In this video Paul Bolton, one of the best and most known Enduro riders, will tell us all about the Mitas TERRA FORCE-EF tyre options and mousses to match them.
hi everybody I’m Paul Bolton we’re here in the UK I’m going to put some tires on my bike this is going to be a specific Harden Euro setup because look where we are we’re in a paradise for Harden Euro Cal Quarry in the UK get stuck in I’m going to run through various different moose choices TI choices Etc and uh but I’m going to go for my favorite one right now so let’s get involved I’m going to go for the 9100 Terra Force front this one in a green stripe pattern so that’s the compound is the green stripe and uh now we’ve got this newer stronger carcass that uh I absolutely love this tire and I’m going to run it with the 9100 mousse as well so we’ll Chu that on the bite right [Music] now so a lot of people get scared about changing tires with mouses but if you know the technique which I’m going to run through now in a minute it’s so easy most important thing about mousse is is lubing it if you Lube it regularly then it will last a lot longer as well so it is like a maintenance thing how much you ride how fast you ride where you ride how much water you ride through all depends on how much you do it how long your mousse lasts so if one guy say he get so much out of his mousse another guy might be riding somewhere else in the world he won’t get as long out of it it is all about where you ride and what you do with your bike so anyway let’s get this into it so bit of a chop SOI there you go into the tail like this first just keep flicking it around save a little bit to the outside and then get your fingers in there and just rub it around the 9100 mousse so these are all normal things some people ask questions about these sometimes it’s just the injection it’s where the mousse was made it’s how they’re made so don’t worry about them at all then just take your time and it should all fold in and then now little bit on the inside so once we’ve got the lube on and the lubs in side and behind the tire and this Lube actually comes in the Box as well so when you get a mousse so yeah it’s all ready to go now we’ve checked the rotation it’s going that way down and the rim Lock’s going to be here my disc’s down so the wheels rotating that way and then all we’ve got to do now quite an important bit I always start with a rim lock like this you just push it out and let the lower part of the bead slip under the the rim lock and then you can just give it a couple of little pushes down just so it starts going on and then really really important that you use this part of the the uh tire lever now so that side for taking it off and then this side’s for fitting it on just start SL slowly slowly so I try to lift up a little bit so I don’t scratch the rim too much as well and sometimes the tire sits up now but you just got to give it a push down everywhere make sure it’s all behind in the right places and then I take the rim lock now to the tire changer on this side again I start with this side again I go in and over and just lock it in behind here leave it there and then we’ll start working around this way and then we’ll finish with the rim lock so little pieces one and then down and round again so sometimes once it starts getting tight now we need to get this side down so and then we’ve just got to get this last thing in and then once this is out we take that out just push that last little piece on there you go that means the rim locks in nicely can check all the way around the outside it’s on the bead this side it’s on the bead already so now just got to tighten up the rim lock once it’s in the front pads I’m going to get it lined up on this side but this is the always the tricky one there we go she’s in now couple little gentle Taps shouldn’t need too much force and then that is the front wheel done brakes are pumped up Rim locks are tight we’ve checked our spokes Forks are in line everything’s tight done boom front’s done we going to move to the back so mine feels so many different variations so many different tire choices so many different moose choices but I’m going to go for the e f Pro with a 120 soft mousse because that for me is the best allrounder for my weight the type of riding that I like to do not just in in a race let’s say but just general riding with my friends Etc so that’s my all around package and uh yeah let’s get it in the tire [Music] now so in Harden Euro um we have two Rim locks so it’s a little bit trickier to fit the tire but now some of the pros because some tires just really don’t stay on the rim they’re trying to have five up to five Rim locks in the rear wheel now and uh yeah crazy but if you break one you’ve got another one to back you up because when we run such soft setup sometimes in the longer distance races you know one Rim lock can break and if it’s just on one you’re going to be struggling with the tire maybe coming off the rim or something like that so the rim locks and good Rim locks are really really vital in hard and duro so and you can usually go in without even using this with a Harden Duro setup like the front we could just push it straight off but with this one we’re going to have to help it over one of the other Rim locks now so and just push it down where we can but don’t rush this bit make sure it’s down where you can but it’s still on this Rim lock and it’s still on this Rim lock so I need to get it over this Rim lock before I can push it all the way off and this is where I think a lot of people go wrong when you’re running two Rim locks and they’re sweating so I usually just get two TI levers in we do it around here one there I just gently pull it up and then the third one I push in and then just let it all slide over that way you help it clean over the rim lock and now we should be able to push the tire completely off the off the wheel so so 120 soft is my is my favorite for the type of riding that I do I think it’s very all round uh and it lasts really well as well for a soft mousse um you can go softer than this one as well with a 140 but it’s actually flatter so there’s not as much in the tire when you in the big scheme of things uh and then you can also go if you’re a big guy heavier guy you can go for a 140 soft as well so you’ll still have a bit of Squish uh but yeah it’ll fill that tire for you obviously if you’re heavier or lighter you choose the Moose to suit you and the St type of riding that you do as well so tail wise 140 EF Pro so this only comes in a double green compound so this one has got a slightly less in the structure it’s a really cool design as well very very good in also and also last well you know it’s a soft tire but it actually lasts really well as well so um yeah very good tire and you mark it up with the right mousse for the right conditions depending on from where you are in the world and uh yeah you’ll have a really good fun day out with your mates and you’re probably going to get up the hill before your mates as well so a lot of people say you know that maybe don’t haven’t done as much testing or as much racing here and there but a 120 Mo and a 140 Tire they say it’s like you shouldn’t do it and the tire’s designed for a 140 you know the tire’s designed to get grip and um when you do things like this you get even more grip so it’s all about that footprint on the ground and as long as you’ve got the rim locks in and it holds it in position uh you’ll have a really good footprint on the ground and you’ll be you’ll get so much traction so a lot of people do this I’ve been doing this for a long time I’m not preaching to them guys I’m preaching to the guys that are coming into into the sport and want some more grip so they can go more places and have some more fun rotation different on this one it has arrows all the way around the tire so it’s already the right side sprockets down sprockets on the left we’ll flip it on flip it under one Rim lock first get it on most of the way and then we’ll flip it over get the rim lock on and then flip it back so a little bit of patience on the rear um and yeah you can see how much bigger these Rim locks are on the back rim lock start to push down so you can see now when I pull it off that it’s not behind the rim lock there and over push it back with your fingers and now it’s behind the rim lock now flick it over again now we can finish it off so with the softer mouses and like the 140 extreme you should always check that the mousse is on the top side of the rim lock so it’s on that one we’ll just check the other cuz sometimes the rim lock it grabs between the rim lock and the bead and the rim and then it’ll obviously chew the mousse a bit as well if you do that and now I’m just going to carry on working round so I’ve already got to the second Rim lock here if if it’s not going on for any reason then if you’ve not got a compressed air or anything like that like if I was at home I could blow it on with the airline blow it up and then just let it let it go down again um but you can also put it in the bike and you can spin it and you leave the rim locks loose SP spin the wheel and the centrifugal force pops it onto the rim and uh you can also ride down the road a little bit and uh it should pop on nicely there’s a bit of Squish already so that footprint is going to be really good and when I want when it wraps around a rocks or it’s in the dirt it’ll pull me up so the whole idea with the super soft tires as well as you try not to let them spin you try to let the tire do the work for you then you can relax and then when you really need to get into it you’ve got a nice nice Tire to keep you to the end of the race you don’t want to spin and burn them out nice little top tip right then it’s time to go riding [Music] oh [Music] [Music]