I finally installed the Mefo Super Explorer rear tire I bought last year. It went on the OEM wheel with the necessary persuasion of three tire irons, Windex and mild swearing by me . Setting the bead required some serious air pressure to pop into place but did so fine. The tire is definitely robust and should be bulletproof for the mixed use riding I do. After riding around town with 36psi to feel out the new tire, I decided it was time to air it down and give it hell. 1lunger and I met up for a long ride on all sorts of terrain. I was very impressed with the tire's performance off road and smoothness on. We even went through some marsh/ mud area by accident. You know the kind of water crossing that looks like a puddle but ends up needing second gear wide open to get through! Yea, I thought we were done but the Mefo did well. 1lunger commented on the "chunk of mud on the top of my helmet" and asked that I please remove it. So far I'm happy with the tire. It feels similar to the OEM Karoo on road and a partially used MT-21 off. It's pretty much what I expected with the bonus of keeping me from getting stuck in mud. Time will tell how long the tire will hold up with 30psi off road. I just can't run any rear tire off road with more air than that. In fact I was told to run 32psi and up to be ok. I'll report back after a few hundred miles.
Going through the same decision's as everyone else as the rear Karoo on mine is getting to the replacement point with ~1000km on my bike, luckily I have a buddy that is a powersports wholesaler so the cost complaint on the D908 is not an issue in my case as it ended up costing me about the same as paying retail on a 130/90-18 D606 here. He has sold a lot of TUBliss kits but never used nor installed one personally so I agreed to be his experimental subject as long as he helped install them...
That tire is one of a very few on my short list to try after I wear out my spares.. Let us know how you like it.
The 908 is the tire of choice for the 950/990 crowd. They are EXPENSIVE. But you should get good life with one on the 630. If they would go 3K miles I'd jump on one myself, even for $200, especially if offroad traction is there. The tubliss system is really nice. You can carry a plugger and air, and fix a puncture without removing the tire. Turns a regular tire into a tubeless one. And they'll run flat in a pinch with the inner tube still inflated. I'm still leaning toward a K60 or Scorpion Rally. Probly try the latter first as a $100 experiment.
I was very impressed with the proformance of the Mefo super explorer. rjdenya was really chucking some muck with it!!
The D908 has been serving me very well - a very tough hard walled tyre designed I believe for the Dakar. Can virtually run flat at a push. Normally can get 4-5000km out of one and excellent if you do road as well. Possibly a bit too hard for the TE in as much as one sometimes feels one would like a bit more flex of the knobs. I will probably fit a Mitas E09 next time around - E07 would also be a good 50/50 option.
In light of the fairly common "stiff" comments has anyone tried grooving the D908 centre lugs? We have a Rillfit at the truck shop...
I'll go ahead and quote my own post and bash it . After another long ride with 1lunger and ATD1 I have second thoughts about the Mefo rear tire. Unfortunately, I'd like to downgrade my rave review to a mediocre one. The tire is perfect for 50/50 on and off road use. Any real wet, rocky or exposed tree roots will bring out the tire's traction weakness. Forget any serious hill climbs in nasty terrain with 32psi. The drawback in my opinion is not being able to safely air the tire down below 32 psi. With all that said I'm removing the Mefo and getting another MT-21.
I was afraid of that. Everybody says it has a stiff carcass, why can't you run it at 18lbs offroad? Is it too squishy?
Javier at Trail Tricks said to run "32psi and up to be safe". I read the Mefo may chunk knobs off if the tire flexes under low pressure. I could either yank the tire and sell it or run it at 18psi and see what happens. I'll think about it...
