EDC in Morocco on a Yamaha XTZ660Z Ténéré....amongst others...

[squawk77]

Originally Posted by WIBO

With about 8500kms on the moto I changed the tyres to Mitas EO7's. There was about 2mm left on the originals. I chose these tyres as they were €30 less than Scouts and that any reviews I read on Adv rated them well for a mixed tyre.

Where did you buy them from? The only dealer in Canada is out of stock, actually they don't have these tires in the USA. I read that they are prone to crack up, but they still work fine with the cracks.. Do you have any cracks? Debating between these, E09's, K60 Scouts or TKC 80's for my trip to Morocco. Any advice?

Keep it coming. Following Noah's as well

[WIBO]

Thank you every one to date for the kind comments.

Squawk the tyres worked well. Very good on the fast twisty tarmac where the was the odd 'race' was had!!

One thing I did notice was the other XTZ had the same tyres on. It covered the same distance on the same trails and the rear did have lumps and chunks out of it whereupon mine had nothing....no cuts...no chunks out etc. It was that noticeable I thought to take a pic for my ride report but I forgot!!!....I think the difference was that the other tyre was the 130 as mine was the 140. I'd take the tyre again for the trails I rode and the road work that I did. For all the mud off road they coped OK but as always not as good as a knobbly in the mud.

They are a good compromise. The front is not great on sand or feche-feche but to be honest that type of going only makes up for about 10% of the total off road going. The majority of sand going is soft sand sitting on hard pack underneath. Keeping the power on always helps to steer the moto. The rest of the going is stone hard pack with the odd dry lake bed thrown in.....

I ordered the tyres from www.oponeo.com and they arrived in two or three days. Very pleased with the service.

Any other questions you have by all means ask.



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[WIBO]

So we arrive at Bikershome to a great welcome. You turn off left after a few streets before Ouarzazate comes to and end on the route de Zagora....(there'll be a sign for it on the LHS of the main drag)



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There's enough room to stash the motos. If you notice you'll see on the RHS a whole pile of broken KTM rims from the rental motos...apparently weak rims not up to the job therefore all needing to be replaced.( Oddly Christophe's KTM525 at home here is suffering from cracks on both rims front and rear)

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A beer and then bed down for the night after Noah changes a tyre. They're told "No jumping on the beds!!"

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Then up in the morning and to head into Ouarzazate a short distance to get petrol.

Phil confirms his moto is still a moto by poking it...

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This is the sign you should look for when just about to exit Ouarzazate.

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Another fuel stop of 138.00Dhms for 11.11Ltrs and 235kms (12.42Dhms/litr)








We head on up out of Ouarzazate by tarmac over the mountains heading in the Zagora direction. The twisties are great for racing on. We stop at a little lay by I know where there's usually only 2 or 3 dudes trying to sell you stuff. The views here are great where you can look down on canyons in the sedimentary rock eaten away over millions of years.


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After the road work I stop at a main junction and wait for the LR. This donkey arrives first.....after seeing some of the riding antics of the EDC it'd probably be better to swop to this from a moto. lol


From here we'll pick up on the off road route that will bring us to Zagora. I head off with the riders who hadn't off roaded before and the others head off to cover a longer route...both heading in the Zagora direction

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Ken arrives soon after...he'd stopped to vomit (Moroccan food)much to the amusement of the locals...of course nobody laughed....much...

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I even spy another Unimog....

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[WIBO]

So......now we can start to ride off the beaten track......or well actually on the beaten track as it were.

We ride off ahead and are able to take a few snaps of the Land Rover with an impressive cliff back drop. The going is rocky with the odd bit of silt thrown in,in short stretches. The dust thrown up is like smoke and very fine so it's best to keep a good distance, to save the air filter and to be safe.

Just ride with the river and palms to ones right hand side and keep going straight on. The mountain to the left acts as a natural wall where it's impossible to ride over....eventually at the end of the day one will arrive and see a mountain in the distance with a large phone aerial on it...this will be Zagora and at the foot of that same mountain there'll be hotels.

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Bearing in mind that a few of the riders had never off roaded at all before they made a sterling effort and I was very pleased with their progress indeed...excellent work..well done for sure.

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We stop for a food break....Ken is still feeling poorly so after we had finished laughing at him at bit more...Frank and Caro made him some rice to eat.....the locals eat this and it helps somewhat....sort of...

