OUR BIKES
RAY ' S RALLY RUBBER
Words & photos : Ray Heron
After racking up 10,000km on my T700 ’ s OEM Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tyres , I felt it was time to go a little more towards the dirt end of the tyre spectrum . This had me looking towards Mitas ’ E07 + tyres , wich are a very popular adventure tyre designed for 60 % road and 40 % off road use . Mitas says the modified tread pattern compared to the E07 means the update tyre delivers an overall improved off- and on-road riding performance . A bigger knobbly design provides plenty of open space between the tread blocks to displace sand , mud and water from the contact patch while keeping enough rubber in contact with the road as the tyres rotate .
INSTALLATION When it comes to putting them on , let me prefix this by saying I have never changed tyres before . I usually just drop the bike off to the local shop . But feeling adventurous , I enlisted the help of a more experienced mate , and we dived in … With a lack of options for getting the bike off the ground , and supporting it while I worked on the wheels , we found that rolling the bike up onto some old decking wood I had laying around , meant I could slide my old MX stand under the bike and it would sit there nicely . The manual says not to support the T700 by the bashplate bars … but I took my chances .
GRUNTING AND SWEARING Wheels off , deflated , we got cracking on breaking the bead . Then to stretch the side wall over the rim , remove the tube , and do it again
62 KIWI RIDER