Since it's a roadbike/adv bike tire and I have never run one I can't tell you for sure. But I would definitely try it at 20lbs and see how squishy it is. It should be just fine for offroad, and should give you plenty of traction. Javier runs them on a 990 at warp speed, and all the guys with problems are on the same bike. If you air down any tire on a 990 and run it at 75mph on the freeway it's gonna shred. The problem with airing them down is that if you then get out to the hiway and don't or can't air up and run it on a loaded bike at 65-70mph or more it's gonna get so hot it will seperate or chunk knobs. I would not hesitate to run it at 18 with a rim lock. Hell, I let my scorpion trails on the Versys down to 20-22lbs and they stick to dirt like velcro. 50-55mph on logging roads on a virtual streetbike. I always air back up to 34f/38r for hiway. Any tubed tire is going to run hot on pavement if you don't put enough air in it. Heat is the worst, so summer days on hot pavement, low pressure, is just asking for a problem. Try it out and get back to us. I'm still debating whether to get one of these or not.
I run my K60 rear at 18 psi or so. No problems here. I think the 908 is a mistake for the 630, but that is just my worthless opinion. Too big and too heavy.
RJ, if you decide to sell it let me know, first dibs. If John likes them I'll bet I would as well. I'm looking for some longevity for 50/50 and dirt roads. I don't ride mine on single track, have other bikes for that. EDIT: On the 908rr: I went to try to find the weight of a 908rr and could not find that spec. The 606 comes in at about 13lbs, so if you weigh your tire before you try to mount it you'll have an idea of how much extra weight. My indy guy says even super HD tubes are enough extra weight to detract from rear suspension action. The less unsprung weight the better. Worse is the tire width and rim width recommendation. It will be really squeezed onto a 2" rim, rec is 3.5" rim width. It's hard to find a light bike rider that has ridden one and likes it. It's definitely a 950-990 tire.
Aren't you glad you gave that hill another go! I could see the disappointment in your eyes and a bit worried you were going to call it quits. I was going to distract you and have ADT1 let the air out of that tire while you weren't looking. If you hadnt half killed yourself trying to get up that climb, you never would have had that EPIC ride yesterday!!!
So I got the D908RR and TUBliss system mounted on the rear on Saturday night and road the bike in to work this morning. Interestingly enough my "highly accurate" fish-scale method showed the D908/TUBliss combo coming in at almost two pounds lighter than the well worn factory Karoo and Tube. Carcass wise it felt a touch stiffer when comparing loose tires but not a magnitude of scale different. Couple of caveats for my impressions; I am not coming from a street background as I bought the TE to get my street legs back after not having a street bike for ~15years but have ridden quite a bit off road over the last 10+ years and my TE is pretty standard as far as equipment goes: Power Up, JD Tuner, emissions crap and filter baffle removed, stock mufflers, 14 tooth CS. My commute to the office is basically from the SE of Edmonton to a industrial park about 10 minutes North of the city, it is about 55-60km on the bike as I avoid most of the roads I would normally take in my truck due to traffic. On the bike it is a mix of urban roads, a feeder road through a industrial section, ~3km on the freeway and ~6km on gravel secondary roads. We did not balance the rear at all, just tried to line up the rim lock opposite the orange dot on the D908 and it has 110psi in the inner and ~22psi in the outer as that is what I was running the Karoo at. I hit 138km/h this morning for a little bit on the freeway and no issues with vibrations etc. due to an imbalance were noted. Compared to a Karoo with ~3mm of tread left on the centre of the knobs the 908 definitely has a bit of a hum. Otherwise my initial impressions would be pretty typical; the 908 is definitely a little bit more "squirrely" on the street over grooved tarmac, cracks etc. but on the gravel it actually behaves more like a knobby than the Karoo ever did (IE it spins but gets traction unlike the Karoo). Initial impression is that if I get at least 3000km out of it the replacement tire will be another one, if I get 5000km out of one I would even be willing to pay the $270 retail they go for.
CJ, EricV bought the Mefo tire from me prior to your post. Otherwise, I would have gladly sold it to you. One thing I like about the MT-21 rear tire is I air it up to 18.5 psi and leave it alone. For me there is no need to change pressure in any riding conditions.
OK to extend my test of options that may work on the TE I am going to fit a Mitas C02 to the rear (still happy with the T63 front) - probably the gnarliest road legal knobby out there, affordable and meant to be tough. This weekend will be the tester ... trip to a famous remote SA wilderness area - Baviaanskloof. The weapon of choice?
