greater than 80%+ off road use on the basis the other 20% was only relaxed 'transport and recovery' sections. Not a tyre for town courier work! |
Sirac and Army Special are two completely different tires. I would say Sirac is 80% tarmac and Army Special is 80% offroad.
That said I would select Army Special instead of Sirac any day but it requires that you take it easier on the tarmac. Army Special is also used by the army in Norway. I think the main reason is that it works pretty good in snow. As far as I know Army Special will get a Mefo-name soon. Mefo has a lot of interesting tires. Sirac in mud is not okay! http://actiontouring.com/pic/Kalahari_1.jpg http://actiontouring.com/pic/Kalahari_2.jpg Army special is better: http://actiontouring.com/pic/armys.jpg |
Yeah I realise the SIRAC is mainly designed for tarmac and occasional light offroad trails (70% tarmac / 30% LIGHT (gravel) trails in my humble opinion).
The Trellborg range of tyres look very interesting to me in terms of looks, cost and performance. The British Army has choosen Trellborg tyres for it's Special Forces & Royal Signals and Military Police bikes. I guess that they have tested the tyres to destruction. The Norway Army also uses these tyres on their own bikes. The Trellborg Mitas E10 tyre really does look like a Continental TCK80! It would be interesting to compare both together as the E10 is much cheaper. Perhaps I should be looking towards fitting SIRAC's again because most of my riding is on tarmac. doh Mine have lasted pretty well too... For £120 (front and rear) fitted, I think it's superb value compared to most other premium makes of tyres sold in the UK. I suppose I just prefer a more agricultural looking tyre on a trail bike! :clap: In my experience most things that originate from Norway (and Scandinavian countries in general) nearly always = quality and good value. I wonder if anyone has compared the E10 to a TCK80? |
Go with Sirac`s again, i had them on my Tenere & i choses them spicifically for the conditions i was going to be using them for (mainly tarmac) they don't have that nice chunky look about them but horses for courses.
Mezo. |
Interesting that the army special is classed as a 'trail' tyre - very aggressive tread which I imagine would feel horrible on tarmac but does apparently give good mileage due to a hard compound.
The Sirac is a road tyre with trail fitment (available in 21"). Would be OK on gravel like most road tyres and does give reasonable mileage. The Mitas E-09 and E-10 look like good choices. The E-10 is as you say like the TKC but, I believe, harder wearing. The 'cats paw' tyres are very popular (Heidenau K60, Mefo Explorer etc) are popular choices for travelling giving a bit bit more usability off road than a Sirac but feel OK and last well on the road. |
The current Army is branded as Mitas,with a T at the end of the model number.
Mitas also make the TKC's, so their E10 shouldn't be too different. They make tyres for a most of the other overpriced boutique marketers too, so you can save a bit cash by matching the Mitas tyre to the overpriced stuff. The Mitas guy posts on a Mitas Tyre thread on the Airhead forum on ADV riders,and will answer any questions you may have - they have been changing compounds, etc, quite a bit recently so it is probably unwise the reley on anything you read on their tyres that is over a couple of months old. |
Over the last two years, I've been through four sets of Mitas E-09, a pair of Army Specials, and am currently on an Army Special front and a Mitas C-02 rear. All on a 2009 Tenere. I also had a pair of Metzeler Tourance when I bought it, which are similar to the Siracs (and indeed both have been fitted as OE to the current Tenere)
Mitas (Czech) have bought the tyre division of Trelleborg (Swedish) a while back, and if you buy new Army Specials now they will be branded as "Mitas 644 Extreme Army". Trellesport (trelleborgtyres.co.uk) is the UK importer of both brands. As far as I can tell, the E-10 is more or less the E-09, but for the heavier adventure bikes. For an XT600 I'd be looking at the E-09. The E-09 is a fantastic 50-50 tyre. Apart from being a bit noisier I genuinely couldn't find any difference in the on-tarmac (wet or dry) behaviour to the original Tourances, but they are obviously miles better on the dirt (I'd describe the likes of Tourances/Siracs as at least 95% tarmac btw). Life is not far off either, the E-09's should last well over 5000 miles of normal use. The Tourances I had were bald by 6000. The only reason I've not still got E-09s on is because I'm now racing the Tenere, and so need something really aggressive. I started with a pair of Army Specials, then went to my current favoured combination of Army front and C-02 rear. Where I couldn't find any compromise in the E-09s, these tyres are definitely a compromise for tarmac. The Army Specials are only rated to 80mph, you can feel them moving around in the corners, and the wet grip is less - although not as bad as the usual internet hyperbole about knobblies and wet tarmac might suggest. For me it's a worthwhile compromise. The C-02 rear is better than the Army rear on tarmac, lasts longer, and is cheaper. There's not much difference on dirt. Both are better than the E-09 on dirt and worse on tarmac. I really like the Army front. Although it's softer than the E-09 front, it has so much tread to start with that it would last about the same mileage. And again it's miles better on dirt. For non-competitive use, I would say definitely an E-09 rear, but think about pairing it with an Army front rather than the E-09 front if you're likely to encounter a lot of mud. |
nice write up there dash . how many miles have you been getting out of the army front ? the reason i ask is i was thinking of going with the army on the front and a eo9 on the rear for a trip across brasil . i realy dont want to be carrying tyres . i need a per of tyres that are good off road and that will last at least 5000 miles . i will be needing a 21" & 18" for my x challenge
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Dash,
Superb write-up thank you. Perhaps you should post a new thread on the same subject? I'm sure many others would find this information of great help. Anyone looking at getting Conti TKC80's would be well advised to have a closer look at these Trellborg equivalents... Much cheaper and probably just as good? All the very best. :thumbup1: Stop lurking and start posting..... lol. |
Quote:
I did about 4,800 miles on the first Army front, over about seven months of tarmac commuting, and about seven days worth of trail riding or rallying. I reversed the tyre at about 3,000 miles, because it was showing the typical 'wedge' type wear you get from a lot of braking on tarmac on a knobbly front. The subsequent use has evened the wear up quite nicely. When I took it off there was (from memory, will check later) at least 5mm of tread left. Not enough for rallying or 'serious' off-road/mud use, but for 'dirt road' travelling I'd be surprised if you couldn't string it out to 6000 or so, but I don't really have a feel for how long-distance dirt-road tyre wear compares to an equivalent distance on tarmac. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't make 5,000 miles on either the Army or C-02 rears, even if you wore them right out. More boring details and photos of the tyres in question in blog post here - link |
some good info there. thanks for that
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