At this point we're ahead of the others that took the longer off road route...they'll arrive later on the same route and take a break with us.

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Some,rather than others,couldn't stick the heat very much and removed their clothes at every opportunity much to the distain of the rest of us...my retinas are still trying to recover and I still have nightmares to this day!!!

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Of course once we stopped we noticed this...how come one always pitches camp where there's animal shit or things like this?...One of life's mysteries I guess.....

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The others en route

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They even stopped to gang up on a local kid on his way to school to steal his lunch money......Ricky points at the kids bike and suggests stealing it to sell to someone else in Zagora....Everyone rebuffs him in disgust for thinking such a stupid thing.......because there's no room to carry it on the motos....duh.
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Soon they arrived

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Noah could do with a Senior Stylist to sort his wool out...

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Ken almost smiles....

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....then states he'll vomit on anyone who annoys him....

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.....In true EDC fashion... instead of kicking a man when he's down.......we take his picture instead...
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[squawk77]

Originally Posted by WIBO

I think the difference was that the other tyre was the 130 as mine was the 140. I'd take the tyre again for the trails I rode and the road work that I did. For all the mud off road they coped OK but as always not as good as a knobbly in the mud.

I ordered the tyres from www.oponeo.com and they arrived in two or three days. Very pleased with the service.

Any other questions you have by all means ask.

Could be the age of the rubber as well maybe if they'd been stored on the shelf longer? Could explain the reports in Canada it since they are more rare and imported there

I was looking for a site with good prices in Europe, that one looks perfect! Merci

[GiorgioXT]

Originally Posted by WIBO

Thank you every one to date for the kind comments.

Squawk the tyres worked well. Very good on the fast twisty tarmac where the was the odd 'race' was had!!

One thing I did notice was the other XTZ had the same tyres on. It covered the same distance on the same trails and the rear did have lumps and chunks out of it whereupon mine had nothing....no cuts...no chunks out etc. It was that noticeable I thought to take a pic for my ride report but I forgot!!!....I think the difference was that the other tyre was the 130 as mine was the 140.
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Also, check the chain length - tires expand in diameter , particularly going on road and with low-pressure and knobbed (=thicker),= could touch the swing arm . Once I literally shredded a perfectly new MT17 (the ancestor of MT21 that I warmly advise) just by riding motorway with a new chain correctly set - always allow more play maybe adding a link or two.

[oliwoof]

I can vouch for the way Keith's tyres stick to the tarmac, we had the odd "race or two" before we hit the rough stuff and at no point did they ever seem to be under pressure and I was running on Metzler Tourances which are never a problem on the road but a bad choice IMO for Morocco.
Great road report Keith, I'm loving it, can't wait to see what you write next and I was there!

[WIBO]

So...we head on in the direction of Zagora still with the palms on our right and where we are really riding along the outskirts of each little village dotted along the river that makes a living from same. For information if any one may be taking this same route you'll come across a primary school where the perimeter wall is toped with bright green/purple glazed roof tiles.....it'll be the only glazed tiles you'll ever see in the whole region ...when you pass this slow down and stop at the end of the block as there's a road that runs across the route you'll be on...you have a real possibility of T boning someone and it'll be your fault!!!...So I stop the group here and make sure it's safe to ride on....












Not far from Zagora we stop to re group and Frank makes a few adjustments whilst there's time....

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Then off we go in the direction of the small mountain with the aerial on it...

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We stop at a small shop in a village to confirm the direction is correct...I go to start off and promptly drop my moto in soft shale and win the EDC Presidents award....BUT...5 mins later Adam wins it back...he bounces of a plam tree trying to avoid a mad Moroccan driving on his side of the trail with his Ardcases taking a direct hit without damage...baaaaaaaa.....you can see the offending tree on the RHS and some branch debris .....lol

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[GuiltyParty]

keep it coming freak

[WIBO]

Hey weirdo...good to hear from you!!!...




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[GuiltyParty]

Originally Posted by WIBO

Some,rather than others,couldn't stick the heat very much and removed their clothes at every opportunity much to the distain of the rest of us...my retinas are still trying to recover and I still have nightmares to this day!!!

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get...in...my...belllyyyy

[WIBO]

aye....me ..bbbbeeeeeellllyyyyy.......

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[lemovice]

exelent

[zandesiro]

[Jim pedley]

Fantastic pics !!! Your tenere looks great